Author Archive
Bank of America To Help Avert Massachusetts Foreclosures
I’ve been rough on Bank of America (BAC) in recent months over its failure to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure. So it’s encouraging to see the financial giant saying that it will begin reducing the principal balance on mortgages for eligible borrowers. Cutting loan balances is perhaps the best way to keep people in their [...]
Is the Foreclosure Crisis in Massachusetts Ending or At Least Slowing?
The foreclosure mess is far from over. But there is a flurry of signs, some national, and one local, that we just might be finally reaching a turning point. On the macro level, the number of homeowners falling behind on their mortgages actually fell in the fourth quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Friday. Mortgages [...]
Foreclosures Expected to Continue in Massachusetts
The worst of the foreclosure crisis that swept through the region in the past few years may be over, but the problem is not going away just yet. The number of foreclosures fell last year. Yet at the same time, lenders began the process of foreclosing on hundreds more homes in the area. High unemployment [...]
Home Loan Delinquency Rates Rise Based on Foreclosures
Home-loan delinquency rates in the US reached 10% in December, up from the record-high 9.97% in November [1], according to Lender Processing Services (LPS [2]: 38.85 -0.05%), which provides data on mortgage performance. Accounting for foreclosures in the pipeline, the total non-current rate stands at 13.3%, according to the data in the LPS database. When [...]
Massachusetts Foreclosures Rise in 2009, Overall
The number of foreclosures initiated in Massachusetts jumped 28.1 percent in 2009 to 27,928 from 21,804 in 2008 but was 5.5 percent below the level in 2007, according to the latest report from The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. The number of completed foreclosures, meanwhile, declined 25.4 percent to 9,269 last year from [...]
Arizona Four Seasons Resort and Golf Club Facing Foreclosure
A 400-acre luxury resort that hosts the annual Byron Nelson Championship golf tournament is facing foreclosure. U.S. Bank has posted the Four Seasons Resort and Club in suburban Dallas, with its more than 400-room hotel and spa, for a Feb. 2 auction. The bank is seeking payment on a $183 million note with Los Angeles-based [...]
$13.6 million Coming to Boston in Foreclosure Aid
Boston will get $13.6 million in the second round of Neighborhood Stabilization Program funding to assist the city’s foreclosure prevention and reclamation efforts. The grant will allow the Department of Neighborhood Development to support redevelopment of up to 275 foreclosed homes in Dorchester, East Boston, Roxbury, Hyde Park and Mattapan. Buyers of foreclosed properties in [...]
Boston’s Rich Suburbs See Foreclosure Increases
Boston foreclosed homes for sale continue to rise in affluent suburbs as unemployment creeps into upscale communities, jumbo lending becomes restricted and property values fall to their lowest levels, based on data from real estate research company Warren Group. In Nantucket, upscale houses priced at $1.6 million in 2008 were being sold off at $1.2 [...]
Massachusetts Real Estate Foreclosure Update
The number of foreclosures initiated in Massachusetts during the month of November fell below 2,000 for the first time since January, according to a new report by The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. Still, petitions to foreclose, which mark the start of the foreclosure process, remain at a relatively high level and were [...]
1 Million Homes Foreclosed in the US During 3rd Quarter 2009
Troubled home loans continued to mount in the nation’s banks in the third quarter as even once-solid borrowers increasingly fell behind on their mortgage payments. For the first quarter ever, the number of homes in foreclosure with mortgages serviced by U.S. national banks and savings and loans topped the 1-million mark, according to figures released [...]