Category Archives: Other

A small pilot principal reduction program Fannie Mae killed in 2010 was not performing well enough for executives to expand, the mortgage giant claims. Reps. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and John Tierney, D-Mass., sent a letter to Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Edward DeMarco on Feb. 8, raising concerns about analysis on principal reductions used to keep the GSEs from implementing such programs. They also cited an unnamed former executive at Fannie who said a pilot program was actually developed, tentatively approved, then stopped before the analysis was given to […]

Three Northern California real estate investors agreed to plead guilty to forming a conspiracy to rig bids at foreclosure auctions, the Department of Justice Financial Fraud Enforcement Division said Thursday. Charges were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Barry Heisner of Brentwood, Calif.; Dominic Leung of Alameda, Calif.; and Hilton Wong of San Ramon, Calif. The investigation into auction bid-rigging in North California has resulted in 20 plea agreements thus far. The Department of Justice says the three defendants conspired with others to […]

Fannie Mae has announced that it is rolling out a pilot program nationwide that will allow real estate agents to now submit and track their offers online for Fannie Mae-owned properties. Once an offer is submitted, you’ll receive confirmation and be able to track its status through Fannie’s HomePath web site. Fannie first began piloting the program for online offers in 2010 in San Diego, Orlando, Fla., and Detroit. It now be accepting online offers for properties nationwide. “Collecting offers online through HomePath.com will provide greater transparency for home buyers […]

DocX, one of the largest companies in the nation to provide foreclosure services to lenders nationwide, has been indicted by a Missouri grand jury on forgery charges stemming from foreclosures against home owners in the state. The indictment marks one of the “few criminal actions to follow reports of widespread improprieties against home owners” nationwide, The New York Times reports. According to the indictment, DocX is accused of making “mass-produced fraudulent signatures on notarized real estate documents” and could face up to 136 counts of forgery in the preparation of […]

Real estate investment firm Post Properties ($44.95 0.21%) saw its funds from operations fall slightly in the fourth quarter to $20.9 million from $21.1 million a year earlier on reduced incremental gains from condo sales. That breaks down to 40 cents a share for the Atlanta-based REIT, down from 43 cents a share in the fourth quarter 2010. FFO per share met analyst expectations, according to Yahoo Finance. FFO represents an operating measure of a REIT’s performance, according to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts. Net income, another […]

Home prices and sales remained fragile in January even as housing inventory levels and foreclosure starts improved during the same month, the Obama administration said in its latest Housing Scorecard Report. Inventories of existing homes for sale declined from 3.2 million in the second quarter of 2011 to 2.4 million in the fourth quarter, according to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Treasury. Overall, housing results were a mixed bag, the scorecard said. Inventory levels improved in the last two quarters while the number […]

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a lawsuit Friday against three of the nation’s biggest banks and Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems over allegedly fraudulent foreclosure actions. In the complaint, Schneiderman said the creation of MERS led to a system that resulted in homeowners and public servants being unable to track their own mortgages. MERS, in response, said that is not operating outside the law and that pass judgement will exonerate the validity of the electonic registry’s actions. Schneiderman, who also named Bank of America ($8.18 0.05%), JPMorgan Chase ($37.86 […]

Federal ReserveChairman Ben Bernanke told lawmakers a recovery minus housing growth is hurting the American economy. While testifying in front of a congressional committee, Bernanke acknowledged today’s slow recovery is significantly different from the pro-growth period that followed the early 1980s recession. Bernanke told lawmakers there are key differences in the two recovery periods — one of them being the absence of a housing recovery after the post-2009 recessionary period. Comparatively, other post-recession cycles — including the 1980s upswing — were accompanied by improvements in housing activity. The Fed Chair […]

Forty-three percent of Americans like big, suburban homes, but the majority prefers condos, apartments, and smaller homes, Chris Nelson, who heads the University of Utah’s Metropolitan Research Center, said at a smart growth conference this week. Nelson said that there needs to be less building of large homes and more concentration on constructing smaller houses and attached residences to meet future demand. “Is it any wonder that suburban homes are plummeting in price, because there is far less demand of those homes than in the past?” Nelson told a crowd […]

Beazer Homes USA Inc.  ($16.72 0.09%) turned a first-quarter profit with the homebuilder recording more home orders and closings. The Atlanta-based builder posted earnings of $739,000, or 1 cent a share, on revenue of $188.5 million for the period ending Dec. 31. Beazer bested the concensus estimate that the homebuilder would lose 36 cents a share in the quarter, according to analysts polled by Yahoo Finance. That compares to a net loss of $48.8 million, or 65 cents a share, on revenue of $108 million, for the year-ago quarter. The […]