Industry Home Price Reports Show Further Declines

Home price indexes from CoreLogic and Lender Processing Services (LPS) both recorded continuing declines through the month of October.

CoreLogic’s study shows national home prices dropped 1.3 percent between September and October, marking the third straight monthly decline.
The company puts October home prices 3.9 percent below their year-ago levels. That follows a decline of 3.8 percent in September 2011 compared to September 2010.
“Home prices continue to decline in response to the weak demand for housing,” commented Mark Fleming,

CoreLogic’s chief economist. “While many housing statistics are basically moving sideways, prices continue to correct for a supply and demand imbalance.”
Fleming says looking forward, CoreLogic’s forecasts indicate flat growth through 2013 for residential home prices.
LPS says its preliminary data indicates the same downward trajectory for home prices, with a 1.1 percent month-over-month decline for October, coming on the heels of a 1.2 percent drop in September.
Kyle Lundstedt, managing director for LPS Applied Analytics, says the latest data is consistent with seasonal patterns occurring since 2009.
“Each year, prices have risen in the spring, but revert in autumn to a downward trend that has not only erased the gains, but has led to an average 3.7 percent annual drop in prices to date,” Lundstedt explained.
LPS’ latest index of average national home prices continues the downward trend begun after the market peak in June 2006, when the company says the total value of U.S. housing inventory stood at $10.6 trillion.
The value has declined 30.2 percent since that peak to $7.56 trillion.

Treasury to Withhold Foreclosure Prevention Incentives from Two

The U.S. Treasury said Wednesday that it will continue to withhold incentives from JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America for modifications, short sales, and deeds-in-lieu completed through government programs.

JPMorgan is the only servicer participating in Treasury’s Making Home Affordable program that was determined to need “substantial improvement” in complying with program guidelines during the third quarter.

The company – now said to be the largest U.S. bank by assets – was also in need of “substantial improvement” during the first and second quarters of this year. JPMorgan’s servicer incentives have been withheld since the first assessment was made at the conclusion of Q1.
Treasury called out JPMorgan in its report for the servicer’s “lack of progress in implementing previously identified improvements.”
Bank of America was given a grade of needing “substantial improvement” during the first and second quarters, but moved up a notch on the assessment scorecard to needing only “moderate improvement” for the third quarter.
Still, Treasury says it “will continue to withhold servicer incentives from Bank of America, NA, until it makes additional improvements.”

Treasury’s quarterly compliance assessments cover the 10 largest servicers participating in the Making Home Affordable program.
Six other servicers were also found to need “moderate improvement” during the third quarter: American Home Mortgage Servicing, CitiMortgage, GMAC Mortgage, Litton Loan Servicing, Ocwen, and Wells Fargo. Incentives are not being withheld from any of these program participants.
Two servicers met the established benchmarks for program compliance, indicating that they require just “minor improvement” on the areas reviewed for the third quarter: OneWest Bank and Select Portfolio Servicing.
Treasury says when Making Home Affordable began, “most servicers did not have the staff, procedures, or systems in place to respond to the volume of homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages, or to respond to the housing crisis generally.”
Officials note that participating companies have taken specific actions to better their servicing processes. “While the servicers have improved their performance, they still have more progress to make,” according to Treasury.
Treasury says its decision to make individual servicer assessments public is intended to push servicers to correct identified shortfalls.
Treasury notes that participation in Making Home Affordable – including the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative (HAFA) program– is voluntary.
As such, Treasury does not have the authority to impose fines or penalties, but can take certain remedial actions for non-compliance such as withholding incentive payments. (Carrie Bay - dsnews.com)

California and Nevada AGs Announce Mortgage Investigation Alliance

Attorneys General Kamala Harris of California and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada have entered into a joint investigation alliance targeting both mortgage servicers and perpetrators of mortgage-related fraud.

The AGs say the initiative is designed to assist homeowners who have been harmed by misconduct and fraud in the mortgage industry.
The alliance will link the California and Nevada attorney general offices’ civil and criminal enforcement teams in order to speed up investigations of wrongdoing in the two states, which have experienced similar foreclosure and mortgage fraud crises.
“The mortgage crisis is a man-made disaster that has taken a heavy toll on the country, but it saved its worst for California and Nevada,” Harris said. She described the mortgage crisis as “a law enforcement matter,” adding

that she and Masto will pursue prosecution to hold those responsible accountable.
The partnership forged between Harris and Masto illustrates the deep rifts that have developed within the attorney general camp in recent months over robo-signing settlement negotiations.
What started out as a united front of lead counsels from all 50 states has splintered as talks between the AGs and servicers has dragged on for over a year.
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley filed her own individual lawsuit against the five servicers taking part in the negotiations last week.
The California-Nevada mortgage investigation alliance is the product of weeks of discussion between Attorneys General Harris and Masto to ascertain “the most effective and efficient means of achieving justice” for their respective states, the two said in a joint statement. Tuesday’s announcement formalizes an agreement reached between the two officials last week.
By most measures, California and Nevada have been the states hardest hit by the nation’s foreclosure crisis. The attorneys general note that the crisis in their states are similar because both employ a non-judicial foreclosure system in which a bank can foreclose on a borrower’s home without court oversight.
“The collective result has created a rich opportunity for predators, leading both states to make mortgage-related law enforcement action a top priority,” according to Harris and Masto. (DSNews)

Experts Advocate Stabilizing Neighborhoods with Short Sales

“Foreclosures are going to go up before they go down,” according to Craig Nickerson, president of the National Community Stabilization Trust.

Nickerson says estimates put foreclosure tallies at 850,000 this year, as high as 1.5 million in 2013, and then back to the levels we’re at today by 2015.

With all these distressed properties potentially making their way to an already stressed marketplace, Nickerson, along with a panel of industry professionals at the inaugural MPact Conference advocated for bulk short sales.

The panel discussion centered around neighborhood stabilization initiatives and HUD’s $7 billion program created to facilitate the rehabilitation of properties in communities challenged with high levels of foreclosures and property vacancies – aptly named the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP).

“Foreclosure prevention by itself is not going to [be the] cure” for the housing crisis, Hala Farid, deputy director of Citigroup’s Office of Homeownership Preservation, told those attending the standing-room-only session.
Farid says Citi is devising a procedure where NSP program participants will have access to escalated points of contact to expedite the short sale process in support of neighborhood stabilization efforts.
Francis Martinez Myers, president of Employee Transfer Corporation (ETC) and ETCREO Management, said the industry is “on the cusp” of utilizing short sales as a viable means of stabilization, “but it’s not without its challenges,” she added.

“Lenders have to be aggressive about offering pre-approved listing prices for short sale properties,” according to Myers. She says having pre-approvals in hand would help facilitate transactions for bulk short sales.
Myers described the size and magnitude of this crisis as unprecedented. “I feel like we are in a five-alarm fire and we are still negotiating over which kind of garden hose we’re going to use … If we’re not careful and not aggressive, it’s going to be very difficult to get through this,” she said.
“Holistically we’re not doing enough fast enough,” according to Myers. Just “selling one house at a time, means 10 years from now we’ll still be here having this conversation,” Myers said.
She spoke of the advantages of tailoring services that are geared toward investors and nonprofit groups to facilitate bulk purchases of short sale properties.
Myers says her organization is working on a pilot initiative which aggregates available short sales in the market, pools together properties meeting investors’ and nonprofits’ qualifications, and lines them up for inspection.

Tyler Smith, VP of Wells Fargo’s REO disposition team, noted that managing investor participation with communities’ neighborhood stabilization efforts “can sometimes be a conflict of interest.”

According to Jerome Devadoss, manager of alternative dispositions for Fannie Mae’s REO sales operation, it’s important to engage community-minded investors to work alongside local nonprofits toward neighborhood stabilization, whether it’s through short sales or any other loss mitigation strategy.

Jim O’Donnell, manager of the West Coast REO Revitalization Program at Chase, says his company is exploring ways to facilitate short sales to nonprofit organizations. Chase is looking to make short sales and distressed portfolios part of its “First Look” program.

Short sales are increasingly making their way into the conversation as a practicable solution to support neighborhood stabilization.

Eric Will, senior REO sales director for Freddie Mac’s HomeSteps division, said “knowledge around this [short sale] space is growing. We know it needs to be done.”

Why online real estate auctions?

Why online auctions?

Real estate auctions are one of the fastest-growing forms of Real-Estate Marketing in the United States. If you are a Seller who wants to move your property at an accelerated pace, and to earn true market value in return, then the Auction Method of marketing may be for you. If you are a Buyer who wants to make a smart investment at fair market value, and is tired of endless negotiations with unresponsive sellers, then the purchase of properties at Auction will work for you.
Until recently real estate auctions, unlike art and antique auctions, have experienced unfounded negative images in the market place. The majorities of auctions today don't result from foreclosure or distress situations, but rather are the result of a seller choosing a cost-effective, accelerated method to sell a property. Auction is truly a win-win situation: sellers obtain immediate cash and buyers purchase properties at fair market value, the price determined by open, competitive bidding.
Online Real Estate Marketing is an innovative and effective marketing tool which can be profitable to sellers and buyers, alike. In fact, under the right circumstances, online marketing can be the most effective way to accelerate a property sale and establish the property's true market value. All of our transactions are conducted via the Internet, on our company's website.
Our state of the art Online Marketing format allows customers and/or brokers/agents to transact from their own computer, 24/7, in the privacy of their own home or office. A property listed with our company, receives world wide exposure through our international alliance with an extended network of renowned real estate professionals and comprehensive marketing campaigns.
Our comprehensive marketing campaigns are creative, effective, results-oriented and tailored specific for each property. Each campaign is conducted on a local, regional, national and International level. Our company's experienced marketing professionals, execute the most focused cost-effective advertising campaign for every online listing.

Why sell real estate at auction

Why selling at auction?

• Real Estate Auction offer the seller another option.
• Auctions create competition among buyers. Consequently, the Auction price can exceed the price of a negotiated sale.
• An Auction generates excitement and heightens buyer interest.
• An Auction creates the most exposure in the shortest period of time and accelerates sales.
• Requires that potential buyers be registered and qualified with certified funds on the day of the Auction.
• Eliminates high seller carrying costs -- such as interest, taxes, and maintenance.
• Eliminates high seller carrying costs -- such as interest, taxes, and maintenance.
• Auction is a true market forum.
• A seller can plan and select the date they want to sell. They control the sales process.
• A seller sets the terms and conditions of the sale while maintaining control of the property throughout the Auction.
• Auction eliminates numerous and unscheduled showings.
• Auction takes the seller out of the negotiation process.
• Auction is an aggressive, advanced marketing program that increases potential interest in and awareness of a property.
• A seller is able to obtain liquidity, free up capital and move on to other investments or property decisions.