I DO NOT THINK THIS IS BREAKING NEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nation's Biggest Banks Each Hold over $20B in Foreclosures: Report

10/22/2010 By: Carrie Bay

New data released this week shows that the nation’s largest banks are holding monstrous volumes of soured home loans. Not only has the housing crisis left major lenders knee-deep in an ocean of non-performers, but added exposure to early delinquencies means they could sink even deeper.

According to an analysis by Weiss Ratings, an independent ratings agency covering the financial sector, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo each reported more than $20 billion in single-family mortgages currently foreclosed or in the process of foreclosure as of midyear.
In addition, Weiss found that for each dollar these banks held of mortgages in foreclosure, there were an additional $2 in loans in the pipeline that were 30 days or more past due.
Among all U.S. banks, JPMorgan Chase has the largest volume of mortgages in foreclosure or foreclosed with $21.7 billion. On top of that, the company has $43.4 billion more in mortgages past due.
Compared to JPMorgan, Bank of America has a somewhat smaller volume of foreclosures — $20.3 billion — but it has a larger pipeline of past-due mortgages at $54.6 billion.
Wells Fargo’s foreclosures come to $20.5 billion, with $48 billion in overdue home loans.

According to Weiss, including all foreclosed and delinquent categories, Bank of America has the largest volume of bad mortgages among U.S. banks, with $74.9 billion, while Wells Fargo has the second largest with $68.6 billion.
Other banks, despite their large size, are less heavily exposed to mortgage difficulties. Citibank has $6.3 billion in foreclosures and $19.2 billion in past-due mortgages, or a total of $25.6 billion.
The volume of foreclosures and delinquencies held by other large banks, such as U.S. Bank ($9.5 billion), PNC Bank ($8.9 billion), and SunTrust ($7.3 billion) is even smaller.
Martin D. Weiss, chairman of Weiss Ratings, said, “In addition to the volume of bad mortgages, the vulnerability of each bank to the foreclosure crisis depends on the capital and loan loss reserves it has set aside to cover losses and other factors such as its earnings, liquidity, reliance on less-stable deposits, and the quality of its overall loan portfolio.”
Among banks with $1 billion or more of mortgages already foreclosed or in process of foreclosure, Weiss found that Wells Fargo has the greatest exposure to bad mortgages in proportion to its capital. For each dollar of Tier 1 Capital, the bank has 75.4 cents in bad mortgages, or a ratio of 75.4 percent.
The equivalent ratios for JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and SunTrust are 66.8 percent, 66 percent, and 57.6 percent, respectively.
Weiss explained that losses on foreclosures and past-due loans will first be absorbed by the banks’ loan loss reserves, but then they may have to dip into capital.
“Considering that many large banks also take other kinds of risks beyond strictly home mortgages,” Weiss said, “these are very large exposures that could directly impact shareholders and even the safety of depositors.”
Reflecting both their exposure to foreclosures and the other economic factors, the JPMorgan, BofA, and Wells all merit a rating of D (“weak”) or lower from Weiss Ratings, indicating vulnerability to financial difficulties and instability if conditions continue to deteriorate.

Thanks
Shane Torres, REALTOR®

CDPE / SFR Certified

RE/MAX Real Estate Concepts
1830 Princeton Dr. Ste C
Grimes, IA 50111
Licensed Real Estate Agent in Iowa

 

http://shanestopsforeclosures.blogspot.com/

For Information on short sale visit http://www.shanestopsforeclosures.com/

THEY ARE ROLLING AGAIN

Bank of America and Fidelity National Reach Agreement for REOs

10/18/2010 By: Joy Leopold

Bank of America and Fidelity National Financial have come to an agreement regarding the foreclosure paperwork issues that have plagued several of the largest lenders in the past weeks.

Under the agreement, Jacksonville, Florida-based Fidelity agreed to continue to provide title insurance for Bank of America’s recently foreclosed homes. BofA agreed to cover all court related costs and settlements related to any lawsuits, and Fidelity agreed it would defend new homeowners in court.
Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America is working on similar agreements with other title insurers, though at this time it has not lifted its ban on foreclosure proceedings.
Dan Frahm, spokesperson for Bank of America Home Loans, said the bank on Monday began the process of

preparing 102,000 foreclosure affidavits for submission in the 23 states in which judicial approval is required for foreclosure.
“We anticipate that by Monday, Oct. 25, the first foreclosure affidavits will be resubmitted to the courts,” he said.
He continued, “Upon judgment, foreclosure dates will be set and Bank of America will resume foreclosure sales in such proceedings in the 23 judicial states.”
Of the other states, Frahm said, “We will continue to delay foreclosure sales in the remaining 27 states until our review is complete on a state by state basis.”
This agreement comes on the heels of assertions by some title insurers that they would no longer insure foreclosed properties for lenders. Fears of title-ownership discrepancies have put REO sales on hold until banks can verify that documents signed by “robo-signers” are valid.
Agreements between lenders and title insurers can help the REO market gain some much-needed stability.
(ALTA) released a statement in support of such agreements during this foreclosure furor.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency released a directive with guidelines for servicers to take to identify and correct potential mistakes in foreclosure paperwork.
“ALTA supports FHFA’s outline for an orderly and expeditious resolution of foreclosure process issues that will provide greater certainty to homeowners, markets and other stakeholders,” said Kurt Pfotenhauer, CEO of ALTA


Thanks
Shane Torres, Real Estate Expert
CDPE/SFR Specialist
RE/MAX Real Estate Concepts
1830 Princeton Dr. Ste C
Grimes, IA 50111
Licensed Real Estate Agent in Iowa

Phone 515-202-5894
Fax     866-838-0904
shane@realestateconcepts.net
shanetorres@remax.net
reoshane@realestateconcepts.net

WOW THIS IS CRAZY

Seven Million U.S. Mortgages Past Due or in Foreclosure: LPS

There are 7,018,000 mortgages in the United States that are 30 or more days delinquent or in the process of foreclosure, according to new data from  (LPS).

The Florida-based analytics and technology firm offered the media a preview Friday of its September month-end mortgage performance figures, derived from the company’s loan-level database of nearly 40 million mortgage loans.
Of the more than 7 million home loans in the country currently going unpaid, 2,055,000 have already commenced foreclosure proceedings. LPS reports that

4,963,000 are in the pre-foreclosure default stages, with nearly half of these falling into the 90-plus-days delinquent bucket.
LPS’ measurement of the U.S. loan delinquency rate (loans 30 or more days past due, but not in foreclosure) rose to 9.27 percent as of the end of September. That’s a 0.6 percent increase over the previous month, but down 7.8 percent compared to last September.
The nation’s pre-sale foreclosure inventory rate stands at 3.84 percent, according to LPS’ market data – up 1.1 percent from the August reading and 3.6 percent above a year earlier.
LPS says the states with the highest percentage of non-current loans (defined as the total number of foreclosures and delinquencies as a percent of all active loans in that state) include: Florida, Nevada, Mississippi, Georgia, and Louisiana.
The lowest percentage of non-current loans can be found in: Montana, Wyoming, Arkansas, South Dakota, and North Dakota.
LPS will provide a more in-depth review of this data in its September Mortgage Monitor report, is scheduled for release on October 29.

Thanks
Shane Torres, Real Estate Expert
CDPE/SFR Specialist
RE/MAX Real Estate Concepts
1830 Princeton Dr. Ste C
Grimes, IA 50111
Licensed Real Estate Agent in Iowa

Phone 515-202-5894
Fax     866-838-0904
shane@realestateconcepts.net
shanetorres@remax.net
reoshane@realestateconcepts.net

For Information on short sale visit http://www.shanestopsforeclosures.com/
visit my web site at http://www.shanetorres.com/ for more information on current listings

SOME PEOPLE JUST DO NOT GET IT

I'm completely shocked I have been trying to get a hold of a short sale client for the last two weeks trying to get a copy a Mortgage statement. I haven't heard anything at all so last week I call him and leave him a message stating again that the short sale process doesn't  work if we don't have any communication. So I get an email from him yesterday stating that since he has signed for a short sale that some people have informed him that you might still owe even after doing a short sale keep in mind I gave him a pre-short sale packet and multiple disclosures stating this guess he must not have read them. So he states that this information came from some one who knows the law and someone with a common knowledge of short. My first question was is the attorney you are talking to a Real Estate attorney he states I don't know, OK fine I suggest going to a Real Estate attorney an my next comment was there is no such thing as common knowledge you either know or you don't, this so called person with common knowledge states to him that even if you get approved for HAFA you can still owe money. Now I'm sorry I spend alot of time and alot of money to learn what I have so when some one happens to watch to much CNN and starts misinforming clients that cause me problems it is very irritating. Any way my client decides the best way to handle this is to not talk to me until they hear from there lawyer I don't really understand this makes no since to me as I'm trying to help you get out of a bad situation. Yes it is true you may owe some money but it is going to be a heck of a lot less them foreclosure. So not to sure if I handled it right but I informed him that there are alot of people that need my help and I cant deal with him giving me the run around on paper work when time is running out you have on your home and that if I didn't get what I needed to continue I was going to drop his file. It may have been wrong but I need to focus my attentions on files that actually want to avoid a foreclosure.

MORE BAAD NEWS

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010, 11:00 pm

National home prices dropped 0.2% over the three months ending in September, according to real estate data provider Clear Capital. It's the first quarterly drop since May.
When Clear Capital reported home prices increased in August, analysts warned that prices would possibly contract well into 2011. All four regions of the country did see prices stay above last year's total. But the September slowdown could send weaker markets into a double-dip.
All 15 of the lowest performing markets saw three-month price drops for the first time since June. The amount of REO properties in these markets climbed 29 basis points. For the nation, REO accounted for 23.2% of the market up 11 bps from last August.
Alex Villacorta, senior statistician of Clear Capital, said the latest results indicate a substantial price correction has taken place in many major markets.
"With the effects of the recession still being felt by home buyers and sellers, the lack of demand is causing strong markets to lose their upward momentum, while sending weak markets into double dip territory," Villacorta said.
He added, "National prices are still 10 percent above their 2009 lows, so the risk of new record lows this year remains small."
The Midwest markets of Cleveland, Milwaukee, Detroit, and Chicago and the Southern market of Memphis, Tenn., showed the biggest slowdowns. Home prices in those markets dropped more than 10% from three months ago.
The worst performing markets continued to be Tucson and Phoenix, Atlanta and Las Vegas remained the worst performing markets with an average 44% REO saturation rate.
With the recent foreclosure suspensions, Clear Capital expects REO saturation to actually drift lower over the next few months. But the lack of demand will prevent any major cuts into the REO inventory.
"The recent halt of foreclosures by the top mortgage servicers will certainly help to slow the rate of new distressed inventory on the market, but any positive effect this will have on the market will be countered by the traditional winter slowdown that seems to be starting early this year," Villacorta said.

Housewire.com









Thanks
Shane Torres, Real Estate Expert
CDPE/SFR Specialist
RE/MAX Real Estate Concepts
1830 Princeton Dr. Ste C
Grimes, IA 50111
Licensed Real Estate Agent in Iowa

Phone 515-202-5894
Fax     866-838-0904
shane@realestateconcepts.net
shanetorres@remax.net
reoshane@realestateconcepts.net

For Information on short sale visit www.shanestopsforeclosures.com
visit my web site at www.shanetorres.com for more information on current listings

WHAT WHERE THEY THINKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In foreclosure controversy, problems run deeper than flawed paperwork

 

 

 

Thousands of foreclosures are put on hold

During the housing boom, millions of homeowners got easy access to mortgages. Now, some mortgage lenders and state governments have discovered many mortgage documents were mishandled.

 

 

Millions of U.S. mortgages have been shuttled around the global financial system - sold and resold by firms - without the documents that traditionally prove who legally owns the loans.

 

Now, as many of these loans have fallen into default and banks have sought to seize homes, judges around the country have increasingly ruled that lenders had no right to foreclose, because they lacked clear title.
These fundamental concerns over ownership extend beyond those that surfaced over the past two weeks amid reports of fraudulent loan documents and corporate "robo-signers."
The court decisions, should they continue to spread, could call into doubt the ownership of mortgages throughout the country, raising urgent challenges for both the real estate market and the wider financial system.
For struggling homeowners trying to avoid foreclosure, it could mean an opportunity to challenge the banks they argue have been unhelpful at best and deceptive at worst. But it also threatens to leave them in prolonged limbo, stuck in homes they still can't afford and waiting for the foreclosure process to begin anew.
For big banks, "there's a possible nightmare scenario here that no foreclosure is valid," said Nancy Bush, a banking analyst from NAB Research. If millions of foreclosures past and present were invalidated because of the way the hurried securitization process muddied the chain of ownership, banks could face lawsuits from homeowners and from investors who bought stakes in the mortgage securities - an expensive and potentially crippling proposition.

For the fragile housing market, already clogged with foreclosure cases, it could mean gridlock and confusion for years. And there is concern in Washington that if the real estate market and financial institutions suffer harm, it could force the government to step in again. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said Wednesday he is looking into the allegations of improper foreclosures, and Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate banking committee, said he plans to hold hearings on the issue.

 

At the core of the fights over the legal standing of banks in foreclosure cases is Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, based in Reston.

The company, known as MERS, was created more than a decade ago by the mortgage industry, including mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, GMAC, and the Mortgage Bankers Association.

MERS allowed big financial firms to trade mortgages at lightning speed while largely bypassing local property laws throughout the country that required new forms and filing fees each time a loan changed hands, lawyers say.
The idea behind it was to build a centralized registry to track loans electronically as they were traded by big financial firms. Without this system, the business of creating massive securities made of thousands of mortgages would likely have never taken off. The company's role caused few objections until millions of homes began to fall into foreclosure.
In recent years, the company has faced numerous court challenges, including separate class-action lawsuits in California and Nevada - the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis. Lawyers in other states have also challenged the company's legal standing in court.
Kentucky lawyer Heather Boone McKeever has filed a state class-action suit and a federal civil racketeering class-action suit on behalf of homeowners facing foreclosure, alleging that MERS and financial firms that did business with it have tried to foreclose on homes without holding proper titles.

 

"They have no legal standing and no right to foreclose," McKeever said. "If you or I did this one time, we'd be in jail."
Judges in various states have also weighed in.
In August, the Maine Supreme Court threw out a foreclosure case because "MERS did not have a stake in the proceedings and therefore had no standing to initiate the foreclosure action."

In May, a New York judge dismissed another case because the assignment of the loan by MERS to the bank HSBC was "defective," he said. The plaintiff's counsel seemed to be "operating in a parallel mortgage universe," the judge wrote.

Also in May, a California judge said MERS could not foreclose on a home, because it was merely a representative for Citibank and did not own the loan.
On the other hand, Minnesota legislators passed a law stating that MERS explicitly has the right to bring foreclosure cases. And on its Web site and in e-mails, MERS cites numerous court decisions around the country that it says demonstrate the company's right to act on behalf of lenders and to undertake foreclosures.
"Assertions that somehow MERS creates a defect in the mortgage or deed of trust are not supported by the facts," a company spokeswoman said.
But that's precisely what lawyers are arguing with more frequency throughout the country. If such an argument gains traction in the wake of recent foreclosure moratoriums, the consequences for banks could be enormous.
"It's an issue of the whole process of foreclosure having been so muddied by the [securitization] process," said Bush, the banking analyst. "It is no longer a straightforward legalistic process, which is what foreclosures are supposed to be."

 

 

Janet Tavakoli, founder and president of Tavakoli Structured Finance, a Chicago-based consulting firm, said that for much of the past decade, when banks were creating mortgage-backed securities as fast as possible, there was little time to check all the documents and make sure the paperwork was in order.
But now, when judges, lawyers and elected officials are demanding proper paperwork before foreclosures can proceed, the banks' paperwork problems have been laid bare, she said.
The result: "Banks are vulnerable to lawsuits from investors in the [securitization] trusts," Tavakoli said.
Referring to the federal government's $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program for banks, she added, "This problem could cost the banks significantly more money, which could mean TARP II

By Brady Dennis and Ariana Eunjung Cha

Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, October 7, 2010; 12:01 AM

 

Thanks
Shane Torres, Real Estate Expert
CDPE/SFR Specialist
RE/MAX Real Estate Concepts
1830 Princeton Dr. Ste C
Grimes, IA 50111
Licensed Real Estate Agent in Iowa

Phone 515-202-5894
Fax     866-838-0904
shane@realestateconcepts.net
shanetorres@remax.net
reoshane@realestateconcepts.net

For Information on short sale visit www.shanestopsforeclosures.com
visit my web site at www.shanetorres.com for more information on current listings

WHAT MAKES SHORT SALES SO IMPORTANT

This is a real problem and is only getting worse unless we do something and what makes short sales so important.

If governmental policy on foreclosure prevention does not change, 11.5 million borrowers are in danger of losing their homes, according to the analysts at Amherst Securities Group LP.

The staggering figure put forth by the mortgage investment brokerage equates to one out of every five borrowers – an astronomical 20 percent default rate that Amherst says “politically cannot happen.”
The dire forecast should be a wake-up call to regulators and government officials charged with plugging the nation’s foreclosure tsunami, and the analysts at the New York-based firm say they do believe “the government will attempt successive modification plans until something works.”
But up to this point, the administration still hasn’t hit on a successful equation. Reports on the progress of the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) seem to grow more disappointing with each month’s new dataset. Treasury’s August report showed that nearly half of all homeowners approved for trial HAMP mods have already fallen out of the program.
Amherst’s report warns that while recent industry data shows a drop in the number of delinquent loans, this information is skewed. According to the firm’s analysts, this so-called “improvement” simply reflects large-scale modification activity. The study explains that modifications are being flagged as “current” often with no cash flow from the borrower.
The firm’s analysts say, the bottom line is that 20 out of every 100 U.S. first lien residential mortgages are already impaired:

• Nine are seriously behind in their payments.
• Six have been behind and are classified as what Amherst calls “dirty current” because they have been modified. But the firm says these loans are re-defaulting at an eye-popping rate of 50 percent.

• Five are underwater by more than 20 percent of their current value and are defaulting at a 20 percent per-year-pace.

So how can the administration fix deficiencies in its loan modification program and keep the mortgage default rate from hitting the menacing 20 percent mark? Amherst analysts say the answer lies in cutting borrowers’ principal balances.
They argue that the success rate on mortgage modifications can be raised by making greater use of principal reductions. Amherst says this approach would help to address the phenomenon of strategic default, which is becoming increasingly acceptable among frustrated borrowers. Policymakers must first recognize that the inclination to walk-away from one’s mortgage has become an economic issue, not a moral one, according to Amherst. In addition, the costs of default must be made explicit, and the second lien issue must also be addressed.
Unfortunately, it is unlikely that these foreclosure-prevention policy changes will be sufficient to address the housing crisis, according to Amherst. The firm says additional government intervention is needed to boost housing demand.
Amherst recommends that the government provide leverage for investors to buy real estate, ideally through its federal housing agencies – the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac. Currently, Fannie and Freddie credit availability for investor properties is very limited, requiring large down payments and pristine credit, while FHA is for owner-occupied homes only.
Amherst says just when the market needs to increase demand for homes, demand is actually contracting due to credit availability issues. The firm’s analysts say new financing channels should be opened up to investors, noting that investors are currently purchasing a disproportionate share of foreclosed properties for cash.
In addition, Amherst recommends increasing credit availability on prudent terms to borrowers with less than pristine credit.
The large numbers of borrowers who have defaulted or will default on existing mortgages will, under present programs, be locked out of owning a home for years, but the company’s analysts say this setback can be addressed by re-qualifying borrowers who are in a home they can’t afford into one that better fits their financial situation.

http://www.dsnews.com/



Thanks
Shane Torres, Real Estate Expert
CDPE/SFR Specialist
RE/MAX Real Estate Concepts
1830 Princeton Dr. Ste C
Grimes, IA 50111
Licensed Real Estate Agent in Iowa

Phone 515-202-5894
Fax     866-838-0904
shane@realestateconcepts.net
shanetorres@remax.net
reoshane@realestateconcepts.net

For Information on short sale visit www.shanestopsforeclosures.com
visit my web site at www.shanetorres.com for more information on current listings

THE YEAR SO FAR

Good Morning to all today is the first day of October and it seems hard to believe but soon the year will be over and the big question for me will be how was my year for me it doesnt matter so much how many homes where closed but more importantly the people I have helped whether  it be a traditional sale/purchase or a short sale. Nothing is better than seeing someone make that step happen or if it is a short sale to see the relief that is on their face once they have closed and move on with there life.  This blog may have seem to come out of no where but what really got me thinking was last night when by chance I decided to look at face book and as Im scolling down I see this post not exspecting it meant alot coming from a client.
 If you are in need of buying a home or help with keeping up with your mortgage payments, you need to call my realtor Shane Torres. I only work with the best and you should also. With experience and vast knowledge, Shane will be your first and last stop for information. Check him out at the website below.

Homepage

 See what I mean.
Tell next time.


Thanks
Shane Torres, Real Estate Expert
CDPE/SFR Specialist
RE/MAX Real Estate Concepts
1830 Princeton Dr. Ste C
Grimes, IA 50111
Licensed Real Estate Agent in Iowa

Phone 515-202-5894
Fax     866-838-0904
shane@realestateconcepts.net
shanetorres@remax.net
reoshane@realestateconcepts.net

For Information on short sale visit www.shanestopsforeclosures.com
visit my web site at www.shanetorres.com for more information on current listi

THEY STILL NEED WORK

You know I have to be honest this is the first Blog that I have ever done, so I may mess up alot but here goes.
After today I just have some things I need to get off my mind, Short Sales are obviously becoming more popular and important to the country to avoid all the foreclosures that are coming and most of the larger Banks are doing a pretty good job of getting these things through and up to the investors for approval problem is the investors still are not moving as fast as the should to make these things go faster. The Last there short sales that I have done have had Lender Aproval in 45 days or less then it goes to the investor. One has a variance that needed applied for that variance has taken longer than the rest of the short sale to be approved and the other made it all the way up to investors and all the buyer had to do was except the closing cost that they approved and we would be way on our way to closing but didnt happen and fell apart today granite in this situation if the buyer could have made it work we could have been done but the investor could have met us in the middle. This is not the end of the world just part of the game. We will get it on the next one.
For my First blog I think I did alright only time will tell.
Remember if you or someone you know is falling behind on Mortgage Payments and do not know what to do you are not the only ones just remember it could always be worse call me and get starting on your path to recovery today.




Thanks
Shane Torres, Real Estate Expert
CDPE/SFR Specialist
RE/MAX Real Estate Concepts
1830 Princeton Dr. Ste C
Grimes, IA 50111
Licensed Real Estate Agent in Iowa

Phone 515-202-5894
Fax     866-838-0904
shane@realestateconcepts.net
shanetorres@remax.net
reoshane@realestateconcepts.net

For Information on short sale visit www.shanestopsforeclosures.com
visit my web site at www.shanetorres.com for more information on current listings