Archive for the 'Foreclosure Information' Category

Residents of Bakersfield, California have complained that government foreclosures, bank foreclosed properties and other vacant and abandoned homes in their neighborhoods are posing health risks to people living in the area, particularly those properties with swimming pools.

A lot of homes that are being offered at Bakersfield foreclosure auctions have swimming pools; and while lenders are waiting for the homes to be sold and be occupied by owners, the properties are reportedly left uncared for, with swimming pools left undrained and serving as breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

According to households living near properties under home auctions in California, they are unable to leave the safety of their homes because surrounding areas are riddled with mosquitoes. Some residents have reported that they cannot even open the windows of their homes to let in air since mosquitoes often get in.

People living near dwellings with pools that are under foreclosed home auctions reportedly spend a lot of money on bug sprays and mosquito repellant lotions to keep the insects at bay, particularly now that the climate is getting hotter. They stated that they are worried about the diseases that these mosquitoes might be carrying which could include the dreaded West Nile virus.

Bakersfield residents have complained that vacant homes due to bank and government foreclosures should be the responsibility of realtors and current mortgage holders. According to them, they have called Vector Control and realtors to address the problem, but have been repeatedly told that the problem had been taken care of. However, residents claimed that the mosquitoes continue to lurk in their backyards and get inside their homes once they open the windows or doors.

A big number of neighbors have complained that they were like hostages in their own houses. They stated that Vector Control had told them that the swimming pools have been treated and that mosquito fishes have been put on the pools’ water, but the insect problem persists.

Residents of Bakersfield who live near properties under bank or government foreclosures have asserted that those responsible for caring for vacant residences with swimming pools should hasten to solve the problem before the city suffers from diseases that will be more difficult to control once they have spread.

Search foreclosure auction in California cities:

• Foreclosure auction in Los Angeles
• Foreclosure auction in San Diego
• Foreclosure auction in Fresno
• Foreclosure auction in Sacramento
• Foreclosure auction in Riverside

REO bank foreclosures will be contained by an enhanced short sale initiative under the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program. The enhanced HAMP program will simplify the short sale process so that more homeowners who no longer have the ability to continue home loan payments do not have to undergo foreclosures that cut down their credit scores.

Housing advocates, real estate brokers and community groups prefer short sales over foreclosures because short sales do not significantly affect the credit scores of homeowners. Short sales also leave houses in better conditions than when homeowners are forced out of the homes.

Some lenders do not easily approve short sales because of sharp losses, but they accept short sale proposals once they see some advantages in a proposed short sale deal.

To facilitate short sale transactions, the enhanced HAMP program provides incentives to mortgage lenders, servicers and borrowers. For every short sale or deed-in-lieu transaction completed, lenders or servicers are given $1,000. Borrowers willing to move out of the homes and leave the properties in good condition are also given $1,500 to help them in their relocation.

Over the past months, short sales aimed at cutting down REO bank foreclosures took a long time to get completed, discouraging buyers, homeowners and real estate brokers from pursuing the transactions. Lenders took a long time in accepting the proposed purchase prices and signing agreements that remove the accountability of borrowers for deficiencies in payments.

Under the enhanced program, mortgage services are given 10 days to accept or reject a short sale proposal. When accepting the proposal, they must also agree to accept the short sale price as full payment for the home loan and free the borrower from any loan obligation.

The program also bars mortgage lenders or servicers from reducing the sales commissions of agents carrying out the short sale. This is to encourage more real estate agents to sell homes in short sale listings.

The new program also tackled the share of subordinate lien holders in short sales and limited their share to an aggregate total of $3,000. Subordinate lien holders have been demanding a greater share of the short sale proceeds in recent months. Among the biggest subordinate-lien holders are Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase.

According to some bank officials, the short program is effective in reducing the number of REO bank foreclosures, but it should recognize the positions of second lien holders.

The growing number of repo properties in Arizona has wreaked havoc not only on the lives of homeowners but also on their pets that are often left behind when their owners lose their properties to foreclosures.

Volunteers and workers of pet rescue nonprofit organizations in Arizona are seeing an increasing number of abandoned pets in foreclosure houses. They tried to find space for the growing number of abandoned pets in shelters or foster homes. Adding to the problem of nonprofits is the significant decline in donations.

The no-kill animal rescue group, Lost Our Home Pet Foundation received an increase in the number of reports of abandoned pets. The group is serving real estate people who discovered and reported abandoned pets in foreclosure houses.

Similarly, the Arizona Humane Society noted a 100 percent rise in calls reporting animal abandonment for the past two years. According to the nonprofit organization, the number of animal abandonment calls is set to match the figures of last year.

Other nonprofit organizations, such as Paws and Claws Animal Rescue based in Phoenix and Friends for Life Animal Sanctuary in Gilbert have also reported a dramatic decline in pet-food and cash contributions. The organizations attributed the decline in donations to the economic downturn and rising unemployment rate.

Pet rescue groups have scheduled several fundraisers to help boost their financial coffers. Industry experts said that many people are refraining from shelling out cash. They noted a big difference in the amount of donations they received last year, blaming the languishing economy which forced many companies around the state to cut back. They also blamed the worsening repo properties crisis on the growing number of abandoned pets.

The Lost Our Home has been spending an average of $6,000 monthly on the health care of animals. The nonprofit pointed out that the costs of veterinary care have steadily risen every month. It also noted that many pets have arrived on the shelter sicker and in immediate need of medical attention. Many of these pets have been abandoned and deprived of food and water for a long period of time.

To cope with the drop in donations, Friends For Life cut back on some of its expenses, such as health care and training. But as more pets are being abandoned on repo properties, the nonprofit is worried that it needs to cut back more to accommodate all of them.

Tax foreclosures are threatening to spread across a Texas city as its officials decided to raise property taxes to compensate for revenue losses.

Consumers can still find good home loans despite tight lending due to large numbers of bank repo homes, according to David Reed, founder of Integrity Home Mortgage and one of the past presidents of the Austin Mortgage Bankers Association.

A high-profile luxury apartment complex in the West End portion of downtown Dallas will be one of 184 investment properties to be sold at foreclosed homes auctions in Tarrant, Dallas, Denton and Collin counties in September.

The default rate on mortgage loans across the U.S. reached a record level in the second quarter, based on a report from credit reporting firm Trans Union.

Banks have been advised by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to increase their reserves for losses on home-equity loans as repossessed homes continue to drive down home prices from their peak prices in 2006.

California Real Estate Commissioner Jeff Davi has announced that the Department of Real Estate (DRE) issued a consumer alert warning homeowners about fraudulent repossessed home rescue services.

The ever-growing joblessness and the unabated number of repo homes in Rhode Island have caused some experts to predict that the state’s economic recovery will not happen anytime soon.