Breaking News! Foreclosure Reviews Pending

November 1, 2011 it was announced that consumers who were foreclosed on may be eligible for a review of their foreclosure and possible compensation for any wrong doing. Banking regulators are stepping up to the plate and acknowledging that massive irregularities, in 2009 and 2010,  in the processes of the 14 major loan servicing companies requires this review.

The most likely candidates for this review are homeowners who knew something was wrong with their mortgage paperwork but could not get anyone to listen to them back when banks became flooded with foreclosure actions. Many of these homeowners were actively pursuing mortgage loan modifications when the foreclosures took place.

Bank regulators are starting the process by requiring the banks to mail a letter to the former owners of the estimate 4 million cases they intend to review. The reviews will be done at no cost to consumers.  This is a plus as a typical review, often called a forensic audit, could cost a private individual anywhere from $2,500-$5,000.

If you feel like there was something wrong with your foreclosure, now is the time to act. Even if you do not receive one of these letters now is the time to take action.

More information can be found at:

IndependentForeclosureReview.com,   or  toll-free phone line, (888) 952-9105

See more information about short sales and foreclosures on our website

Are Foreclosures Really Dropping Off?

In the exuberance to proclaim the economy "healed" "recovered" "rebounding" or "looking up" some in the media are not revealing the whole story when it comes to Foreclosures. Stories can always be told two ways.  For example if this month 40 house sold and last month only 20 had sold it could be truthfully reported that HOME SALES Doubled!  The reality behind that may be that 40 is the average and 20 was just a terrible month.

When it comes to foreclosures the reporting that they are down is not totally untrue.  Realty Trac (a real estate data company) reported that January 2011 Foreclosures where down 17% over January 2010.   Sounds good, you might think that we are seeing major improvement. The other part of that data is that this is still a 1% increase in foreclosures over December 2010 nation wide and locally it is 3%.  That is up not down.

So to dig a little deeper it is important to note what is happening behind the scenes.  That is that the banks are mired in additional government restrictions and internal policy changes that they have implemented in light of some high profile problems.  In other words, many of the foreclosures are simply being stalled and pushed back on the calendar.  Policies from the administration are causing banks to give more consideration to modifying loans and making sure everything is in order before they actually do foreclose.  Also, because home prices are not rebounding the number of homeowner who are upside down in their homes remains high.  The longer that this remains the case the more problematic it becomes.  Peoples lives changes, homes need to be sold, people have to move, downsize or up-size their living situations.  Underwater homes can't be sold except in a short sale situation.

Are things improving? Yes, there are some signs that things are getting a little better.  There is reason to hope.  Even the slowdown in foreclosure actions is a good thing in its own way.  In a fragile economy, the last thing we want to do is put someone out of their home who could, with a little help, hold on to it.  At the same time we don't want to get too exuberant over statistics that are not fully understood or explained in context.  See the whole story at CNN money.

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Housing Market Affected By Things Other Than Foreclosures

With all of the focus on the foreclosure and short sale market most people assume that the main reason for excess home inventory people losing their homes.

While this of course contributes to the problem recent statistics released by the Census bureau show another trend.  There has been a significant drop in the number of new households that are being created.  The study showed that during the five year period of 2002- 2007 almost 1.3 million new households were being formed each year.  Starting in 2008 the number dropped to just under 400,000 and decreased even more in 2009 to just over 350,000.  That is an astounding drop of 900,000 fewer households started.

In tough economic times people tend to downsize, move in together, delay home purchases and younger people will stay at home longer. In the worst case scenario of course some poeple actually become homeless.  Other factors contributing to the downward trend is a reduction in immigration and marriage rates.  In fact some studies cite immigrants that have actually moved back out of the United States.

These are interesting statistics and show a much broader cause and effect cycle to the housing situation.  As always real estate is local and in the Palm Springs market we are not seeing an oversupply of homes. Our inventory is at a two year low and sales remain very respectable. Further, as so much of the market here is second and vacation home based our numbers and statistics won't line up with more year round markets.

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This Month In Real Estate Sept 2010