forclosures // Current

TAKE BACK THE HOUSING

Not everybody in Miami-Dade County is crying over this year's 40,342 foreclosed properties. Cassy is part of a small,... more

leoniDb
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More Bad News: Foreclosure Filings Rose 25 Percent in October as Prices Fell

More than a quarter million U.S. households received a foreclosure filing in October even as state laws designed to protect... more

Kepano
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Citi to modify $20 billion in home loans in attempt to stem forclosures

A new program aimed at homeowners who haven't defaulted yet could help 130,000 mortgage borrowers stay in their homes. The... more

justright
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ACORN: ACORN Response to Senator McCain's Smear Ad

An excellent example of the exploitative rich blaming the poor they steal from. You will hear plenty of Republicans parroting the... more

uppityprogressive
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Take a bullet and get out of debt?

(CNN) -- Fannie Mae said it will set aside the loan of a woman who shot herself as sheriff's deputies tried to evict her from... more

ivxx
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Fannie Mae forgives loan for woman who shot herself

UPDATE*** 4:50 P.M. 10/3/08 (CNN) -- Fannie Mae said it will set aside the loan of a woman who shot herself as sheriff's... more

patballosu
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America's Surprising Foreclosure Hot Spots

The crisis on Wall Street is shrinking net worths and erasing nest eggs. Next on the block: multimillion-dollar homes. In some... more

brad62
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'Extreme Makeover' house faces foreclosure

What a bummer!
Heres a new home....JUST KIDDING!

From the report...

LAKE CITY, Ga. (AP) - More than 1,800 people showed up to help ABC's "Extreme Makeover" team demolish a family's decrepit home and replace it with a sparkling, four-bedroom mini-mansion in 2005.

Three years later, the reality TV show's most ambitious project at the time has become the latest victim of the foreclosure crisis.

After the Harper family used the two-story home as collateral for a $450,000 loan, it's set to go to auction on the steps of the Clayton County Courthouse Aug. 5. The couple did not return phone calls Monday, but told WSB-TV they received the loan for a construction business that failed.

The house was built in January 2005, after Atlanta-based Beazer Homes USA and ABC's "Extreme Makeover" demolished their old home and its faulty septic system. Within six days, construction crews and hoards of volunteers had completed work on the largest home that the television program had yet built.

The finished product was a four-bedroom house with decorative rock walls and a three-car garage that towered over ranch and split-level homes in their Clayton County neighborhood. The home's door opened into a lobby that featured four fireplaces, a solarium, a music room and a plush new office.

Materials and labor were donated for the home, which would have cost about $450,000 to build. Beazer Homes' employees and company partners also raised $250,000 in contributions for the family, including scholarships for the couple's three children and a home maintenance fund.

ABC said in a statement that it advises each family to consult a financial planner after they get their new home. "Ultimately, financial matters are personal, and we work to respect the privacy of the families," the network said.

Some of the volunteers who helped build the home were less than thrilled about the family's financial decisions.

"It's aggravating. It just makes you mad. You do that much work, and they just squander it," Lake City Mayor Willie Oswalt, who helped vault a massive beam into place in the Harper's living room, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

What a bummer! Heres a new home....JUST KIDDING! From the report... LAKE CITY, Ga. (AP) - More than 1,800 people showed... more

CHARMOSH
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4 months ago

Home Prices Plunge At Steepest Rate Ever

Home prices tumbled by the steepest rate ever in May, according to a closely watched housing index released Tuesday, as the... more

pigmonkey
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4 months ago

Foreclosure Sweet Home

Across the US, the number of forclosures has skyrocketed. This Collective Journalism group investigation puts a human face on... more

Dispatches
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18 responses

5 months ago

Fed Concludes Economic Woes Likely to Spill Into 2009

WASHINGTON — Federal policy makers have reached a consensus that the turmoil plaguing the housing and financial markets is likely to spill deep into 2009, becoming one of the most significant domestic problems to confront the next president when he steps into the Oval Office in January.

In a speech on Tuesday, Ben S. Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, gave his strongest hint to date of an emerging consensus that problems will persist when he outlined a series of steps the Fed is considering taking in the coming months. One such step would extend into next year low-interest lending programs to Wall Street’s largest investment banks.

The programs, one of which was set to expire in September, can exist only if the Fed issues a finding that there are “unusual and exigent circumstances” that justify them.

Mr. Bernanke also recommended that Congress grant the Fed broader authority to monitor and supervise the financial markets to assure greater stability in the future. But with time running out on this session, lawmakers are unlikely to adopt such legislation before next year.

Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., also speaking Tuesday, said that the Bush administration was working to prevent as many home foreclosures as possible, but that “many of today’s unusually high number of foreclosures are not preventable.” Mr. Paulson said 1.5 million home foreclosures were started in 2007 and that an estimated 2.5 million more will take place this year.

Still, the markets seemed reassured that Washington officials were redoubling their efforts to resuscitate the weak housing sector, despite the downbeat comments. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 1.4 percent, or 152 points.

Mr. Bernanke said that the Fed would issue next week long-awaited rules to restrict the issuance of new exotic mortgages and high-cost loans for people with weak credit. Such mortgages have been a central cause of the current market problems.

The Federal Housing Administration will also begin an expanded effort next week to help a larger group of troubled homeowners refinance their adjustable mortgages. Under the plan, homeowners are eligible to refinance even if they have missed up to three monthly mortgage payments over the last 12 months. Homeowners who have fallen behind on their payments because of job loss, declining wages and family illness will also be eligible, even if their rates have not increased. Homeowners are now eligible only if they were current on their mortgages before their interest rate was adjusted upward.

For its part, Congress is close to completing legislation on a $300 billion foreclosure-rescue plan that would help troubled borrowers refinance into more affordable loans insured by the federal government. The Senate is expected to approve a measure by next week.

...WASHINGTON — Federal policy makers have reached a consensus that the turmoil plaguing the housing and financial markets is... more