By Mike Colpitts In a major positive sign for the U.S. housing market, the two largest real estate research firms tracking the market agree that average home prices have increased for the first time since the real estate collapse more than five years ago. California based CoreLogic and Florida based Lender Processing Services say home… Continue reading Research Firms Agree Home Prices Are Rising
Category: California
California housing market
Foreclosures Jump Resumes After Robo-Signing Slowdown
By Mike Colpitts Foreclosure starts rose for the first time in more than two years in May, signaling a resumption of formal bank repossessions of homes with mortgages in default after months of slower foreclosures. Initial filings were lodged against 205,990 U.S. residential properties, according to RealtyTrac. The increase accounted for a 9% hike in… Continue reading Foreclosures Jump Resumes After Robo-Signing Slowdown
Shadow Inventory Declines, But Still Looms
By Mike Colpitts The shadow inventory or the number of homes that lurk uncounted by banks and other mortgage lenders in the abyss of the troubled housing market is shrinking as banks offer more troubled homeowners, including landlords short sales for the first time since the U.S. housing crisis started. Estimates of the shadow inventory,… Continue reading Shadow Inventory Declines, But Still Looms
No Confidence in US Government to Aid Housing Market
Respondents to an online poll have given the U.S. government a no confidence vote when it comes to helping the housing market. An over-whelming majority of 84% who were surveyed said the government will not take major steps to help the housing market. The sweeping decision comes five years and more than 7 million foreclosures… Continue reading No Confidence in US Government to Aid Housing Market
Former Homeowners Not Applying for Aid
By Mike Colpitts More than 4-million former homeowners whose homes may have been foreclosed illegally by the nation’s largest banks have received letters from the U.S. government asking them if they would like their foreclosures to be reviewed. But so disillusioned by the banking industry and their own situations, the over-whelming majority have failed to… Continue reading Former Homeowners Not Applying for Aid
Bidding Wars Return to Housing Market
By Mike Colpitts From wealthy Marin County north of the Golden Gate Bridge in Northern California all the way down south to Miami Beach, bidding wars are happening again in real estate. The downtrodden housing market is making a comeback, but it isn’t like it was during the bubble years at all. A tight inventory… Continue reading Bidding Wars Return to Housing Market
States Rip Off Foreclosure Victims
By Mike Colpitts Almost $1-billion targeted to victims of banking foreclosure fraud is being ripped off from foreclosure victims to be used to pay for other programs for states facing serious financial deficits. The nation’s largest five banks agreed to pay a $25 billion settlement as part of their agreement to settle allegations of illegal… Continue reading States Rip Off Foreclosure Victims
Home Foreclosure Purchases Push Prices Higher
By Mike Colpitts Strong demand for lower priced foreclosure homes held by banks (REOs) and the nation’s giant mortgage lenders by purchasers is starting to send values of all other homes higher, according to real estate research firm Clear Capital. The Truckee, California based data firm said home prices are still losing ground over the… Continue reading Home Foreclosure Purchases Push Prices Higher
More Than Half of Homeowners Can’t Move
More than half of all homeowners with a mortgage are unable to move or make a change in their housing situation as a direct result of being underwater on a mortgage, according to a new Housing Predictor survey. Some 54% of those surveyed online said they were halted from making a move. The other 46%… Continue reading More Than Half of Homeowners Can’t Move
Freddie Mac Fails at Mortgage Modifications
By Mike Colpitts One of the nation’s giant mortgage lenders, Freddie Mac provided only 4,308 mortgage modifications during the month of March in the U.S., and 13,677 for the first three months of the year, according to public figures provided by the lender. The weak volume of mortgage modifications would get the government backed lender… Continue reading Freddie Mac Fails at Mortgage Modifications