After years of anything goes loans-writing, the pendulum has swung far, far, in the other direction. Patrick tells the story of how his loan with Wells Fargo was denied, 1 day before he was set to close on a new condo. Even though he has an 800 credit score and was putting 20% down, this hiccup was enough to make Wells Fargo back up. And because of it, he and his five-month pregnant wife now have one week to find a new place to live. [More]
Wells Fargo Denies Mortgage 1 Day Before Closing To 800 Credit Score Buyer With 20% Down
By July 26, 2011
Banks Letting Foreclosed NYC Homes Fall Into Dangerous Disrepair
By July 25, 2011
Though New York City real estate remains at a relative premium, a new report says that banks have ignored the upkeep of thousands of seized foreclosure properties, allowing them to fall into horrid levels of disrepair. [More]
Protesters Stop Foreclosures For Strangers In Spain
By July 19, 2011
Some people don’t even know their neighbors’ names, but in Spain protesters are gathering in front of people’s houses to stop or stall foreclosures. And they’re getting results. [More]
China's Hypergrowth Fueled By Building Giant Cities No One Lives In
By July 15, 2011
Chin up, America. China ain’t so great. That 10% GDP growth they’ve been having? A lot of it is fake. Take this investigate report that looks at the big trend over there of Chinese ghost cities and ghost malls. China is building ten of these cities a year, cities that can serve millions, with rows of apartment complexes, shopping malls, and universities. But almost no one lives in them. By pouring materials and resources and labor in, the government can keep national GDP at its state-mandated levels, even if its not meeting any real demand. It’s like someone is playing SimCity with all cheat codes, but this is a game China is going to lose. [More]
Town Drops Charges Against Woman For Front-Yard Veggie Garden
By July 14, 2011
A woman who faced the prospect of 93 days in jail for refusing to stop growing vegetables in her front yard is sighing with relief after the Detroit suburb dropped all charges against her. All charges regarding her garden, that is. Now they have renewed charges against her for having two unlicensed dogs, even though she got her paperwork taken care of in June. [More]
Woman Faces Jail Time For Growing Veggies In Front Yard
By July 11, 2011
Who knew a Victory Garden could have you facing defeat? A Michigan woman is looking at the prospect of 93 days in jail because she planted vegetables in planters in her front yard and refused to abide by the town elders’ interpretation of the planning code, WJBX reports. [More]
Malls Even More Vacant Than They Were Three Months Ago
By July 8, 2011
Following a first quarter of 2011 that saw mall vacancies rise to 9.1 percent, the second quarter was no kinder, with the vacancy rate inching up to 9.3 percent. Strip malls are having an even tougher time keeping tenants, with 11 percent of storefronts sitting empty. [More]
Chase And BoA Quietly Cutting Balances For Option-Arm Mortgagors
By July 5, 2011
It’s a lovely surprise to get in the mail from your bank, a letter telling you they’re going to cut your mortgage balance in half while increasing your interest rate slightly. NYT reports that tens of thousands of option-arm mortgagors, homebuyers with a loan that had a low introductory interest rate that shot up after a set period, have been getting such letters from Chase and Bank of America over the past year. [More]
Here's What The .7% Rise In Home Prices Rise Actually Looks Like
By June 29, 2011
As we noted this morning, there is a small respite from the recent glut of melancholic economic news: home prices inched upwards. Yep, on Tuesday, the widely-watched Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index posted a rise of .7% for April. Let’s put that in context with this chart. No, that’s not just an ink smudge. [More]
Even The Home Alone House Can't Sell
By June 24, 2011
The house made famous by Home Alone, the 1990 movie that showed us all it’s okay to be neglectful parents of obnoxiously precocious children because that same precocity will come in handy when fighting off a pair crooks straight from Central Casting, has been up for sale for a few months now. But in spite of all the press this piece of real estate has received, it hasn’t attracted a buyer. [More]
Will Take NY 62 Years to Get Through All The Foreclosures
By June 20, 2011
At their current pace, it will take New York State lenders 62 years to repossess all the houses currently in foreclosure or severe default, NYT reports. That’s good news for some homeowners looking to get a break while they try to get out from behind the eight-ball with their debts. Some of them could even be dead by the time the house repo man comes to collect. [More]
Wells Fargo Is Next Bank To Dump Reverse-Mortgages
By June 17, 2011
Wells Fargo is the next bank to announce that they are pulling out of the market of selling reverse-mortgages, a loan typically sold to to seniors that converts their home equity into a stream of monthly payments. The lender gets paid when the home is sold at the borrower’s death or when they move. Without reliably rising home values, it’s not a very profitable proposition for lenders. [More]
Meth House Haunts New Homeowners
By June 16, 2011
A pregnant mother of two in Colorado and her husband are stuck making $1,114 a month payments on a house they can’t live in. Shortly after they bought their dream home, they discovered needles in the window well. It turned out their dream house used to be owned by meth heads, and the house was contaminated with meth residue. [More]
Homeowners Find Out Their House Is Stolen, Continue Making Mortgage Payments
By June 15, 2011
A family in California thought they’d purchased their dream home last summer, only to later find out that the property had been stolen and illegally sold to them. Now they’re stuck making mortgage payments on a house they could be evicted from at any moment. [More]
Could Housing Market Stay Down For 14 More Years?
By June 1, 2011
Home prices continue to fall so hard that it’s tempting to believe they’ve either hit bottom or will do so soon. But some economists think home prices will remain depressed for a decade or more. [More]
Home Prices Continue To Fall Everywhere Except Seattle & DC
By May 31, 2011
The folks behind the all-important Case-Shiller Home Price Index have released their numbers for March 2011 and for the eighth month in a row, the average price of a home in the U.S. has declined. Only two of the 20 cities in the index — Seattle and Washington, D.C. — experienced even a slight uptick from the previous month, while a dozen cities are at or near four-year low points. [More]
Class Action Suit Against BofA For Deceptive Loan Mods Goes National
By May 26, 2011
Olly, olly, oxen, free. A class action lawsuit against Bank of America claiming they were less than above board with their loan modification practices has been certified for national participation. [More]
BofA Giving Away 150 Free Houses
By May 25, 2011
Want a house for free? Bank of America is giving away 150 of them in Chicago. It’s a great plan. The bank gets some worthless properties off its books without the cost of trying to hold on and sell them, the city gets some cheap affordable housing, and BofA gets a PR bump. It’s win-win-win, with two of those wins being Bank of America’s. That’s the Chicago way. [More]
