Blog

Pamela M. Prah | Stateline | “Some of the states hit hardest by the foreclosure crisis aren’t spending millions of dollars that the federal government has set aside to help struggling homeowners, a new report shows. Of $7.6 billion the federal government has provided in the “Hardest Hit Fund” to help homeowners, states have disbursedRead more

Reuters | “There were 51,000 completed foreclosures last month, down from 84,000 in September, 2012. Foreclosures are completed when a home is either seized by the lender or sold at auction. There were also 51,000 foreclosures in August. Between 2000 and 2006 and before the housing market’s downturn in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 perRead more

JUNE FLETCHER | Scripps Howard News Service | “Steven and Janet Sparker never planned to leave the house they purchased in 2006 in Golden Gate Estates in the southwest section of Florida. But when Janet, 57, lost her six-figure job, and the home’s value fell by more than half from the $585,000 they had paidRead more

by MortgageOrb.com| “The national mortgage delinquency rate (loans 30 or more days past due, but not in foreclosure) increased 4.23% in September to reach 6.46% of all mortgages, according to Lender Processing Services’ (LPS) First Look Mortgage Report, which covers about 70% of the U.S. housing market. Still, the delinquency rate for September was down 12.63%Read more

MARTHA BRANNIGAN | Miami Herald | “Even as Florida’s housing market is showing solid recovery with impressive gains in prices and sales volume, the state led the nation in foreclosures completed in the year ended in August; no other state was even close, according to CoreLogic. Of the 658,463 foreclosures completed nationwide during the 12-monthRead more

Mary Ellen Klas | Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau | “From Stateline.org: Florida is among the state’s that has used its millions received from the multi-billion dollar settlement with major mortgage lenders to plug budget holes, according to a new report from Stateline.org, a project of Pewstates.org. Florida recieved $334 million from the legal settlement stemming from stateRead more

JANN SWANSON | Mortgage News Daily | “CoreLogic said today that the shadow inventory or pending supply of homes at the end of July consisted of 1.9 million homes with an approximate market value of $293 billion. The shadow inventory is a measure of the number of properties that are seriously delinquent, in foreclosure or held as REORead more

Celia Watson Seupel, Special to CNBC | “When real estate agent John Lebron opened EZ Investments in Tampa, Fla., he may have already been planning fraud. His very first EZ Investments transaction involved selling a distressed property to his sister, then to his brother-in-law, the kind of “non-arms-length” flopping that tips authorities to collusion. LebronRead more

By John Hielscher |  “In 2009, nearly half of all Sarasota and Manatee county homeowners with mortgages owed more money on their loans than their properties were worth. Thanks to rising home prices and an improving economy, the percentage of so-called “underwater” homeowners regionwide has dropped significantly. But the Sarasota-Manatee region still has one of the nation’sRead more

By Michael Braga, Herald-Tribune | “Florida had the highest foreclosure rate in the U.S. in July, according to the Florida Legislature Office of Economic and Demographic Research. One in every 326 housing units was in foreclosure. Nine of the top 10 cities in the country – in terms of foreclosure rates – were in Florida – Jacksonville,Read more