Reporters snooping into Freddie Mac’s business dealings discover that the quasi-governmental organization makes money by screwing homeowners it’s supposed to help. Refinancing loans to lower rates that make them more manageable by distressed homeowners reduces Freddie Mac’s revenues. The conflict-of-interest raises more questions about the usefulness of the organization to help foster homeownership. Meanwhile, the [...]

A settlement between big banks and the government is expected this week. Homeowners screwed by robo-signing and other sleazy scams may get $1,800 checks while up to a million with bloated mortgages may see the principles reduced. A new study based on a Louisville sample suggests that the high foreclosure rates in black neighborhoods is [...]

Foreclosure rates dropped by a third last year — but not because of better financial times for homeowners.  Fearing  federal  penalties for  sloppy or  fraudulent paperwork, bankers  slowed-down  their  lending processes, that  formerly included “robo signing.” In League City, the council narrowly  faced-down NIMBY opposition to a n affordable complex for seniors. For a pdf [...]

Anticipating a done-deal, government prosecutors are expanding an offer to banks to drop charges in exchange for billions of dollars to adjust mortgages for “under-water” homeowners. Meanwhile, Galveston shakers and movers find a new way to delay construction of public housing destroyed by Hurricane Ike three years ago. For a pdf version of the full [...]

As desperate families jostle for position in lines for public housing, Congress slashes federal housing programs by $3.8 billion. The housing shortage pre-dated the mortgage crisis and now the nationwide housing shortage is estimated at 3.5 million homes. For a pdf. version of the full articles, plus contextual stories on social, environmental and legal issues, [...]

Tuesday Report, Dec. 27, 2011 Special to the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service Corruption in the nation’s banking industry is profoundly illuminated by the current mortgage debacle that came more in focus as one of the themes of Occupy protesters. As the Occupy Movement retreats in the harsh winter, new information reveals that federal [...]

Tuesday Report, Nov. 1, 2011 Special to the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service As retribution for sleazy mortgage deals, federal housing authorities contemplate forcing major banks to cut mortgage debts by up to $25 billion. Critics say the deal does not bring justice for the abuses by the mortgage industry. For a pdf version [...]

Tuesday Report, Oct. 4, 2011 Special to the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service The federal program to rescue “underwater” homeowners is shutting down after a terrible start and a system so mired in red tape that few qualified. The program had helped about half of the 30,000 targeted homeowners. For the few who qualify, [...]

Mortgage defaults soar as bankers bear down on marginal borrowers. The 33 percent spike comes as Bank of America loses a court battle with a vice president who was fired for reporting fraudulent loan practices. For a pdf version of the full stories, plus contextual articles in social, environmental and legal areas, contact Bo McCarver [...]

Economists present mixed views of the housing industry with some saying it will get worse before it gets better and others claim the inverse. Meanwhile, record-low interest rates do nothing to increase sales because thresholds for qualifying for loans are beyond the reach of most would-be homeowners. For a pdf version of the full stories, [...]

In order to increase the value of occupied houses, banks are now financing the demolition of some that aren’t. In Cleveland, big lenders will pay for half of the 700 houses schedule for demolition this year with the land going into a local land banking organization. For a pdf version of the full stories, plus [...]

Depressed home sales nationwide signal that the end of the recession is nowhere near. Record low interest rates at 3.75 percent mean little as incomes shrink and living expenses rise. In Texas, the head of TDHCA resigns amid accusations of slow progress in addressing housing losses from Hurricane Ike. Meanwhile, conservatives on Galveston Island continue [...]

Stale sales in the housing industry continue to spook builders as potential buyers are increasingly squeezed-out by the general economic turndown. Meanwhile, unsold houses are converted to rental units and solvent mortgage holders are refinancing at record-low rates. For a pdf version of the full stories, plus contextual articles in social, environmental and legal areas, [...]

As Congress finally acts, analysts are still pouring over the impacts of the debt-ceiling package — but a general belt-tightening is assured. The compromise includes spending cuts of $900 billion over 10 years on discretionary items — primarily education, housing and transportation programs. In Galveston, conservatives still fight the rebuilding of public housing on the [...]

As the clock ticks down on dealing with the nation’s debt ceiling, nervous investors speculate on impact the political resolution will have on cheap interest rates that have kept the feeble housing industry on life support. Freddie Mac reports that lending rates are slightly up but steady. A new study by the Pew Research Center [...]

Mortgage companies are finding that sleazy habits are hard to break as robo-signings continue. Federal regulators have seen no change in the production of fraudulent closing documents. Texas is now second in the nation in costs for mortgage closings with average fees at $4,994; trailing only New York at $6,183. For a pdf version of [...]

Tuesday Report, July 12, 2011 Special to the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service More corporate sleaze oozed into the news this week as courts favored charges of fraud by investors and homeowners. Bank of America will be tried for failing to help modify loans under the HAMP program while Wells Fargo was convicted of [...]

Tuesday Report, July 5, 2011 Special to the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service Two big banks are now taking re-emptive measures to head off mortgage defaults. J.P Morgan and Bank of America are now searching-out risky loans and contacting the borrowers to lower the principles that were often inflated during the housing boom. In [...]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac undergo more scrutiny as it is discovered that almost 100 possible foreclosure fraud cases were never referred for investigation. Meanwhile, as inventories of foreclosed homes stack higher, the two agencies hold fire sales to reduce inventories. Also, Texas stories.

Tuesday Report, June 21, 2011 Special to the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service As more doom and gloom stories characterize the housing industry, Bank of America and Wells Fargo exit the reverse mortgage market. BoA aborts the venture as it posts a $73 billion loss in housing investments. Meanwhile, forecasters see house prices plummeting [...]

Tuesday Report, June 14, 2011 Special to the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service Mortgage lenders are whining at new federal efforts to clean up toxic loans. The rules would force banks to retain at least five percent of the risked principle on loans sold to other banks. The rules would also force borrowers to [...]

Tuesday Report, June 7, 2011 Special to the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service Government efforts to help distressed homeowners continue to fizzle. Awkward to administer and often burdened with tedious paperwork, the programs ultimately reach too few, too late. The failed initiatives further disenchant voters with the economic recovery efforts of the Obama Administration. [...]

Tuesday Report, May 31, 2011 Special to the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service Home prices continue to freefall as the backlog of unsold units rises and few buyers step in. Home ownership continues to decline; experts project the rates could reach those of the 1980s. As goons rule Jaurez, residents flee. Many who stay [...]

Tuesday Report, May 24, 2011 Special to the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service In Texas, Galveston disaster recovery continues and a homeless census found the homeless population in Harris and Fort Bend counties grew by 25 percent. Nationwide, a huge backlog of unsold houses wait for better mortgage terms for borrowers as sales continue [...]

Tuesday Report, May 17, 2011 Special to the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service Groundbreakings for new residential units dropped in April as the housing industry continues its freefall. In California, lenders have drawn out “short sales” with a myriad of paperwork to the extent that realtors are protesting. Meanwhile, a year-long Washington Post investigation [...]

Tuesday Report, May 10, 2011 Special to the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service Fannie Mae, already in the Congressional crosshairs and possible sunsetting, posts a huge first quarter loss and asks for more billions more in federal aid. A new study says mortgage fraud is down – but so are new mortgages. The rate [...]

Tuesday Report, May 3, 2011 Special to the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service A new Harvard study shows that for every hundred extremely low-income families there are only 32 units available within their means. As foreclosures convert homeowners into renters, the demand for rental units increases along with prices but builders have been slow [...]

Tuesday Report, April 26, 2011 Special to the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service Conservatives bent on ending Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have run into united opposition of bankers and builders. The mortgage giants underwrite most of the industry’s finances by bundling loans and reselling them as federal securities, a practice that failed in [...]