Mortgage Debt & Home Equity

Occupy Bank of America?

12/24/11

Who knew that Mitt Romney had outflanked Obama on the left? Well, it took Nixon to go to China, but I expect we'll see a lot of backpedaling here. 

[more]

The Value(s) of Foreclosure Law Reform?

12/21/11

As Alan White reported recently, the Uniform Law Commission in the U.S. has named a committee to consider the need for and feasibility of proposing a uniform foreclosure act and to report back to the ULC by early 2012.

[more]

Robbing Peter to Pay Paul: US Economy Edition

12/17/11

The Administration seems to have cut a deal to extend the payroll tax cut, which is a smart economic move in terms of trying to support demand. But it's being paid for by an increase in the "G-fee" (guarantee fee) charged by FHA and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on the loans they purchase. In other words, anyone refinancing or taking out a mortgage now will be subsidizing reduced payroll taxes.

[more]

Foreclosure Statistics for New Mexico: These Just Out

12/13/11

Foreclosure statistics obviously vary from local jurisdiction to jurisdiction, as well as from one time period to the next. For example, sometime back in 2008, New Mexico was 36th in the nation in the number of foreclosures, obviously lower than average. Now it is 11th in the nation. Right now, one in every 452 Santa Fe homes and one in every 550 Albuquerque homes is in foreclosure, and about 15,000 cases are filed each year, about half in Albuquerque.

[more]

People are not corporations, and financial journalists are not ordinary people

12/13/11

It is getting really old, the exasperation of entitled financial journalists that ordinary folks are not walking away from their underwater homes as much as they supposedly should. The latest to sound this tired refrain is James Surowiecki in The New Yorker (Living By Default, Dec. 19, 2011), who also makes the clichéd comparison to corporate decisions to shed debt using chapter 11 bankruptcy. He calls on underwater homeowners to do "the smart thing" by walking away.

[more]

Laboratories of Democracy and the Commissioners of Uniformity

12/08/11

States have passed a variety of changes to foreclosure laws and court rules in response to the foreclosure crisis, including new notice and mediation requirements to stimulate workouts between lenders and borrowers.  Some of these laws have been found effective in reducing foreclosures.  Subprime mortgages with delinquent payments are much more likely to end in foreclosure sales in nonjudicial foreclosures states, while states with both judicial foreclosure and s

[more]

Occupiers Target Foreclosures

12/05/11

Occupy Wall Street have announced a national day of action around mortgage foreclosures and evictions, to be held on Tuesday December 6.  My comments on the protest and the current state of the foreclosure crisis at salon.com are here.

[more]

"The Wikipedia of Land Registration Systems"

11/30/11

Pretty amazing opinion in Culhane v Aurora Loan Services of Nebraska byJudge Young of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Judge Young breaks out a fresh can of whoop-ass on MERS, which wasn't even a litigant. How are these choice lines:  "MERS is the Wikipedia of Land Registration Systems."  Now I like Wikipedia, but property title isn't do-it-yourself.

[more]

HARP's Dirty Little Secret: Most HARP Refis are of Positive Equity Mortgages

11/29/11

So the Administration has announced that it is expanding the HARP refinancing program to help underwater borrowers.  Originally, HARP enabled borrowers with up to 125% loan-to-value (LTV) ratios to refinance (105% for adjustable rate loans).  The revised program removes the LTV cap for fixed-rate loans, reduces some refi fees, permits refis of loans that have been mildly delinquent recently, and extends the eligibility date.

[more]

Soured on Saurman

11/18/11

Elected justice moves swiftly. The Michigan Supreme Court handed down its opinion in Residential Funding Co. v. Saurman on Wednesday, a couple of weeks after oral argument. They were in a rush to get the opinion out, it seems. Unfortunately, it's a terrible opinion.

[more]