FHA Decides to Extend Suspension of Anti-Flipping Rules

On Tuesday, the powers that be at the FHA have decided to extend their temporary suspension of anti-flipping rules that was set to expire this month. The extension will be for another 12 months.

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Bank of America to Resume Foreclosure Proceedings

The Associated Press is reporting this afternoon that Bank of America has announced plans to resume foreclosure proceedings and begin again the process to seize homes from homeowners who are severely delinquent on their mortgages.  Beginning next week in the 23 states that require court approval to foreclose on  a property, Bank of America will re-file with the courts corrected documents for those properties where it found errors had originally been made.

In the remaining 27 states, where the foreclosure process used is commonly referred to as “non-judicial foreclosure”, homeowners will still get a temporary reprieve from foreclosure as Bank of America, the nations largest lender and loan servicer, has not yet completed its own internal review of the documents and filings used in those proceedings.  But if this latest announcement is any indication, it should not be long before those properties are back on the auction block.

Washington State AG asks Trustees to Halt all Foreclosure Actions

The States Attorney General in Washington today held a press conference and asked all Trustee Companies to temporarily halt all pending foreclosure actions.

Must be an election year I guess.

You can view the press release from the AG here.

What Sold at the Foreclosure Auction on October 1st 2010

Last Friday’s foreclosure auctions for King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties saw one of the lighter weeks we have witnessed at the auction in quite some time.  All told, there were only twenty properties that were sold to third party buyers for all three counties combined.  That is about 20-40% lower weekly sales volume than in recent weeks.  The recent announcement by several of the nations largest banks that they were temporarily suspending foreclosures in 23 states is likely to keep the weekly totals toward the lower end of the spectrum until the new year.

To view a .pdf file with details for all the properties that were purchased at last weeks foreclosure auction please select the following link.

Foreclosure Sales Results for October 1st 2010

BK Trustee Set to Sell Mastro’s Medina Mansion for $9.9 Million

The bankruptcy trustee tasked with selling the assets of the now bankrupt real estate developer, Michael Mastro, is set to list the Medina waterfront mansion that up until recently was occupied by Mastro and his wife.  Mastro originally bought the home four years ago for $15 million.  James Rigby, the bankruptcy trustee has indicated the listing price will start at $9.9 million.

Why are Banks Halting Pending Foreclosure Auctions for Tens of Thousands of Home Owners?

The last week has seen a rash of the nations largest banks and lending institutions publicly announcing that they are delaying foreclosure proceedings for tens of thousands of their borrowers. It first started with an announcement by GMAC that they were suspending foreclosures in 23 states while they reviewed the legal documents filed in the cases for accuracy. Shortly there after JP Morgan Chase announced they too were following suit. Followed by the nations largest lender Bank of America a couple days later.

Why the sudden about face from these lending giants. It starts with a handful of law firms that were hired by these banks to prepare, process and file the necessary foreclosure paperwork with the courts. These law firms have recently come under fire for allegedly providing fraudulent documents and/or affidavits concerning the loans they were foreclosing on. At the heart of the issue is what entity actually holds the legal right to foreclose on these homes. Because of the way loans were packaged and bundled into mortgage backed securities and then sold like stocks on Wall Street, sometimes multiple times, it is quite often difficult to pinpoint the actual legal owner of the note or loan in question without a good bit of research. Many times banks like JP Morgan and Bank of America are only the servicing agent who is collecting the monthly payments from the borrower for the eventual end of the line investor. Rather than research the thousands of individual loan files to determine some of these answers, the law firms in question simply prepared affidavits certifying XYZ Company as the legal owner of the mortgage and they would proceed with the foreclosure process.

Recently several high level executives at these lenders have admitted that they would sign 7000-10,000 of these documents a month without reviewing them for accuracy. Now that the cat has been let out of the bag on this the banks in question have decided it would be prudent to temporarily halt these pending foreclosures to allow them time to verify the accuracy of the information.

This move by the banks will in no way stop the tidal wave of foreclosures happening around the county but will likely push back the inevitable by a couple of months while they sort things out. It is interesting to note that Wells Fargo Home Mortgage has publicly stated that they will not be postponing any of their pending foreclosures and they even took it a step further in announcing that they will no longer issue postponements for a foreclosure that has a pending sale on it. What does this mean for agents or buyers and sellers who are trying to close on a short sale transaction? If you have a short sale pending and it has been approved through Wells Fargo, make sure you close by the date on your settlement letter because there are no second chances anymore.

REIF Clients Buy 5 Properties at King County Foreclosure Auction

The Factoria foreclosure auction was the place to be on Friday (August 20th 2010) where Real Estate Investment Firm clients purchased 5 properties that were sold via auction at the trustees sale (foreclosure).  Of the five properties, two were in Seattle, two in Renton and one was in Bothell.  Pictures of the five properties are below:

The average price/value on these foreclosure auction purchases was 74 cents on the dollar!  Imagine purchasing your next home or investment property at a discount of 25% or more!

REIF Clients Purchase Three More Properties at King County Foreclosure Auction

Clients of Real Estate Investment Firm purchase three great properties at last Friday's King County Foreclosure Auction.

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Multi-Million Dollar Kirkland Mansion Taken Over by Squatters

The Seattle Times recently wrote a story about a multi-million dollar mansion in Kirkland’s upscale West of Market neighborhood that has been taken over by squatters.  The home, currently listed for $3.3 million and owned by First Citizens Bank (through their acquisition of Venture Bank from the FDIC) recently saw a family consisting of two adults and two children move into the property and claim ownership of it entirely.  A notice has been posted on the door claiming that “all rights, interest and title in the property” has been transferred to Priority Rose Children’s Outreach of Bothell.  A two week old Charity according to the article.  Coincidentally, the charity shares the same listed phone number as  a Bothell company called NW Note elimination.  A company that “specializes” in “eliminating mortgages” through what many would call dubious practices.  When police were called in to investigate they were shown a document by the new occupant claiming ownership.   Since the police don’t often involve themselves in these type of cases, it will be up to the bank to evict the squatters through proper eviction proceedings and eventually physical removal from the property by the King County Sheriff.

You can read the entire article here.

What are your thoughts regarding this story?  How long do you think it will take the bank to evict the squatters? Post your comments below.

Foreclosure Auction Sales Results for June 4th 2010

Last week’s foreclosure auction sales results are in and the numbers shake out as follows:  In the three counties REIF operates in (King, Pierce, SnoCo) there were a total of 30 sales to third parties.  That is 30 out of 208 properties that were on the calendar to be sold.  The remainder either reverted back to the beneficiary or were cancelled.

You may view a .pdf with property details for all 3o of the third party sales by selecting the following link.

Foreclosure Auction Sales Results for June 4th 2010