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Recent
head-line news on mortgage, housing market, remodeling, investment, ...
(For
latest news, see home page)
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More
investment bubbles forming? NJ Record & Herald News
12/31/2009 It doesn't seem to matter to many hedge fund traders and other
professional investors that the Standard & Poor's 500 index has turned
in its first losing performance over the course of a decade, having fallen
23 percent from 1,469.25 at the start of 2000 to its current 1,126.20.
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New
bailout in housing aims for stability Columbus Dispatch
12/31/2009 The government's Christmas Eve pledge of unlimited financial aid
to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is aimed at making sure the
housing market doesn't take another turn for the worse and cause the
economic recovery to unravel. This insurance policy taken out by the
Treasury Department will help keep mortgage rates low.
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Time
line: The slow collapse of Fannie, Freddie San Francisco Chronicle
12/30/2009 Key events in the government's rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac:
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Boost
for Fannie, Freddie may pump housing Columbus Dispatch
12/29/2009 The government's decision to provide unlimited support to Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac probably presages more aggressive action to prop up the
U.S. housing market. The government may put a mortgage-modification effort,
called the Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, into overdrive in
coming years, pushing for reductions in the principal outstanding on home
loans overseen by Fannie and Freddie, according to a note that Bose George,
an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, wrote yesterday to investors.
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Commercial
real estate foreclosures more than double in Austin area Austin American-Statesman
12/28/2009 Commercial real estate foreclosures more than doubled in the
Austin metropolitan area in 2009, outpacing the rates of several other
major Texas cities. A study of foreclosure postings by Foreclosure Listing
Service Inc. indicated a 108 percent increase from 2008 in commercial real
estate foreclosures in the Austin area.
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Military
Personnel Receive Federal Help on Short Sales realestate.yahoo.com
12/27/2009 Members of the military who find themselves in a short-sale
situation now have a new tool via the Homeowners Assistance Program (HAP)
through the Department of Defense (DoD). Congress expanded HAP when they
passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; and now nearly
every military personnel involved in a short sale can get financial help
through HAP if they find themselves upside down when they must sell because
of a mandatory permanent transfer.
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Banking
industry in for another rough year Richmond Times-Dispatch
12/27/2009 This month, Virginia saw its first bank go belly up since the
financial markets turned upside down a year ago -- and more failures are
likely. Greater Atlantic Bank, a federally chartered thrift institution in
Reston, was taken over by regulators Dec. 4 because of rising losses on
commercial real estate loans, a scenario that could be replayed over and
over this coming year.
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County
program fights off foreclosures Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
12/26/2009 Fighting off foreclosure can be difficult, but Sheets and 644
other Allegheny County residents have been able to do it this year with the
help of the county courts and sheriff. They started a program to slow the
foreclosure process, forcing lenders to better communicate with borrowers
and their advocates, leading to hundreds of renegotiations.
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Homeownership
may fall Buffalo News
12/25/2009 The rate of homeownership in the United States might fall in
coming years as households rebuild equity wiped out by the worst slump
since the Great Depression, according to a study by economists at the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
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Hard-working
mother, daughters get Habitat house in Hanover Richmond Times-Dispatch
12/25/2009 Jill Tribble has put a big red bow on the arch where her front
door's going to be. Soon after Christmas, the hard-working mother of two is
getting a present thanks to Hanover Habitat for Humanity and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture: her own home.
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Wells
Fargo, Citigroup complete TARP repayment Denver Post
12/24/2009 Wells Fargo & Co. and Citi group Inc. unwrapped their
Christmas presents to themselves Wednesday: They both repaid their
government aid, escaping heightened regulatory and public scrutiny. Wells Fargo
said it completed its $25 billion repayment, and Citi followed with its
announcement that it wired $20 billion and tore up guarantees it received
from the U.S. government for losses stemming from securities tied to soured
mortgages.
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Rents
rising, vacancy rates falling in R.I. Providence Journal
12/23/2009 Apartment rents in Rhode Island have risen in the last year and
vacancy rates have fallen, according to federal tabulations. The apparent
strength of the rental market is the result of the foreclosure and mortgage
crises that have rocked the housing market, according to experts.
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Fund
Boss Made $7 Billion in the Panic Wall
Street Journal
12/22/2009 In this comeback year for investors, David Tepper may have
scored one of the biggest paydays of all. Mr. Tepper's hedge-fund firm has
racked up about $7 billion of profit so far this yearwith Mr. Tepper on
track to earn more than $2.5 billion for himself, according to people
familiar with the matter. That is among the largest one-year takes in
recent years. Behind the wins: a bet worth billions of dollars that America
would avoid a repeat of the Great Depression.
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November
home sales soar 7.4% LA Times
12/22/2009 Home resales surged last month to the highest level in nearly
three years, reflecting an extraordinary level of federal support that has
pulled the housing market back from the worst downturn since the Great
Depression. Buyers were racing to complete their sales before the original
expiration date of a tax credit for first-time buyers that was scheduled to
expire Nov. 30. Last month, Congress decided to extend and expand the
credit to ensure the housing market could sustain its recovery.
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Move-Down
Buyers Can Be Eligible For Tax Credit Too realestate.yahoo.com
12/21/2009 Move up, move down, move sideways; it just doesn't matter.
Whichever direction you move, financially, you may still qualify for the
new tax credit available to current homeowners. It is unfortunate that the
credit has too often been characterized as a credit for "move-up"
homeowners. The phrase carries the implication that the new home must cost
more than the sale price of the former one. Indeed, even the November 6
White House Press Release said that the credit would be available to
qualified homeowners who "wish to step up to a new home." Same
implication. So, it is worth emphasizing that the credit is equally available
to homeowners who are moving down, cost-wise.
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Commercial
real estate on shaky foundation San Francisco Chronicle
12/20/2009 Fears of a commercial real estate mortgage meltdown are
bolstered by persistent unemployment, which has led to office and retail
vacancies, rising commercial loan default rates and hundreds of bank
failures - including two in the Bay Area in recent months. A wave of
commercial mortgage foreclosures would probably translate to more empty
storefronts and offices, decreased municipal property tax revenue and fewer
bank loans available to start and expand businesses.
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Successful
Investing: Tread lightly in 2010; plan an emergency fund Richmond Times-Dispatch
12/20/2009 The good news of the past year was that the global economic
system did not crumble altogether and a hundred new Bernie Madoffs did not
suddenly surface. Stocks finally give investors something to grin about as
the average U.S. diversified stock fund rose more than 25 percent. The bad news
was high unem ployment, an uncertain economy, home foreclosures and a
citizenry apprehensive about all things financial. Those negatives will
linger into 2010, making it a year to tread lightly but carry a big
emergency account.
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Real-estate
bottom is not when things appear to be better Miami Herald
12/20/2009 We look back at the end of 2009 and see a fractured South Florida
real-estate market. Last year it was all one market, one trend. A strong
downturn in volumes and prices throughout 2008 and very early 2009 impacted
all types of properties in practically all locations. Then things started
to get more interesting. The lower end, single-family market -- breaming
with foreclosures and short sales -- began to attract investors. A number
of federal and local stimulus efforts began to attract first-time home
buyers. As the year is drawing to a close, that segment of the market is
showing signs of frothiness once again. Flips are common, practically all
financing is done by or with the assistance of federal money, and
no-money-down deals are, again, the norm. Seller contributions are part of
almost all transactions.
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The
Nations Housing: Agency would protect homeowners, borrowers Richmond Times-Dispatch
12/19/2009 Had there been a federal watchdog consumer-protection agency on
duty during the early years of this decade, could it have prevented the
housing boom and bust that put millions of homeowners into foreclosure and
sucked trillions of dollars of equity wealth from just about everybody
else? Nobody can answer that question. But when the House passed the
massive Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act on Dec. 11, Congress
took the first step toward creating a national watchdog for homebuyers and
mortgage borrowers for any future boom cycles.
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'Shadow
inventory' looms for housing Columbus Dispatch
12/18/2009 About 1.7 million homeowners were on the verge of foreclosure in
the fall, a looming "shadow inventory" of homes that will be put
up for sale in the coming years and will weigh down prices, a report said
yesterday. The number, up from 1.1 million a year earlier, is likely to
keep rising at least through the middle of next year, said Mark Fleming,
chief economist of First American CoreLogic, the real-estate research firm
that released the study.
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Federal
government 'Realtors'?: Feds want to sell you a home Palm Beach Post
12/17/2009 Sales are brisk for South Florida homes hawked by the federal
government in the wake of the Great Recession. Uncle Sam and two
government-sponsored companies are unloading property, from waterside
mansions to burned-out shells, often at fire-sale prices 10 percent to 20
percent below market value. The wave of foreclosed property in distressed
regions like South Florida has forced the government, along with Freddie
Mac and Fannie Mae, to become major movers of real estate to clear a
growing inventory of empty homes.
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Refinancing
still eludes many Columbus
Dispatch
12/16/2009 Mortgage rates in the United States have dropped to their lowest
levels since the 1940s, thanks to a trillion-dollar intervention by the
federal government. Yet the banks that once handed out home loans freely
are imposing such stringent requirements that many homeowners who might
want to refinance are effectively locked out.
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