Category Archives: Risky Lending

Taibbi – Foreclosure review a sham

Posted on April 27, 2013 by grim
Posted in Foreclosures, Politics, Risky Lending | 34 Comments

From the Rolling Stone: While Wronged Homeowners Got $300 Apiece in Foreclosure Settlement, Consultants Who Helped Protect Banks Got $2 Billion The obscene greed-and-arrogance stories emanating from Wall Street are piling up so fast, it’s getting hard to keep up. … Continue reading →

Zandi goes all in

Posted on April 13, 2013 by grim
Posted in National Real Estate, Politics, Risky Lending | 55 Comments

From the Washington Post: To boost housing market, policymakers need to get credit to the creditworthy

Foreclosure Enron?

Posted on April 5, 2013 by grim
Posted in Mortgages, National Real Estate, Politics, Risky Lending | 86 Comments

From DealBook/NYT: Blame Abounds Over a Flawed Foreclosure Review Private consultants and federal regulators are facing a fresh round of scrutiny in Washington after botching a broad review of foreclosures and failing to thwart financial misdeeds. A new report by … Continue reading →

Greedy Banksters can’t stop picking on Helpless Victims

Posted on March 29, 2013 by grim
Posted in Mortgages, Risky Lending, Unrest | 108 Comments

From HousingWire, a pawn of the real-estate-industrial-complex: Borrower spends on lingerie … should they get a loan mod? During the course of foreclosures when parties are discussing or attempting loss mitigation, borrowers submit financial records for lenders and servicers to … Continue reading →

Housing ATM open for business?

Posted on March 26, 2013 by grim
Posted in Economics, Housing Recovery, Risky Lending | 135 Comments

From Bloomberg: Home Value Highest Since ’07 as U.S. Houses Make Cash More American homeowners will be able to use their properties as cash machines again after real estate equity jumped last year by the most in 65 years. Property … Continue reading →

NJ HomeKeeper hits its stride

Posted on February 13, 2013 by grim
Posted in Economics, Foreclosures, New Jersey Real Estate, Risky Lending | 60 Comments

From the Record: Foreclosure-prevention loans helping more in NJ, state says Once criticized as ineffective, the state’s main foreclosure-prevention effort has improved its performance and is now helping 250 troubled homeowners each month, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno announced Tuesday. The … Continue reading →

These guys would have fit right in here

Posted on February 7, 2013 by grim
Posted in Mortgages, National Real Estate, Risky Lending | 77 Comments

From the NY Times: S.& P. E-Mails on Mortgage Crisis Show Alarm and Gallows Humor The executive at Standard & Poor’s was clear: “This market is a wildly spinning top which is going to end badly.” That sober assessment of … Continue reading →

Inept banks blamed for poor HAMP performance

Posted on September 17, 2012 by grim
Posted in Foreclosures, Mortgages, National Real Estate, Risky Lending | 110 Comments

From the Huffington Post: Banks’ Disorganization Pushed 800,000 Homeowners Into Unnecessary Foreclosure: ProPublica Over the past several years, we’ve reported extensively on the big banks’ foreclosure failings. As a result of banks’ disorganization and understaffing — particularly at the peak … Continue reading →

Dems seek HARP expansion

Posted on September 11, 2012 by grim
Posted in Foreclosures, Mortgages, Politics, Risky Lending | 98 Comments

From HousingWire: Senators bargain on HARP expansion Senate Democrats reintroduced a bill to expand refinancing for an estimated 13.5 million Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage borrowers. Sens. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., will keep the origination cut-off … Continue reading →

That was quick

Posted on June 18, 2012 by grim
Posted in Mortgages, Risky Lending | 76 Comments

From HousingWire: Rancho Financial brings back stated-income mortgages Preparing for the return of the jumbo lending market and the days when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are no longer mortgage finance behemoths, Rancho Financial is wading back into offering stated-income … Continue reading →

No Borrower Left Behind

Posted on June 4, 2012 by grim
Posted in Mortgages, National Real Estate, Risky Lending | 120 Comments

From American Banker: HARP Refis Skyrocket in 1Q HARP 2.0, the expanded GSE refinancing program unveiled late last year, kicked into full speed during the first quarter with volumes doubling to 180,000 units compared to the prior period. The program … Continue reading →

How low can it go?

Posted on June 2, 2012 by grim
Posted in Economics, Mortgages, Risky Lending | 215 Comments

From CNN/Money: Mortgage rates keep plunging: 15-year dips below 3% Mortgage rates continued to plunge to new lows this week, with interest rates on the 15-year fixed rate mortgage dipping below 3% for the first time on record. The 30-year … Continue reading →

Risky loans bite Jersey banks

Posted on April 14, 2012 by grim
Posted in Economics, Foreclosures, Risky Lending | 41 Comments

From the Record: North Jersey banks repossessed more properties In banking, OREO is not a cookie, and there’s no sugary frosting in the middle. It’s an acronym for one of the industry’s most unpleasant statistics, Other Real Estate Owned, which … Continue reading →

How the Fed learned to stop worrying and love bad loans

Posted on April 11, 2012 by grim
Posted in Foreclosures, New Development, New Jersey Real Estate, Risky Lending | 141 Comments

From the Wall Street Journal: Jersey Rejuvenation Story About six years ago, Newark, N.J., seemed to be winning its long struggle to emerge from decades of urban decay, and one of the symbols of that was the opening of Eleven80, … Continue reading →

Forclosure activity ticks higher as lenders resume resposessions

Posted on March 7, 2012 by grim
Posted in Foreclosures, National Real Estate, Risky Lending | 134 Comments

From Reuters: Foreclosure starts jump 28 percent in January : LPS Starts on U.S. home foreclosures shot up 28 percent in January, data provider Lender Processing Services (LPS.N) said on Tuesday in a report that suggested paper backlogs that had … Continue reading →