2011 Foreclosure Activity Ends With a Whimper Foreclosure Starts dropped significantly throughout our coverage area with the exception of a modest increase in Oregon. Foreclosure Sales were mixed, and down far less than we expected given lender announc... Click Here To View More

In 1981, English punk rock band The Clash wrote “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” about the rocky personal relationships between members of the band when facing the dilemma of sticking together or breaking up. The lyrics could not be more app... Click Here To View More

Last year I attempted to make some predictions for the coming year. I thought it would be a worthwhile exercise to take a look back at 2011 and see how I did, and then share my thoughts on what should happen in the new year. At this time last year, I p... Click Here To View More

Today Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is having its National Day of Action to Stop and Reverse Foreclosures. The idea being that they can hurt the banks by forcing them to stop foreclosing. Only problem with this plan is that foreclosure delays help the banks as we introduced with our Foreclosure Roulette blog post, and demonstrated [...] Click Here To View More

Two big pieces of news today on the foreclosure front: 1. Michigan Supreme Court Reverses Ruling on MERS’ Right to Foreclose 2. Nevada Grand Jury Indicts Two in Alleged Robo-Signing Scheme Before I share my thoughts on each of these cases, let’s start with some background: When the whole robo-signing scandal first erupted, we predicted [...] Click Here To View More

Little Change in California, as Nevada and Washington Foreclosure Starts Plummet Foreclosure Starts in California were little changed this month, after a dramatic increase in August and subsequent fall in September. Other California foreclosure activity was also little changed in October. California foreclosure investors gained traction with 9.9 percent more properties sold to third parties [...] Click Here To View More

Active military service can be very difficult financially for the men and women who serve, and the family members they leave behind. The stress of knowing your loved one is potentially in harms way is enough of a burden, without having to worry about loss of income and unpaid debts that sometimes are a part [...] Click Here To View More

Under a bill proposed last week in Congress, those far behind on their mortgage can withdraw from their 401(k) to save their home – without any penalties. According to the language in the HOME Act, the proposed bill allows a taxpayer to withdraw ... Click Here To View More

After Big Jump in August, Foreclosure Starts Fall Again After a significant jump in foreclosure starts in August, driven primarily by Bank of America, foreclosure starts returned to levels in line with prior months, far below the numbers reached at the peak.  California has seen a drop in activity of 56 percent since its peak, [...] Click Here To View More

Recently, the New York Times ran an article entitled “Foreclosures Are Killing Us”. The writer states that due in part to a large increase in foreclosure filings in August, in addition to a the $1 billion unemployed and underemployed housing progra... Click Here To View More

Foreclosure filings and sales increase throughout most of our coverage are in August. Foreclosure starts jumped significantly, reversing what had been a declining trend over the past several months. Investors bought more properties on the courthouse steps in August than in July everywhere except in Washington. The number of properties Sold Back to Bank jumped significantly in Oregon, and also rose in California and Nevada. Click Here To View More

Foreclosure filings decreased throughout our coverage area, continuing a trend we've seen over the course of several months. Activity on the courthouse steps was down from a month ago everywhere except in Washington where foreclosure sales rose significantly Click Here To View More

This morning a headline in my inbox caught my eye: Homeownership Rate Drops to 13 Year Low. Seems the Census Bureau has tallied the homeownership rate to be 65.9 percent, down from nearly 70 percent at the peak of the bubble. Despite the drop, I believe this stat significantly over-estimates the real rate of homeownership [...] Click Here To View More

On average it took less Time to Foreclose in California, Arizona and Nevada in June 2011, countering what has been a growing trend to extend the foreclosure process. The time to foreclose has increased on a year-over-year basis throughout our coverage area, with the largest increase seen in Nevada where it now takes on average 319 days to foreclose, up from 239 days a year ago. California saw the second most significant increase with the average time to foreclose at 317 days, up from 261 days a year ago. The least change was observed in Washington where the average time to foreclose is 106 days, only slightly higher than the 105 days seen a year ago. Click Here To View More

Nearly a year ago I opined that banks were engaged in a game of Foreclosure Roulette — a game by which they randomly foreclosed on a few homeowners, while delaying most foreclosures for longer and longer periods of time. The primary aim of the bank’s random foreclosures being that they can’t let word get out that [...] Click Here To View More

Third party investors resold the homes they previously purchased at auction at a faster pace throughout our coverage area. As the most sophisticated and motivated homesellers in the marketplace, these investors provide an important indicator as to the health of the entire housing market. While the statistic is encouraging, it's too early to tell whether it is a turning point from the otherwise recent downward trend within the housing market. Click Here To View More