Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will both again extend their suspensions of foreclosure evictions on properties with mortgages the two companies own, this time through February 28, 2009.
Freddie Mac also announced it would begin offering an REO Rental Option similar to Fannie Mae’s renter program, but the Freddie program will be open to owner-occupants, as well as renters living in foreclosed homes.
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Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said his committee will consider legislation that would mandate a moratorium on foreclosures and use government funds to subsidize mortgages modifications.
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Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson filed lawsuits against two mortgage foreclosure consulting firms that allegedly charged homeowners on the verge of foreclosure exorbitant upfront fees and then didn’t keep its promises to save their homes.
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Ari Monkarsh has been promoted to VP of business development of the Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac. In his new role, he will be responsible for member subscription sales, advertising sales, traffic, lead generation programs, and product sales.
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The 1st Centennial Bank of Redlands, California was closed by the California Department of Financial Institutions and was absorbed by First California Bank of Westlake Village, California, via a purchase and assumption agreement executed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
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The Wichita Eagle reports that the state of Kansas will receive $21 million from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Neighborhood Stabilization Program to help fight blight caused by abandoned and foreclosed homes.
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Countrywide will offer loan modification, relocation assistance, and mortgage foreclosure relief services to more than 10,000 Pennsylvania homeowners in what could be a $150 million settlement that ends a months-long investigation by the state attorney general’s office into whether the Bank of America subsidiary violated the state’s Consumer Protection Law.
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Bank of America introduced a 10-point plan to provide more transparency in 10 areas of its business seen as crucial to reviving the economy.
The Lending & Investing Initiative will track and report on Bank of America’s activities to display the company’s lending and investing efforts.
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The Federal Reserve will keep its key interest rate near zero and said it will take further actions to boost the economy, it announced Thursday.
The federal funds rate, the benchmark rate banks uses in issuing loans, will hold steady at 0 to .
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Proposed legislation that would allow bankruptcy judges to modify primary residence mortgages would create a level of uncertainty of U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), according to a recent report by Fitch Ratings.
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A 5.8 percent decrease in December home sales capped off a 2008 that saw Rhode Island home sales and prices both drop more than 13 percent, according to The Warren Group’s year-end report for the state.
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The U.S. House of Representatives passed an $819 billion version of the The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Wednesday with the support of all but 11 House Democrats, but zero votes from Republicans.
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The Federal Reserve Bank will use the billions of dollars worth of home loans it acquired when it bailed out Bear Stearns and American International Group (AIG) to help stem foreclosures, according to multiple media reports.
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Fannie Mae’s pilot program to offer short sales to Orlando, Florida homeowners in order to prevent foreclosures is under way.
Fannie Mae has pre-approved 300 homes in Orange, Seminole, Lake, Osceola and Volusia counties for short sale.
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Anthony Buddy Piszel has been named CFO and treasurer of The First American Corporation.
Piszel’s new responsibilities include overseeing First American’s financial reporting group, capital markets activities and investor relations.
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There were many surprises in 2008. From the collapse of the housing market to the election of the country’s first African American president, Americans saw and experienced a lot. But what was most unexpected was the $700 billion government bailout of Wall Street’s financial institutions, according to a TrueCredit.
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The surge of mortgage applications the industry has seen during the past few weeks seems to have cooled off, as the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Market Composite Index dropped 38.8 percent from to 732.
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Despite a housing crisis that has sent foreclosures up, prices down, and the nation’s economy in a tailspin, Austin, Texas-based Keller Williams Realty Inc. is beating the odds, outperforming the national market.
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Authorities in Rockwall, Texas, located about 20 miles from Dallas, are looking for a man they said impersonated a county constable as part of a foreclosure scam, according to a report by WFAA in Dallas.
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The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) announced a series of policy initiatives it hopes to lobby Congress for in 2009, including strategies to stabilize the mortgage market, assist homeowners in danger of foreclosure, and prevent a repeat of the problems that led to the financial crisis from happening again.
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