The Meanest And Nastiest Thing
→by the Mysterious Flying Miser
From Bloomberg:
“Banks repossessed almost three times as many U.S. homes in July as a year earlier and the number of properties at risk of foreclosure jumped 55 percent as falling prices made it harder to sell or refinance.
“Bank seizures rose 184 percent to 77,295, the steepest increase since reporting began in January 2005, RealtyTrac Inc., an Irvine, California-based seller of foreclosure data, said today in a statement. More than 272,000 properties, or one in 464 U.S. households, got a default notice, were warned of a pending auction or foreclosed on. ‘It’s getting worse,’ Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac’s executive vice president for marketing, said in an interview. ‘The number of properties that have been foreclosed on by the banks and still haven’t sold is the highest we’ve ever seen.’
“… Bank seizures, known as real estate-owned or REO properties, are the ‘fastest growing segment of foreclosure activity,’ James Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said in the statement. The REO properties in the company’s database represent about 17 percent of the inventory of existing homes reported in June by the National Association of Realtors, he said.
“Default notices in July increased 53 percent from a year earlier and auction notices rose 11 percent, RealtyTrac said. The June total of 252,363 reflected an ‘artificial depression’ due to new state laws designed to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, Sharga said.”
From the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal-Sentinel:
“For years, lenders complained about debtors who left the keys on the kitchen table and skipped town, leaving it to the bank to file for foreclosure and eventually take title by buying it at a sheriff’s sale. The latest twist: Now it’s the lenders who are doing the walking, often without telling the borrowers, who may believe erroneously they have already lost title.
“‘This is just the meanest and nastiest thing (lenders) could do,’ said Catherine Doyle, chief staff attorney at the Milwaukee Legal Aid Society. ‘Even more profound is the terrible damage to the community. All of us are going to have to bail them out.’
“City officials, lawyers and community activists say they’ve seen an increase in lender walkaways, although they can’t estimate how large the problem is. The Journal Sentinel found more than $400,000 in back taxes, fees, and demolition costs owed on nearly three dozen properties that lenders foreclosed on in the past two years but didn’t complete the process. Three more have been condemned and are scheduled to be bulldozed at an estimated cost of up to $15,000 each.
“‘I don’t like hearing about money owed to the city at a time when the city is strapped financially,’ Mayor Tom Barrett said. ‘That’s a concern. That’s a huge concern.’”
From the Tampa Tribune:
“The single-story duplex at the far end of East Idell Street in Sulfur Springs had been abandoned by its owners after the bank began foreclosing on the mortgage.
“In July, Tampa officials bought the home from Bay Holdings Inc. for $28,800, roughly $110,000 less than the previous owner paid for it three years ago, and sent in the bulldozers. The demolition marked the beginning of Tampa’s new program to buy foreclosed and abandoned homes in neighborhoods hardest hit by the nationwide mortgage crisis. Eventually, a single-family home will be built on the property.
“Money to buy the properties is coming from Tampa’s $13.6 million share of funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s $3.92 billion Neighborhood Stabilization Program”
