Category Archives: Other

Ally Financial ($22.93 0.14%) set aside $270 million for expected penalties in “foreclosure-related matters,” which will likely result in a fourth-quarter loss for the company. The Detroit-based bank is among the country’s largest lenders involved in talks with state attorneys general, regarding a potential settlement of up to $25 billion for alleged foreclosure malfeasance. The $270 million charge is an estimate, not a final number, for Ally, according to a regulatory filing. A proposed settlement was sent to the states last week for comment. Ally joins several other banks that […]

Hillwood Properties, the Fort Worth, Texas-based development firm owned by Ross Perot Jr., revealed a long-term strategy Tuesday to grow its multifamily subsidiary, which focuses on investment and development. Hillwood, best known for its sprawling 17,000-acre mixed-used development in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, plans to build 3,000 multifamily units at the site over the next 10 years, said Mark McHenry, an industry veteran tapped to lead the the effort. The AllianceTexas development already has zoning in place for more than 5,000 units, Hillwood said, putting it in control of more […]

The serious delinquency rate for Federal Housing Administration mortgages reached 9.6% in December, the highest level in more than two years, the Department of Housing and Urban Development said. More than 711,000 FHA-insured loans were seriously delinquent, up 18.9% from one year earlier, according to the HUD report. It’s also a 3.2% increase from the month before. The delinquency rate has been steadily increasing since passing 8.2% last summer. Meanwhile, originations are down. In December, the FHA insured 93,700 mortgages, a nearly 30% decline from the 133,000 insured in December […]

Net absorption rates in the U.S. turned positive during 2011 for all major property types, according to CBRE Econometrics, which expects the trends to continue in 2012 on the heels of employment growth and then accelerate in 2013. The absorption rate is the percentage of units expected to be rented or purchased over a period of time. After a downturn across all property types, annualized apartment absorption turned positive at the beginning of 2010, office by mid-2010, industrial in 2010, and finally retail in mid-2011, analysts at Barclays Capital said. […]

Many in the real estate industry were concerned that a change announced last year to the maximum seller contributions allowed for Federal Housing Administration-insured loans could cause more deals to fall apart. The FHA announced last year that it would cut seller contributions from 6 percent to 3 percent for purchases using FHA-insured loans. Seller concessions, such as seller assistance to buyers in closing costs, can play a big part in FHA-financed home sales and in closing deals, real estate agents say. Inman News reports that the FHA may be […]

Mortgage servicers filed roughly 61,500 notices of default in California during the final three months of 2011, down nearly 12% from the same level the year before, according to real estate analytics firm DataQuick. The pace is the second-lowest level in more than four years. In the second quarter, notices of default totaled roughly 56,600 but increased the next three months to more than 71,200. From there, DataQuick said, new foreclosure filings dropped 13.7% in three months ended Dec. 31. More than half of those notices of default were filed […]

The good news is the number of homes that went through foreclosure in the Phoenix area tumbled 16% in 2011, but the bad news is home prices still took a significant hit, according to year-end housing numbers from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. Foreclosures completed in the year fell to 35,855 from 41,625 in 2010. The amount of foreclosures as a percentage of overall housing transactions also improved, dropping to 34% in 2011, down from 39% in 2010. Home prices, however, failed to regain traction […]

On Location: Tamara Hendershot describes her aesthetic as a mashup of Caribbean colors and Asian textiles. She makes a living by renting out every part of Magic City Farm, a one-acre compound with seven bungalows and a boathouse, as a location for print, television and film shoots Tamara Hendershot shares Magic City Farm, her home here, with four dogs, seven cats, 20 Muscovy ducks, eight chickens and a 350-pound Vietnamese potbellied pig that was just 40 pounds when he arrived. “He had been starved” almost to death, Hendershot said, and […]

Legal settlement over alleged foreclosure abuses could help about 1 million The government and banks are “very close” to reaching a legal settlement over alleged foreclosure abuses that could help about 1 million underwater borrowers get mortgage relief, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said on Wednesday. “We’re very close to a settlement that would both fix the servicing problems, but also help over a million families around the country stay in their homes and get help,” Donovan said in response to a question during a forum at […]

O.J. Simpson, the 64-year-old former football star, is facing foreclosure on his Miami home while he serves a prison term in Nevada. Simpson purchased the 4,233-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-bath house in 2000 for $575,000, according to media reports. The home’s assessed value now stands at $478,401, the Associated Press reports. Simpson was convicted of kidnapping, armed robbery, among other charges, from a 2007 confrontation with sports memorabilia dealers in Las Vegas. He is serving a nine to 33-year prison sentence in Nevada. Simpson was acquitted in 1995 of killing his ex-wife […]