28.6 % of Homeowners owe more than the value of their home.

Rising Negative Equity Puts More Than One in Four Underwater

After declining between the first and second quarters of this year, Zillow says negative equity rose again in the third, reclaiming all of the previous quarter’s decline and then some.

Zillow’s latest market analysis indicates 28.6 percent of American homeowners with a mortgage owed more on the loan than their home was worth as of the end of September. That’s up from 26.8 percent in the second quarter and 28.4 percent in the first quarter.
Dr. Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist, explains that negative equity fell in the second quarter on the basis of sharp improvements in depreciation rates and flat foreclosure liquidation rates.
This quarter, however, Humphries points out that home values remained relatively flat while foreclosure rates slowed further. These two factors, he says, combined to increase negative equity.

While the pace of foreclosures has slowed, Zillow still describes liquidations as “high,” with nearly 9 out of every 10,000 homes going back to the bank through foreclosure.
Zillow’s third-quarter report shows that despite recent economic turmoil, home values in the United States remained almost unchanged from the second to the third quarters, declining just 0.2 percent.
Regionally, 105 out of 157 markets (67 percent) in Zillow’s study experienced quarterly declines. Only 26 markets saw appreciation on a quarterly basis.
Several markets, including Washington, D.C. and Fort Myers, Florida, saw declines in the third quarter after two consecutive quarters in positive territory.
However, Zillow says there are signs of stabilization in some of the hardest hit markets in Michigan. Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Detroit, and Lansing have all seen at least two quarters of appreciation.
The company’s national index is down 4.4 percent from the third quarter of 2010, registering a median home value of $171,500. Zillow says residential property values have fallen 28.8 percent since they peaked in June 2006.
With the steady drumbeat of negative economic news recently, Humphries says home values are holding up better than one might think.
Still, Humphries is sticking to his prediction that a true bottom in home values shouldn’t be expected until 2012 at the earliest, with negative equity and unemployment the two biggest factors preventing the market from stabilizing.

Wage Garnishment for Student Loan Defaults

Did you know that Sallie Mae or collectors for Federal Student Loan can garnish your wages without a NOTICE, HEARING or a LAWSUIT.

The government can garnish 15% of your wages if you fall behind on your student loans, and here is the laws that assist them:

• The Higher Education Act, (P.L 102-164; 20 U.S.C. § 1095a) authorizes ED as well as student loan guaranty agencies  to collect defaulted Federally-financed student loans by means of an administrative order to the employer, and without the need for a court order. This order requires the employer to withhold and pay over to ED or the guarantor up to 15% of the debtor’s disposable pay. This Federal law supersedes any state law governing wage garnishment.
• Section 488A of the Higher Education Act authorizes ED and student loan guarantors to collect defaulted Federally-financed student loans by means of an administrative garnishment order to the employer, without the need for a court order. This order requires the employer to withhold and pay over to ED a portion of the debtor’s disposable pay.
• Federal law authorizing this action supersedes any state law that might limit or prohibit wage garnishment, or would require a creditor to obtain a judgment or use specific procedures for wage garnishment.
• Debit blocks and other account tools used by banks to prevent fraud will not prevent your check from being cleared through our Treasury lockboxes.

More Good News !!! Homeownership Rate Rises After Two Years of Decline.

After falling to a 13-year low during the second quarter, the homeownership rate posted a highly unexpected rise in the third quarter, according to a Census Bureau report released Wednesday.

With foreclosures forcing homeowners out of their homes and buyers waiting on the sidelines as home values declined, the homeownership rate has been on the decline for quite some time. In fact, according to Bloomberg, the third quarter rise is the first in two years.
However, the 0.4 percent increase, which brought the homeownership rate to 66.3 percent for the third quarter, was not enough to post an annual increase.
The current homeownership rate remains 0.6 percent below the rate recorded in the third quarter of 2010.
Furthermore, according to the Census report, when the current rate is seasonally adjusted – which brings it to 66.1 percent – it is “not statistically different from the rate last quarter” – an even 66 percent.

Homeowner vacancy rates fell 0.1 percent in the third quarter arriving at 2.4 percent.
At the same time, rental vacancies rose 0.6 percent arriving at 9.8 percent.
Despite this shift, Capital Economics says in response to the Census findings, “The modest increase in the rental vacancy rate in the third quarter does little to alter our view that rental yields will soon rise above 5.5%, comfortably beating the yields available on Treasuries and equities.”
“Meanwhile, the homeownership rate remains at a level that suggests America’s love-affair with housing is still on the rocks,” Capital Economics adds.
About 85.8 percent of housing units were occupied in the third quarter.
The region with the highest homeownership rate was the Midwest with a rate of 70.3 percent, while the lowest homeownership rate was seen in the West at 60.7 percent.
The Northeast and South feel in between at 63.7 percent and 68.4 percent respectively.
At 76.1 percent, West Virginia had the highest homeownership rate. The state was followed closely by Mississippi with a 70 percent homeownership rate.
The lowest homeownership rate was seen in the District of Columbia, where the rate for the quarter was 44.3 percent. New York followed with 54.4 percent.
Nevada and California – states hard-hit by the housing crisis – were also in the bottom five with homeownership rates of 55.3 percent and 55.9 percent respectively.

Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), a new program unveiled last week may help you refinance at a lower interest rate. Three conditions: 1. You must be current on your mortgage payments 2. Your Home is underwater, 3. Your loan was sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac before 2009.

http://www.dsnews.com/articles/corelogic-identifies-harp-20-winners-and-losers-2011-10-31

Obama Pushes Millionaire Tax in Jobs Bill

Obama Pushes Millionaire Tax in Jobs Bill

Why do banks foreclose rather than work with the Homeowner ???. Here are some reasons.

Reasons Banks Would Rather Foreclose than Work a Loan Modification with the Property Owner.

Every day I hear from Homeowners "Why won't the bank reduce the principal owed on my home rather than selling it to a complete stranger for less money at a foreclosure sale." 


Here are some possible reasons:

1.  It is easier to say "No" than to work with the homeowner. Loan Servicers work for mortgage companies, and are responsible for collecting the monthly mortgage payments and remitting them to the mortgage company after deducting their fees for the services provided. Servicers are paid extra if they have to start a foreclosure against an homeowner. Servicers also provide other services that they can charge the mortgage company. Such services may include doing due diligence on the borrowers, title work, process service work, storage of documents, etc. etc. all of which is billed to the mortgage company. Therefore, the Loan Servicer has absolutely no interest in working with the homeowner until the entire relationship between the Servicer and the Mortgage Company and how the Servicer makes its money is changed.


2.There is no benefit for the Lender to reduce the principal. It is better to get less now through a foreclosure sale than allow the homeowner to pay a reduced amount over the next 30 years. Remember money is more valuable today. The same money is worth much less 30 years from now. Plus when the home is sold at a foreclosure sale, the bank can get a deficiency judgment against the homeowner for the balance of the mortgage. These deficiency Judgments can be sold for a price. There are various ways to avoid a deficiency Judgment.



3.  Even if the bank reduces the principal and/or the interest rate or extend the loan for a longer time, banks know that given the state of the economy, many homeowners will default. I have got loan modifications for many of my Clients, and at least half of them have already defaulted and are seeking another Loan Modification. Of course, I am consumer lawyer, and my job is to protect the little person, so I apply shamelessly for a second, and a third modification, and aggressively defend the foreclosure case.


4. Banks  have become so big that the right does not know what the left is doing. It is almost impossible to get the same person on the phone two times in a row. And the ones we speak to do have the authority to do anything but to gather papers. And for some reason banks keep asking for the same papers again and again. It is frustrating. Many times the Customer Service departments are outsourced to countries like India or China, etc. and it is a big mess. Most of the staff does not have the training to get things done.


5. Many mortgages are insured by AIG or another insurance company. Why will the bank work with you and give you a loan modification or reduce the principal when it knows that if it foreclosed on the home, they will get 100% of their money back from Insurance.

Moral of the story: It is better to foreclose than to do a loan modification or reduction in principal.  

Attorney Dsouza defends foreclosure lawsuit, negotiates loan modification, deed in lieu of foreclosure, defends credit card lawsuits, negotiates and settles debts. www.DsouzaLegal.com

Florida women earning nearly 84% of male workers' median income

Florida women earning nearly 84% of male workers' median income