Freddie Mac wants mortgage servicers to use funds from an underutilized federal program to help homeowners through short sales and other foreclosure alternatives. The mortgage giant, in a letter to its servicers Monday, said they now must participate in Hardest Hit Fund transition assistance programs from 18 states and the District of Columbia. The directive, issued Monday, is effective immediately. The requirement applies to borrowers for...

Amanda Wilson, a real estate agent for Esslinger Wooten Maxwell in Fort Lauderdale, offers five predictions for the housing market in 2012: • Buyers will be busy. South Florida sales were strong in 2011, despite sluggish national numbers. Economic conditions and consumer sentiment will continue to improve during this election year. • Foreclosures will increase. Analysts are concerned about the “shadow inventory” — homes that...

Several real estate professionals say cash-back incentives that some lenders are using to tempt delinquent borrowers to do a short sale over a foreclosure are not very effective because it’s not clear on who qualifies for the program. Some banks are trying out such short-sale incentive programs because “it’s costing banks a fortune to do the foreclosure, and they want to cut their losses,” says Sherry Lee, broker/owner of...

Lenders are increasingly becoming more accepting over short sales as they seek more solutions to help struggling home owners avoid foreclosure, according to a recent article at MSNBC.com. “Foreclosure sales are pretty devastating,” Faith Schwartz, executive director of Hope Now, a resource for cash-strapped home owners, told MSNBC.com. “We’d much prefer a [loan] modification, but if [home owners] don’t quality,...