I know this is the case because a good friend recently walked away from his home because there was too much paperwork to fix it and the value of the home wasn’t enough to justify saving it. And my guess is if this is happening in Missouri, it’s happening across the board.
From CNN:
The program is [...]

Criminal fraud may be one of the most underreported aspect of our current financial crisis.
This is Lagan at ANP.
In this “Road to Ruin” report, former subprime lenders from Ameriquest, once the country’s largest lender, describe a system rife with fraud. They describe how a “by-any-means-necessary” policy pushed employees to cut corners and falsify [...]

It’s happening a lot more now that other loans besides the subprimes are coming due.
From North County Times:
Ward Hanigan, a San Diego investor who purchases foreclosures, agreed that the longer foreclosure procedures produce artificially low inventory numbers, with no recovery in sight for the region’s housing market.
“It’s like an oil pipeline; it used to be [...]

Some are positioning this as a bit of good economic news, and it is…but a bit of perspective is needed.
Not everybody is suffering right now, and if folks can buy homes at a 20 to 30% discount with historically low interest rates, why wouldn’t they? There are a lot of bargains out there right now, [...]

Remember when I highlighted a 60 Minutes piece back in December that talked about this?
Well, now it’s happening.
From WSJ via Calculated Risk:
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service on Monday placed its ratings on $552.8 billion worth of U.S. first-lien Alt-A residential mortgage-backed securities issued between 2005 and 2007 on watch for downgrade, saying it sees an [...]

The topic?
Their favorite restaurants in D.C.
No, of course it’s the economic crisis and the housing situation and the banks and TARP and and and and and and…

Most of the pundit shows really don’t have the time to give complicated topics like the economic crisis the attention they deserve. So what we usually see is [...]

If you missed CNBC this morning, here’s Rick Santelli going off about Obama’s mortgage bailout plan and the strongly positive reception it got from the traders on the floor:

Frankly, I think this is a sign that the criticism of Obama’s mortgage “relief” plan — especially the argument that it is rewarding irresponsible practices by lenders [...]

The plan is pretty straight forward.
Bankruptcy judges can modify loan terms and lenders will get assistance if the agree to modify existing loans so people aren’t paying more than their homes are worth.
From Bloomberg:
Obama intends to make loan modifications the centerpiece of plan that also gives bankruptcy judges more power to help borrowers keep their [...]

Just because President Obama has now signed the gargantuan stimulus bill into law doesn’t mean he’s done addressing the economy. Up next: solving the housing crisis.
The ambitious plan [Obama] was announcing at a Phoenix high school Wednesday was expected to offer government cash to mortgage companies that reduce interest rates — and therefore monthly payments [...]

As widespread and difficult as the recession has become, it’s easy to forget it all began with a housing crisis. Not only is that crisis still ongoing, it still threatens the stability of our economy.
The Obama Administration is expected within the next few weeks to announce an initiative of $50 billion or more to help [...]

Liquidity Crisis 2.0 is right around the corner.
From WSJ:
Nearly $750 billion of option adjustable-rate mortgages, or option ARMs, were issued from 2004 to 2007, according to Inside Mortgage Finance … Rising delinquencies are creating fresh challenges for companies such as Bank of America Corp., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. that [...]

Looks like the cramdown provisions will be taken out of the stimulus bill, but this is frankly puzzling to me. Because Americans need to have mechanisms to renegotiate the values of their homes, and thus their mortgages. And every single person I’ve read on this subject has said that this will result in fewer foreclosures [...]

And it’s set to get worst before it gets better.
From WSJ:

WASHINGTON — More than 2.3 million American homeowners faced foreclosure proceedings last year, an 81% increase from 2007, with the worst yet to come as consumers grapple with layoffs, shrinking investment portfolios and falling home prices.
Nationwide, more than 860,000 properties were actually repossessed by lenders, [...]

This is a pretty big reversal, but I can understand why the big banks are starting to figure out that helping people adjust their debt is preferable to foreclosure.
From CNBC:
Until now, banks have been ardently opposed to the proposal, which key Democratic lawmakers hope to attach to President-elect Obama’s economic stimulus legislation.
The so-called “cramdown” proposal [...]

Interest rates are at historical lows so many homeowners are calling banks and trying to get in on the action.
Only problem? Housing prices have fallen so much so that now people owe more on their homes than they’re worth…making refinancing an impossibility.
From Miami Herald…

In South Florida, four in 10 homeowners who bought or refinanced over [...]

The economy apparently doesn’t realize this is a season of giving. The latest data present us with two major Grinches. 1) the 0.5% GDP decline in the third quarter has been confirmed and some expect as much as a 6.0% GDP decline in the fourth quarter. 2) Median home prices have suffered the worst decline [...]

The subprime mess was just the beginning.
Because this time it’s not the low income mortgages.

This is truly frightening stuff folks. I can’t help but think it’s going to get REALLY bad before it gets better.

As we all know, no sector of the economy has been hit by the recession as hard as the housing market. Now, new numbers indicate that American home values have lost $2 trillion in value during the first three quarters of 2008. Around 11.4 million homeowners are now “underwater” on their homes, owing more than [...]

From Reuters:
With a pretty red-brick downtown lined with stores, good schools and a railway line to nearby Chicago, Hinsdale has been popular among wealthy doctors, lawyers and executives.
It has also seen a 37 percent jump in foreclosure filings this year, according to research firm RealtyTrac, and local data shows the average home sale price has [...]

Some more “depressing” statistics come out on the heels of the massive jobless claims last month.
From Bloomberg:
The share of mortgages 30 days or more overdue rose to a seasonally adjusted 6.99 percent while loans already in foreclosure rose to 2.97 percent, both all-time highs in a survey that goes back 29 years, the Mortgage Bankers [...]