A new report shows foreclosure activity in Arizona jumped nearly 18 percent in October compared with the previous month.

Foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac says nearly 4,200 homeowners lost their homes last month, and another 6,400 were served with notices of default. Such notices are the first formal step lenders take before repossessing a home.

RealtyTrac’s Daren Blomquist says the numbers reflect an ongoing see-saw between up and down months as banks try to work through a raft of delinquencies but keep bring sidelined by missteps.

But the overall trend is positive. Arizona has now seen 12 consecutive months where foreclosures fell compared with the same month a year ago.

Arizona had the third-highest foreclosure rate of any state last month. One in every 259 housing units has a foreclosure filing.

Foreclosure activity in Arizona jumped nearly 18 percent in October compared with the previous month, according to a new report.

Nearly 4,200 homeowners in the state lost their homes last month, and another 6,400 were served with notices of default, according to Irvine, Calif.-based foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac. Such notices are the first formal step lenders take before repossessing a home.

Nationally, 10 percent more homes received an initial default notice last month than in September.

The Arizona numbers reflect an ongoing see-saw between up and down months as lenders continue to work through a backlog of delinquencies but keep bring sidelined by missteps, RealtyTrac’s Daren Blomquist said. Government efforts to help homeowners stave off home losses also are playing a role.

The overall trend in Arizona remains positive. Arizona has now seen 12 consecutive months where foreclosures fell compared with the same month a year before, but stumbles like October’s show the market still is unhealthy.

“When we see an increase like this it shows us that we’re not on this consistent trend downward,” Blomquist said. “There’s a lot of distress still in the market, and the market is going to have to absorb those distressed properties at some point.” Arizona had the third-highest foreclosure rate of any state last month. One in every 259 housing units had some type of foreclosure filing.

Banks appear to me moving to allow more homeowners go through the short-sale process rather than repossessing homes outright, Blomquist said. Those sales allow homeowners to avoid a full-out foreclosure by selling their homes for less than what’s owed on the mortgage, with the bank absorbing the loss.

That’s good for banks, homeowners and neighborhoods, because banks typically get more money from a short sale, homeowner’s don’t take as bad a credit hit, and the homes don’t sit vacant for months and drag down neighboring homes’ values.

Buyers have complained in recent years that banks can take up to a year to approve a purchase contract, and many have given up. But the time it takes for short-sale approval appears to be declining, Blomquist said.

“In a few states like Arizona you’re seeing that increase in short sales is a good indication that those are becoming a little more streamlined and palatable for buyers,” he said.

But there is still no quick end in sight for the state’s foreclosure crisis.

“I think that because of the severity of the housing bust in Arizona, Arizona’s foreclosure levels are going to remain high for a couple of years before we return to normal,” Blomquist said. “But the good news I think in the trends, I do think Arizona is past the peak of this foreclosure cycle. We’re at least headed in the right direction.”
Published By Associated Press (November 10th, 2011 @ 5:55am)

The ARMLS Pending Price Indexâ„¢ (PPIâ„¢) is a predictive market tool exclusive to ARMLS. TheIndex uses pending sales data from the Arizona Regional MLS system to predict Median salesprice and Average sales price three to four months into the future. This information is onlyavailable through ARMLS the sole aggregator of pending sales data.Pending sales data predict that the average price will drop slightly in July to $178.6K andcontinue downward at a steeper rate in August ($170.3K) and September ($156.4K) then levelout in October. The Median sales price shows more volatility rising fractionally in July and thenfalling back a bit in August (to $125K) and more in September before recovering in October.If the predictions holds true, the Median price for September would be the lowest in thepreceding nine years. The accuracy of the ARMLS PPIâ„¢ diminishes the further into the futurethe prediction are made because the sample size diminishes with time.Overall, the Median and Average sales prices have remained relatively flat over the previous 12months with only small monthly fluctuations. The market appears to be in a stable patternalthough it is prone to slight dips indicating that the recovery is still tentative and subject tomany outside economic factors.œARMLS PPI is a trademarkof Arizona Regional MLS. © 2010 ARMLS, may be reprinted with proper attribution.July 20, 2010

More Phoenix-area homeowners are walking away from their mortgage payments, and many more are likely considering it.

These are not people losing homes due to severe financial problems. “Walking away” now also describes people who can make their payments but don’t want to because they owe much more than their home is worth.

Metro Phoenix’s 50 percent drop in home values has left tens of thousands of homeowners here underwater, owing more than the market value of their house. Many people who bought houses during the market peak are paying mortgages double their home’s current worth. Most can’t sell now and will have to wait years before values rise enough for them to sell without taking a loss.

So, many walk away. Many of them are angry about federal bailouts for lenders who seem reluctant to work with homeowners on loan modifications. Frustration and anger increasingly outweighs the social stigma of foreclosure. In a populist twist, some homeowners are even proud of stiffing lenders.

Circumstances are also on their side. Lenders are overwhelmed and slow to foreclose, allowing mortgage defaulters to stay in their homes for months without paying anything. Many homeowners who walk away can rent comparable houses for half their current mortgage payment. And laws in Arizona prevent lenders from going after the personal  assets  of those who default on a mortgage.

There are no hard figures on the number of Phoenix homeowners who have walked away from their mortgages. Nationally, one recent study found at least 25 percent of all foreclosures are driven by “strategy,” not necessity. And there are fewer penalties for walking away in Arizona than most other states. Foreclosures in the Valley continue to hover around record levels.

What worries housing-market experts is that if more people walk away, then even more foreclosure properties will continue to depress the market and delay any recovery.

By the numbers

Joe Giovale paid $390,000 for a north Phoenix home in 2006. He knew home prices wouldn’t keep climbing at the same brisk pace, but he expected steady appreciation of about 2 percent a year.

Giovale’s home is surrounded by foreclosure properties. He owes at least 50 percent more than his house is worth. Giovale can rent a similar house in his neighborhood for $1,000 less a month than his mortgage payment.

“My lender won’t cut my principal, despite the federal help it’s getting,” Giovale said. “I can afford the payments. But I have done the calculations. It’s going to take 18 years until the value of my home rebounds to what I paid for it. Why shouldn’t I walk away and rent? I can probably buy again in a few years.”

Strategic default

Walking away is almost as easy as it sounds.

Homeowners stop paying their mortgages and wait for the notice that their lender has started to foreclose. Lenders call this a strategic default.

Lenders used to foreclose on a home after three missed mortgage payments. But the record number of foreclosures in Phoenix has significantly slowed that process. Now, some lenders do not get around to filing to foreclose until the homeowner misses six or more payments, which can mean half a year of free housing for someone who plans to walk away.

Once homeowners receive a notice of a foreclosure, they usually have three months until their home is sold through a foreclosure auction or trustee sale. But, again, because of the backlog of foreclosures, auctions are often delayed by several more months.

Many homeowners who plan to walk away will try to find a rental home before the black mark of a foreclosure is on their credit report.

Given the housing-market crisis, some landlords care less about a foreclosure on a  creditrecord  than proof of steady income.

Angry at lenders

Patrick Brennan thinks about walking away from his Laveen home. Not because he is underwater but because he’s so angry at lenders.

“I’m in a unique position of wanting to walk away from my mortgage based on principle, not principal,” Brennan said.

But he is going to stay put and continue paying his mortgage because he says his family does not stand to gain much from walking away. Brennan has become a prolific blogger on the topic, frustrated with lenders blaming homeowners and making them pay the price for the housing crash. He advises people to feel no remorse for walking away and not to worry about what their friends and family will think.

“Why should we insist that there be a false moral obligation on the part of the downtrodden homeowner to help the bank that refuses to renegotiate a bad loan?” he said. “Whether to walk away or not is a conversation we must have in society now, mainly so that the average consumer can become better armed with information and make the best choice.”

Penalties and credit

The impact on personal credit histories varies when it comes to homeowners and their mortgages.

Currently, homeowners who walk away from a mortgage receive a black mark on their credit that stays there for at least seven years. Brent White, a University of Arizona associate law professor, believes the nation’s credit-reporting system should be changed in the wake of the housing crash. He doesn’t think foreclosures should be a black mark on people’s credit records when many can’t avoid the financial catastrophe due to the weak economy and depressed home values.

He wrote a controversial paper about his views that continues to draw national attention. White believes more homeowners should walk away until a fairer situation is created between lenders and borrowers.

“It is time to put to rest the assumption that a borrower who exercises the option to default is somehow immoral or irresponsible,” White said. “Lenders walk away from bad deals all the time, and they don’t have to pay a price as heavy as a homeowner with a foreclosure on their credit score.”

Critics say homeowners who walk away should face bigger credit penalties than homeowners who cannot obtain a loan modification and lose their home to foreclosure.

People who walk away, critics say, further damage the market by depressing prices and creating more foreclosures, and they should not be rewarded.

“If people walk away, they should not be able to do so without a cost,” homeowner Pete Taggatz said. “No chance should exist for them to obtain any home loan until a mandatory waiting period has passed, seven to 10 years. Anyone that obtains a home loan and subsequently walks away from their loan should be charged with mortgage fraud.”

The nation’s biggest mortgage lenders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, won’t fund a mortgage for five years for any borrower who walks away.

More lenders are trying to track down homeowners who walk away, even in Arizona. But Arizona is a so-called anti-deficiency state, which means that, in most cases, lenders that take back a borrower’s primary residence through foreclosure can’t go after that borrower’s other assets.

State legislation passed last year would have allowed lenders to go after assets of homeowners who lost houses to foreclosure and couldn’t show they lived in a home for six months straight. The law was aimed at housing speculators but would have affected many retirees and second-home owners.

The law was repealed in December, but its backers, including the state’s banking industry, have been looking at ways to help lenders recoup their losses from borrowers who purposefully default on mortgages.

Not every Arizona homeowner is protected when it comes to personal assets. When people refinance in Arizona, some new loan documents don’t offer anti-deficiency cover for the difference between the sale price and outstanding mortgage balance.

There could be tax implications for people who walk away, particularly on second homes. The money a lender loses on a foreclosure home can usually be considered income for the former homeowner, according to the Internal Revenue Service. But because of the national foreclosure crisis, some home-loan debt canceled through loan modifications,short  sales  or foreclosures are exempt from being treated as income by the IRS until 2012.

Homeowners lose hefty tax deductions from the interest on their mortgage when they stop paying.

Marcel Thierot is an investor who would rather take a  tax  hit than keep paying on his Scottsdale winter home. He bought a new home in 2005 for more than $500,000 and estimates the current value at about $200,000.

“I am not paying for this housing bubble,” he said. “The bank won’t do anything to cut my payments, but I know they will very happily sell my home at a foreclosure auction as soon as they take it.”

by  Catherine Reagor  - Mar. 17, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Updated 5 hours, 27 minutes ago.

By ALAN ZIBELAP Real Estate WriterWASHINGTON (AP) – The government’s $50 billion program to ease the mortgage crisis is helping only a tiny fraction of struggling homeowners, and a list released Tuesday showed which lenders are laggards.As of July, only 9 percent of eligible borrowers had seen their mortgage payments reduced with modified loans. And the first monthly progress report showed that 10 lenders had not changed a single mortgage.The report indicated that lenders such as Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo and Co. have lagged behind government expectations. Both banks received billions in federal bailout money.BofA modified just 4 percent of eligible loans, and Wells Fargo 6 percent. Wachovia Corp., which was taken over by Wells Fargo in December, modified only 2 percent.”We think they could have ramped up better, faster, more consistently and done a better job serving borrowers and bringing stabilization to the broader mortgage markets and economy,” said Michael Barr, the Treasury Department’s assistant secretary for financial institutions. “We expect them to do more.”Wells Fargo says it plans to speed up its efforts, signing up most borrowers for the Obama plan with one phone call and sending customers a trial offer within two days.The report is “only part of the story” because the numbers do not reflect an additional 220,000 loans that Wells modified outside the Obama plan this year, a company executive said.BofA said it would improve its “processes for reaching those in need” and continue working with the Treasury Department to help homeowners who fall outside the program’s eligibility requirements.Meanwhile, foreclosures continue to rise. About 1.5 million households received at least one foreclosure-related notice in the first half of this year, according to RealtyTrac Inc.”There are certainly more foreclosures going on in the country then there are modifications _ by a long shot,” said Bruce Dorpalen, director of housing counseling at Acorn Housing, a nonprofit housing group. He said his group has intervened to prevent about 500 foreclosure sales in cases where borrowers wanted to be considered for the Obama plan.A housing counselor told 36-year-old Veronica Cassella she should qualify for a loan modification, but Green Tree Servicing LLC claims she does not. Cassella, who works at a hair and nails salon in Visalia, Calif., has seen her income shrink with the economy from $35,000 to $25,000.Her husband still works, but their income is not enough to cover the $213,000 mortgage on their home, which has lost roughly half its value.”My life has been a standstill with these people for at least half the year,” Cassella said. Green Tree, which modified 4 percent of eligible loans, did not return calls for comment.There are 38 companies participating in the government program, and some noticeable holdouts that control 15 percent of outstanding mortgages.HomEq Servicing, owned by Barclays PLC, and Litton Loan Servicing, owned by Goldman Sachs, have yet to join. Spokesmen for both companies said they plan to do so soon.So far, banks have extended only 400,000 offers among 2.7 million eligible borrowers who are more than two months behind on their payments. More than 235,000 of those borrowers have enrolled in three-month trials.But the government is partly to blame for the languid start. The administration rolled out the guidelines gradually this year. Much of the program was not finished until mid-May, and the guidelines were updated again in early July.The White House maintains it is on track to meet its goal of helping up to 4 million homeowners by 2012. Last week, the administration extracted a verbal promise from the mortgage industry to reach 500,000 borrowers by Nov. 1.American Home Mortgage Servicing and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. were among the companies that had a zero next to their names on Tuesday’s report.In a statement, American Home Mortgage Servicing explained that it did not join the program until July 22 but had modified nearly 37,000 loans in the first six months of 2009.David M. Friedman, president and CEO, said executives expect to help 60,000 customers, or about 40 percent of the company’s eligible delinquent borrowers.PNC, which owns National City Bank, began the process in early July.The best results among the large loan services came from Saxon Mortgage Servicers Inc. One in four of Saxon’s eligible borrowers has a trial loan modification with a lower monthly payment to help the homeowner avoid foreclosure. Aurora Loan Services LLC, GMAC Mortgage Inc. and JPMorgan Chase all had one in five qualified borrowers in a trial loan.”We’ve got feet on streets in neighborhoods where borrowers need help,” said David Lowman, chief executive of the JPMorgan Chase’s home lending division.For each homeowner who makes regular payments for three months, the loan servicer collects $1,000 from the government. The company is paid thousand of dollars more if the borrower stays current for three years.Housing advocates cite numerous cases in which companies have not followed the program’s rules. And when borrowers are denied, they often are not told why. In response to such complaints, the Treasury Department says Freddie Mac will be doing random audits to see if borrowers are being improperly rejected.___AP Real Estate Writer J.W. Elphinstone contributed to this report from New York.(Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

A bit of some good news!By ADRIAN SAINZ, DAVID TWIDDY, DANIEL WAGNER, ALEX VEIGA  

Associated Press Writers (AP) – It was _ note the past tense _ the worst housing recession anyone but survivors of the Great Depression can remember.From the frenzied peak of the real estate boom in 2005-2006 to the recession’s trough earlier this year, home resales fell 38 percent and sales of new homes tumbled 76 percent. Construction of homes and apartments skidded 79 percent. And for the first time in more than four decades of record keeping, home prices posted consecutive annual declines.A staggering $4 trillion in home equity was wiped out, and millions of Americans lost their homes through foreclosure.Now take a deep breath and exhale. The worst is over.By every measure, except foreclosures, the housing market has stabilized and many areas are recovering, according to a spate of data released in the past two weeks. Nationwide, home resales in June are up 9 percent from January, on a seasonally adjusted basis. Sales of new homes have climbed 17 percent during the same period. And construction, while still anemic, has risen almost 20 percent since the beginning of the year.Even home prices, down one third from the top, edged up in May, the first monthly increase since June 2006.“The freefall is over,” says Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.The problem is that, Baker, like many economists, expects the housing market will “be bouncing around the bottom” for the second half of the year.There are also real threats that could poison this budding recovery. The unemployment rate, which is 9.5 percent, is expected to surpass 10 percent, leaving even more homeowners unable to pay their mortgages. Mortgage rates could rise, making homeownership less affordable. And the federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers, which as lured many into the market, is set to expire on Nov. 30.“As long as jobs are being lost, regardless of all the federal programs out there to help the borrowers, you’re still going to have problems in the housing market,” says Steve Cumbie, executive director of the Center for Real Estate Development at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.True, but when you’ve got bidding wars for foreclosures in places like Las Vegas, Phoenix and Los Angeles, it’s time to call the bottom._ NortheastNobody knows the power of a dollar like New Yorkers.After home on Long Island sat on the market for four months recently, the sellers’ real estate agent told them to drop the price from the mid-$600s to $599,000. The house sold the next weekend.In Merrick, about 30 miles east of New York City, homes are starting to sell “as long as they’re priced right,” the agent said.In January, with the ground and financial markets still frozen, few would have believed that the worst of the housing crisis in the Northeast would turn around within six months.But the evidence is clear: home resales in the region in June hit a seasonally adjusted pace of 820,000, up 28 percent from the beginning of the year. Sales of new homes were also up slightly and construction in the region more than doubled.Even the median sales price of $249,400 in June was up 10 percent from January and was off just 6 percent from year-ago levels, according to the National Association of Realtors.“We certainly had our share of problems, but overall the severity of what happened here was far less” than what happened elsewhere, says Michael Lynch, an economist with IHS Global Insight.Pittsburgh has the region’s strongest home market in terms of sales and prices because the city saw less of a housing bubble and the area has 7.7 percent unemployment rate that is below the national rate.One of the weakest markets, by contrast, was Providence, R.I., where a jobless rate of 12 percent exacerbated the city’s foreclosure crisis. Too many residents took out risky subprime loans they couldn’t afford when the interest rates spiked within a few years. Today, more than one in 10 homeowners with a mortgage in the state is at least one month behind or in foreclosure.The Northeast, more than any other region, felt the full force of the credit crisis that reshaped Wall Street. Manhattan’s real estate market, long immune from price declines, tanked this year as tens of thousands of people lost their jobs.Prices of for-sale apartments plunged in the second quarter by the largest amount in decades. Prices have fallen, on average, between 13 and 19 percent, according to four reports published recently by real estate firms.Northeast states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, VermontData compares June vs. January and June vs. June 2008:Home resales: up 28 percent; down 5 percentMedian price: $249,400, up 10 percent from January; down 6 percentNew home sales: up 3 percent; down 11 percentNew home construction: up 113 percent, down 68 percentMortgage delinquencies as of March: 10.4 percentRegional outlook: The region should experience “a nice rebound in home construction” over the rest of the year, according to IHS Global Insight, an economic research firm. Sales for new and existing homes are likely to rise. Just don’t expect your home’s value to shoot up. Rising unemployment will lead to more foreclosures, and that will keep a lid on prices._ SouthThe real estate market in the South remains one of extremes.On one end, are oil-rich cities in Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma that nearly skirted the housing recession altogether. Tipping the scale on the other side are foreclosure-ridden areas in Atlanta and swaths in Florida where prices are still falling annually by double digits.Taken as a whole, home resales in the 17-state region rose 10 percent in the first half of this year on a seasonally adjusted basis, and are off just 4 percent from June of last year, according to the National Association of Realtors.“Generally speaking, the rate of decrease, both in sales and prices, has started to bottom,” says the University of North Carolina’s Cumbie. “But that doesn’t mean it’s going to come roaring back.”Mass layoffs at Bank of America and Wachovia, for example, have taken their toll in their home state of North Carolina. Home price declines in Charlotte accelerated this year, and home resales in June were off nearly 30 percent from last year.Home and apartment construction, a key economic engine, will also vary widely across the region. Parts of the South, notably Florida and Atlanta, were vastly overbuilt during the housing boom. So construction in the region rose a meager 7 percent in the first half of the year, the lowest of the four regions, according to the Commerce Department.There was little reason for builders to start laying new foundations. New home sales fell 2 percent from January to June, the only region in the country to post a decline.“In the longer term, I’m confident that the real estate market is going to shift where buyers are coming out not only because of attractive interest rates and low prices, but because more people are getting jobs,” says Les Simmonds, president of L.G. Simmonds Real Estate Corp. in Longwood, Fla. an Orlando suburb. “But, as we speak, it’s not right. It’s going to take more time.”Southeast states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West VirginiaData compares June vs. January and June vs. June 2008:Home resales: up 10 percent; down 4 percentMedian price: $163,200 up 14 percent; down 12 percentNew home sales: down 2 percent; down 34 percentNew home construction: up 7 percent; down 44 percentMortgage delinquencies as of March: 12.7 percentRegional outlook: The southern market has several characteristics that could help it recover, Cumbie says. The population continues to grow and businesses continue to move into the region. But the weight of foreclosures and job losses stretching into next year could delay any meaningful recovery._ MidwestIt’s no surprise that the housing market and the auto industry are intertwined in Detroit, though, this is the first time anybody can remember that you can buy a home for less than the price of a new car.But step out of devastated towns in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana and the housing market in the Midwest is showing some of the strongest signs of recovery in the country.Thanks to places like the Dakotas, Iowa and Nebraska, the median sales price in the region rose almost 20 percent to an affordable $157,000 in June from January levels.Sales of new homes jumped almost 38 percent in the first half of the year, which encouraged builders to get out their hammers. Construction, which was at a standstill in some communities, rose 86 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, which accounts for typical variations in weather and other factors.“New construction has been a good indicator for us in the past of what the general market is doing,” says Chris Collins, president of the Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors. “Our new market is not what we’ve been used to but it’s substantially better than other parts of the country.”The home resale market, however, remains weaker than the nation as a whole. That again can be blamed on the economy. The jobless rate in the Midwest is 10.2 percent compared with 9.5 percent nationally. And if you don’t have a job you are not buying a house.William Strauss, a senior economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, cautioned that job cuts are still high in the region, and loss of income is the No. 1 reason homeowners default.“We never got as bad as (other) states but nonetheless we still took a hit,” he says, and the market remains “soft in the Midwest.”Midwest states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, WisconsinData compares June vs. January and June 2008:Home resales: up 7 percent, down 2 percentMedian price: $157,000, up 20 percent, down 9 percentNew home sales: up 38 percent, up 6 percentNew home construction: up 86 percent, down 21 percentMortgage delinquencies as of March: 11.5 percentRegional outlook: “Before we can even talk about the housing sector materially improving, we’re going to have to see these job losses get down quite a bit,” said William Strauss, a senior economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Financial markets must also improve, he said, so more homebuyers can qualify for a mortgage._WestFor years Las Vegas symbolized the boom, as mile after mile of desert gave way to three-bedroom homes and swimming pools. Then came the crash and it symbolized something else: a decade of speculation and excess.Now, Las Vegas is one of the hottest housing markets in the region again. This city has always profited from others’ misfortune, and the same can be said of the current housing market.In Clark County, Nev., home to Sin City, one in every 11 homes had received at least one foreclosure-related notice in June, according to RealtyTrac. The glut of deeply discounted foreclosures has almost doubled sales activity for most of this year.“In January the market was busy, and since that time, it’s gone a little haywire,” says Brad Snyder, an agent with ZipRealty in Las Vegas. “There’s (sales) activity now that we haven’t seen even since ’04.”The situation is similar in California’s Riverside, San Joaquin and San Bernardino counties, where one out of every 14 homes was in foreclosure.After falling 18 percent in the second half of 2008, monthly home prices were flat in the first half of this year, on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the National Association of Realtors.Markets like these have seen a surge this year in all-cash buyers, many of them investors, scooping up the sharply discounted properties. It’s not uncommon to see multiple offers on a single property, and that’s helped slow the rate of price declines a little. The demand also has helped whittle down the inventory of homes for sale to the lowest level since the boom.“We have seen such a steep decline in supply right now, that when a home comes on the market it’s first day there could be seven or eight or 10 people there in a matter of hours,” Snyder says.To lure buyers away from foreclosures, homebuilders have slashed prices or are simply tearing down vacant homes. New home sales jumped almost 59 percent in the first half of the year, while construction in these grossly overbuilt markets slid 12 percent.In the Pacific Northwest and states such as Utah, by contrast, housing markets are on a different timer than the rest of the West. Home sales and values held up better and longer while markets in the Southwest were already in decline. These markets also haven’t seen as many foreclosures wreaking havoc with home prices.States in the region: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, WyomingData compares June vs. January and June 2008:Home resales: down 1 percent, up 12 percentMedian price: $214,800, flat, down 25 percentNew home sales: up 59 percent, down 10 percentNew home construction: down 12 percent, down 42 percentMortgage delinquencies as of March: 12 percentRegional outlook: The recession remains the region’s wild card. Unemployment is at 10.2 percent in the West, but that could go higher if the economy worsens. If that happens, expect more foreclosures and a slower turnaround.__Adrian Sainz reported from Miami, Alex Veiga reported from Los Angeles, Daniel Wagner from Washington, and David Twiddy from Kansas City. AP Data Specialist Allen Chen contributed to this report.

Click  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/business/03mortgage.html?_r=1&hp#  for full article.

by Kevin G. Hall – May. 15, 2009 12:00 AMMcClatchy NewspapersWASHINGTON – The Obama administration unveiled new programs Thursday designed to make it easier forhomeowners who owe far more than their houses are now worth to sell those homes at a loss and have theirremaining debt forgiven.The programs, announced by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, are the latest additions to Making HomeAffordable, an evolving $75 billion plan that tries to break the national housing crisis into separate pieces,attacking the problem on several fronts.The first two legs of the program sought to help borrowers refinance into today’s low mortgage rates, or ifthey’re behind on payments, to seek loan modifications to avoid foreclosure.President Barack Obama described these steps at a town-hall meeting in Albuquerque on Thursday: “The bankhas to lose a little bit of money on what they were expecting on principal and interest. On the other hand, thehomeowner, if they make this agreement with the bank, they’ve got to agree that when prices start going upagain, they give up a little bit of equity to repay the bank. But either way, everybody is better off, including thecommunity, if people stay in their homes.”Thursday’s announcements address situations in which borrowers can’t qualify for either of those programs andare at risk of losing their homes. The administration will now provide additional financial incentives to lenderswilling to help homeowners unload their properties at a loss when they owe much more than the present-dayvalue of their homes.The incentives apply to lenders who agree to allow homeowners to conduct short sales or deed-in-lieutransactions instead of going into foreclosure and dragging down prices for neighbors and adding to the alreadylarge national inventory of empty homes.In a short sale, borrowers sell their home at current market value and all proceeds go to the lender. Thehomeowner is then no longer responsible for the difference between what is owed and the home’s sale price.There’s still a hit to a borrower’s credit rating but not as damaging as it would be in a foreclosure.When there are no buyers, lenders sometimes accept a deal in which the borrower transfers ownership of theproperty to the loan servicer, who acts as a bill collector for investors who own pools of U.S. mortgages. Thissort of deal is shorthanded as a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, or deed-in-lieu.Under the new plan, servicers will receive compensation of up to $1,000 per short sale or deed-in-lieu transferaccepted. As an incentive to avoid foreclosure, borrowers could be paid up to $1,500 in relocation expenses.Because many homes have second mortgages, the Treasury will pay lenders up to $1,000 to accept the dealsinstead of going to foreclosure.Borrowers will get 90 days to achieve a short sale and must list it with a licensed real-estate agent. Borrowers inareas of severe market downturn – such as Arizona, California, Nevada and Florida – will get up to a year toreach a short sale. After that, deed-in-lieu transfers occur.To discourage borrowers from simply unloading their homes, they must first be deemed unable to get a loanmodification. The program is voluntary for most lenders but mandatory for banks that received taxpayer-bailoutmoney.For homeowners in states where home prices have fallen sharply, the administration also rolled out Thursday acomplex insurance program that will protect lenders from further home-price declines when they are willing tomodify loans. That program is capped at $10 billion.The cost of all these new programs will be paid from a $50 billion pool of taxpayer bailout money set aside toaddress the housing crisis.Experts welcomed Thursday’s initiative.”We have heard from Realtors that the extensive delay in the short-sale process had caused many buyers to goelsewhere and have left many would-be sellers with no option but foreclosure,” Charles McMillan, a DallasRealtor and president of the National Association of Realtors, said in a statement. “We are all pleased that thegovernment has stepped in to help homeowners and those wishing to buy a home.”

Hello all. As I am sure you know, the swine flu scare is taking over newschannels and newspapers nationwide. So, while this post is not real estate related, I felt it would be a great post to share with you.

People who pick three or more of the suggestions from this list – and stick to them – will substantially improve their immune strength,increase their ability to stay sane and healthy through dreaded cold and flu season, and keep their health and happiness up through the darkest months of the year!

1. Drink your lemons.Lemonis the ideal food for restoringacid-alkali balance. Drinking freshly squeezed lemon juice in water, or adding it to tea, salad dressings (in place of vinegar), baking or cooking, helps maintain the body’s internal “climate” at a pH which supports healthy bacteria instead of the viruses and harmful bacteria which thrive in more acidic environments.Apple cider vinegaris another great way to improve your body’s alkalinity, but the taste of lemons is much more pleasant!

2. Give your body an herbal boost.Hundreds of herbal supplements and tinctures exist to give the immune system additional support during the winter. I recommend essential oils (especially my favourite winter blend,Thieves) as an excellent source of immune-stimulating compounds, and the rawest and most natural form of any medicinal plant, but there are other supplements which can be effective. Fresh herbs and whole food remedies are always preferable over packaged herbs or supplements, since they have a much higher potency and frequency and your body absorbs more of their value. See alsoEssential Oils Fight Cold and Flu.

3. Get a full night’s sleep.Everybody’s different: your body may need anywhere from 6 to 10 hours of sleep each night. Whatever your personal sleep requirement is, get it! Sleep has been linked to balanced hormone levels (including human growth hormone and the stress hormone, cortisol), keeping weight down, clear thinking and reasoning, improved mood, and vibrant, healthy skin.

4. Eat plenty of protein.Protein is a building block for a healthy body, mind, and immune system. Diets low in protein tend to be high in carbs which convert readily to glucose, spikingblood sugarand stressing the pancreas and the immune system.

5. Drink plenty of water.This is almost, but not quite, a given; most headaches occur because despite the number of reminders, people still aren’t getting enough water! Headaches and thirst are both signs of dehydration. You should be drinking, in daily ounces, half your body weight in pounds. (i.e. Body weight in pounds, divided by 2 = number of ounces of water per day.)Click here for detailed guidelines – how much water do you need daily?

6. Stop drinking coffee.Contrary to recent marketing as a source ofantioxidants,chocolateand coffee are two of the worst things you can do for your immune system and your health. Caffeine robs your body of minerals and vitamins, and it dehydrates you. If you drink coffee, make sure you add an additional two glasses to your water intake per cup of coffee. A mineral supplement helps to offset caffeine’s damage, too.

7.Worse yet is the impact of refined white sugar.If you do only one thing to boost your immune system, eliminating sugar will do the trick.You will see noticeable results in your energy levels, weight distribution, immunity and your ability to think clearly when you break the cravings and stop eatingrefined sugar. Many holistic nutritionists consider sugar a drug for its impact on the human body; I have known practitioners to prioritize eliminating sugar from the diet over recommending that people quitting smoking. Healthier sugars such asagave and steviado exist, but I avoid artificial sweeteners; they aremore toxic than cane sugar.

8. Stock up on raw fruits and vegetables for their antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, fibre and enzymes.The nutritional content that you receive from raw fruits and veggies is unparalleled. Many vitamins, including C, areantioxidantsand will protect cells – including those of your immune system – from damage by toxins in the environment. Dark-coloured produce (berries, kale, broccoli) tends to be higher in flavonoids, polyphenols and other antioxidants. The perfect source of minerals is seaweed, which is sold dried, but can often be found raw (dried at low temperatures to maintain most of the enzymes and nutrients) in health food stores.

9. Spend some time out in the cold.Snowball fight, anyone? Exercise can make a noticeable difference to your health and happiness by releasing endorphins. Most of us spend 90% of our lives indoors, inhaling dubiously filtered air and other people’s germs, so I take any opportunity I can to get outside. Time spent outdoors in the cold also stimulates thethyroid gland.

Finally…

10. Nurture yourself.Make sure you take time to yourself, spend some time with friends, and indulge yourself in a massage, a hot bath, or an energy work session when you want one. Our bodies respond to ouremotions- if you’re feeling harassed and anxious, it can manifest in a sore throat or a cold. Create a space within yourself and your living environment for harmony, self-love and joy (giving thanks, prayer and blessing the abundance in your life and of the world around you helps). Pay attention to warning signs of sore throat or exhaustion so you can keep them from getting worse. I advise taking a “mental health day” every few months to make sure your emotional needs are met. When you’re happy, you’re far less likely to get sick.

The copyright of the article10 Ways to Boost Immune HealthinNatural Medicineis owned byVictoria Anisman-Reiner. Permission to republish10 Ways to Boost Immune Healthin print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
Read more: “10 Ways to Boost Immune Health: Stop cold, flu & depression in their tracks – before you get sick” -http://naturalmedicine.suite101.com/article.cfm/10_ways_to_boost_immune_health#ixzz0E6ZFDbPB&A

1) The economy is bruised, but not broken!The challenges we are currently facing are serious, but nothing we will not recover from over time. Last year Americans earned 10 trillion in disposable income. More than 89% of Americans are current on their mortgage and one third of all american homeowners don’t even have mortgages. The public is spending less because they lack confidence, but spending has not stopped!2) We are not in the great depression!There are not widespread soup kitchens or bread lines. Unemployment during the great depression was 25% compared with our current rates of 8%-9%. The U.S. GDP is expecting a 3% decline this year, nothing close to the 30% during the great depression. During the great depression the governments actions actually contributed to the cause of the depression, today their actions are the opposite.It is my belief that they are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the future, there is a choice, and that choice is up to you.  

Translated: If they have no address you cannot find them when they take your

money and run. This correlates with Scam #6.

This is a big red flag. Why wouldn™t a company put their address on their website? I can think of one reason – they don™t want to be found.

We had a woman call us and tell us she sent $5,499 to an attorney, or presumably an attorney, to do a loan modification. After a month of not hearing from the attorney she went to the website for a contact number. The number was disconnected. The next logical thing was to get the address and send a letter but there was no address on the site. She was stuck and had no idea what to do. Luckily for her, we have an excellent legal team that was able to resolve this matter. If you cannot find an address, I would be very skeptical and would advise you to look for help elsewhere.

Hopefully this report will point you in the right direction and help you resolve

Your mortgage problems. Unlike most companies, which you have probably noticed, I am not trying to sell you on the service that our company provides.

Why am I not trying to œsell you? Simple, our program is so effective (98.3%) and in such high demand that I don™t need to. We only allow 73 new clients a week to enroll in our program because of the large amount of work it takes to get the best possible plan.

For all qualified clients we offer a 100% Money Back Guarantee. It plainly states:

œIf We Cannot Obtain a Loan Modification or Forbearance Agreement from Your Mortgage Company Our Service Will Cost You Nothing