2011 Foreclosure Activity Ends With a Whimper Foreclosure Starts dropped significantly throughout our coverage area with the exception of a modest increase in Oregon. Foreclosure Sales were mixed, and down far less than we expected given lender announcements of holiday moratoriums. California and Washington actually saw modest increases. Also surprising was a drop in the [...]

In 1981, English punk rock band The Clash wrote “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” about the rocky personal relationships between members of the band when facing the dilemma of sticking together or breaking up. The lyrics could not be more appropriate for homeowners buried in a mountain of negative equity and wondering what [...]

In a move that will undoubtedly make investors stand up and cheer, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today that the Federal Housing Administration is extending a temporary waiver of its “anti-flipping” rule. The waiver is a boon for investors who rely on rehabbing and selling properties in a short timeframe, and [...]

Last year I attempted to make some predictions for the coming year. I thought it would be a worthwhile exercise to take a look back at 2011 and see how I did, and then share my thoughts on what should happen in the new year. At this time last year, I predicted the following: My [...]

Foreclosure Sales Slow for the Holidays, While Lenders Prepare for 2012 It is not unusual to see foreclosures slow for the holidays, and the this year is no exception. Foreclosure starts were up slightly in Nevada and Washington, but the increases were insignificant given the recent declines in those states due to legislative changes and [...]

Today Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is having its National Day of Action to Stop and Reverse Foreclosures. The idea being that they can hurt the banks by forcing them to stop foreclosing. Only problem with this plan is that foreclosure delays help the banks as we introduced with our Foreclosure Roulette blog post, and demonstrated [...]

Two big pieces of news today on the foreclosure front: 1. Michigan Supreme Court Reverses Ruling on MERS’ Right to Foreclose 2. Nevada Grand Jury Indicts Two in Alleged Robo-Signing Scheme Before I share my thoughts on each of these cases, let’s start with some background: When the whole robo-signing scandal first erupted, we predicted [...]

Little Change in California, as Nevada and Washington Foreclosure Starts Plummet Foreclosure Starts in California were little changed this month, after a dramatic increase in August and subsequent fall in September. Other California foreclosure activity was also little changed in October. California foreclosure investors gained traction with 9.9 percent more properties sold to third parties [...]