Earlier this month, President Obama announced tweaks to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (or HARP), which was designed to help homeowners refinance underwater homes but so far had helped only 838,000 of the 5 million …
Foreclosures
McMansion Cul-de-Sacs Become College Student Ghettos
You know all those people who bought spacious deluxe new homes in sprawling exurb developments, then lost the properties in foreclosure when the real estate market collapsed? Well, their younger siblings in college may now be …
‘This Home is Occupied’: An Occupy Atlanta Protest Moves to a Foreclosed Home
Occupy Wall Street, an offshoot of which has roosted in almost every major U.S. city, generally sets up camp near the center of large metropolitan areas. Now it has occupied the front lawn of a small home in suburban Atlanta.
Delinquencies in Mortgages, Credit Cards Rise
As a nation, we’re collectively late with our payments again. For one, the rate of 60-day delinquencies among homeowners — basically two missed mortgage payments — rose in the September quarter, according to TransUnion. The jump from 5.82% to 5.88% is the first rise in the delinquency rate in two years.
After Walking Away from a Mortgage, No Regrets—Not Many Consequences Either
Two years ago, a national debate raged regarding strategic default: Was it wrong to walk away from one’s mortgage? Or, when a homeowner is underwater—owing more than the home was worth—is it a purely business situation in …
Why You’re Probably Financially Better Off Than You Feel
There’s no question that for many (if not most) Americans, today’s economy is challenging for numerous reasons we need not list. For a lot of people, though, their sense of economic vulnerability is greater than their actual …
Obama’s Housing Refinance Program: Underwhelming Policy, Expedient Politics
Did you know that you can’t be for fixing the housing market and not be for President Barack Obama’s American Jobs Act? That was the underlying message of a conference call with two top Obama advisers on Monday morning, …
Credit Scores Down But Credit Card Debt Up
Numbers don’t lie, but sometimes they don’t tell the whole story. Credit score and product site CreditKarma.com compared the amount of credit card, mortgage and student loan debt in each state, along with each state’s average …
Citizens Of What U.S. City Have the Highest Credit Scores?
Hint: It’s in a state with a lot of cheese. It has a low unemployment rate. It has about 40,000 people. Ok, you probably haven’t heard of it.
Home Prices Rise Modestly in July on Seasonal Demand
Home prices rose in July, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index, and have now risen for four straight months. The bad news? Home prices generally rise in July, and they’re still down 4.1 percent year on year.
How Nevada Became the Go-To State to Evade Taxes
Nevada rolled out the welcome mat in the 1940s for mobsters who transformed the sleepy town of Las Vegas into Sin City. Now, the Silver State appears to be welcoming a new generation of entrepreneurs looking for a legal haven for …
Evidence of ‘Robo-Signing’ In Disputed Fannie and Freddie Mortgage Deals
Long before the banks started evicting delinquent homeowners, Wall Street, it appears, used robo-signers to ink mortgage deals that would eventually cost investors tens of billions of dollars and in part led to the financial crisis.
