The delays in the foreclosure process are giving what some people are calling a “stealth stimulus” to defaulting home owners who continue to live – or even rent out – their homes.

The subsidy is worth about $2.6 billion a month, according to an analysis by the Wall Street Journal. That’s about 0.25 percent of U.S. personal income and equivalent to what top earners receive from the Bush-era tax breaks.

Some defaulters are banking the money in hopes they will get a mortgage mortification, but most are just using the money for things like food, car payments, etc. Others are renting the properties out and making a few dollars.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Mark Whitehouse (11/01/2010)

The three major U.S. credit reporting agencies are offering a new FICO score for prescreening, originating, and servicing home loans that better predicts the likelihood of default.

The FICO 8 Mortgage Score from Fair Isaac Corp. uses the same 300-850 scoring range but more effectively flags accounts 90 days or more past due, which corrals more risky borrowers into the lower levels.

The new product also includes additional codes that help lenders understand and explain the ratings to applicants.

Source: Inman News (10/28/10)

Wells Fargo said Wednesday that it had made paperwork mistakes and it plans to refile foreclosure documents in 55,000 cases by mid-November, but the company said the mistakes were technical and it doesn’t plan to halt foreclosures.

Unlike other major lenders, Wells Fargo had previously refused to suspend foreclosures. It continued to maintain that the errors were inconsequential. “We don’t believe that there are instances in which the foreclosures would not have occurred otherwise,” said Teri Schrettenbrunner, a Wells Fargo spokeswoman.

In depositions, two Wells Fargo employees have said they signed large numbers of documents daily without verifying their accuracy.

Source; The Associated Press, Alan Zibel (10/27/2010)

Sales of new homes rose 6.6 percent in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 307,000, the U.S. Commerce Department said Wednesday.

Sales have been on the increase for two months, although year-over-year, new-home sales in September were down by 21.5 percent. “After dropping precipitously following the expiration of the first-time homebuyer tax credit, it looks as though new home sales have stabilized,” said Nicholas Tenev, an economist at Barclays Capital. “We expect a gradual recovery over the coming months.”

Meanwhile, the National Association of Home Builders on Wednesday cut its 2010 forecast for single-family home construction, but predicted that home building will begin to recover in 2011 and 2012.

Source: MarketWatch, Steve Goldstein and The Wall Street Journal, Jeffrey Sparshott (10/27/2010)

Interest on the 30-year fixed mortgage averaged 4.21 percent this week, up from a record low of 4.19 percent a week ago, reports Freddie Mac.

Rates for 15-year fixed loans also rose, climbing to 3.64 percent from 3.62 percent. However, the five-year adjustable-rate mortgage fell to a record low of 3.45 percent, after averaging 3.47 percent the previous week.

Source: Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch (10/22/10)

Federal Housing Administration Commissioner David Stevens this week urged the Obama administration to pressure mortgage lenders to write down principal for underwater borrowers.

“In my view we need to push hard on the industry. Servicers and investors have got to begin writing down principal,” Stevens told a Women in Housing and Finance meeting in Washington, D.C.

Instead of freezing foreclosures, Stevens said, mortgage servicers should be figuring out how to prevent foreclosures to “keep families who could stay in their home in their home so they don’t get to this final stage where we’re worried about affidavits,” Stevens said.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Jeff Sparshott (10/19/2010)

The housing market slowdown has boosted the popularity of reverse mortgage loans among those 62 and older.

Between 2005 and 2009, the number of federally insured reverse mortgages jumped 166 percent. To encourage business, many lenders have reduced or waived upfront costs.

A MetLife study in 2009 found that more than 50 percent of older high-income home owners have a mortgage and 45 percent have a home-equity loan.

Source: SmartMoney (10/20/2010)

Nearly eight out of 10 respondents believe buying a home is a good financial decision, despite ongoing challenges with the economy and housing market. That’s according to the 2010 National Housing Pulse Survey, an annual report released today by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS.®

The survey, which measures how affordable housing issues affect consumers, also found job security concerns to be the highest in eight years of sampling, with 70 percent of Americans saying that job layoffs and unemployment are a big problem in their area; eight in 10 cite these issues as a barrier to homeownership.

“The real issue facing the nation’s economy right now is that many Americans can’t find meaningful work to support their families,” said NAR President Vicki Cox Golder, owner of Vicki L. Cox & Associates in Tucson, Ariz.
“While a job recovery is what’s needed right now to get the economy and housing market back on the right track, owning a home continues to be part of the American Dream and one of the best long-term investments in your future.”

Despite economic uncertainty, 68 percent of those surveyed still believe now is a good time to buy a home; while that number is down from last year (75 percent), it’s up from 2008 (66 percent) and 2007 (59 percent). Lower home prices and record-low mortgage interest rates may be attracting buyers to the housing market – more than one-fourth of renters said they are thinking more about buying a home than they were a year ago. Sixty-three percent of renter respondents said that owning a home is a priority in their future, and nearly 40 percent said it was one of their highest priorities.

Lower home prices have improved affordability. In fact, the percentage of renters who are worried that the cost of housing is getting so unaffordable that they will never be able to buy a home has decreased steadily since 2007, from 63 to 57 percent.

Despite improved affordability, 79 percent of respondents still consider having enough money for down payment and closing costs to be among of the biggest obstacles to buying a home. Another obstacle is a lack of confidence in their ability to be approved for a loan, reported by 73 percent of respondents.

The good news is that Americans are seeing more stability in the real estate market. Nearly seven out of 10 believe that home values have stabilized in their area; the same number expects home sales to remain about the same through the end of the year.

While more than half (51 percent) say foreclosures are a problem in their area, the rate of foreclosures is also seen as stabilizing; 51 percent say the rate is about the same as last year. Thirty-six percent of respondents cite the recession, loss of jobs and the poor economy as the main reason for the ongoing foreclosure problem. This has also led to a slight increase in the number of people who believe the federal government should take a more active role overseeing loans and mortgages (44 percent, up from 43 percent last year).

While nearly seven out of 10 say it’s harder to sell a home in their area today than it was a year ago, it’s less of a concern from last year when the number was 10 percentage points higher. This is most likely the result of lower home inventories.

The 2010 National Housing Pulse Survey is conducted by American Strategies and Myers Research & Strategic Services for NAR’s Housing Opportunity Program. The telephone survey was among 1,209 adults living in the 25 most populous metropolitan statistical areas. The study has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

NAR’s Housing Opportunity Program, www.realtor.org/housingopportunity, was created in 2002 to encourage local Realtor® associations to create initiatives that help increase housing opportunities available to consumers and make affordable housing more readily available in their communities.

Source: NAR

Beacon Economics analyzed home affordability and came away feeling optimistic. Beacon Economics founding principal Christopher Thornberg, whose firm advises a variety of business clients, says the high level of affordability is likely to drive demand and reduce the stock of excess inventory, ultimately resulting in the need for new housing, a rise in prices, and a pickup in new construction.

“While prices may fluctuate modestly over the next several months, we believe the worst of the housing crisis is behind us,” says Beacon Economics Research Manager Jordan G. Levine. “We expect prices to stabilize around current levels and likely be higher in the next 12 months.”

Source: Beacon Economics (10/11/2010)