FORECLOSURE » Prevent Foreclosures

Nevada’s Attorney General announced on Thursday that two people have been indicted for allegedly being involved in a “massive” robo-signing mortgage scheme. A spokeswoman for Attorney General Catherine Masto said she believed the indictments will represent the first criminal charges filed in association with robo-signing, an illegal act of falsifying foreclosure documents.

Two Individuals Face Dozens of Robo-Signing Charges

Thousands of homes in foreclosure have been waiting to be processed by mortgage lenders are finally beginning to make their way through the pipeline, says a new report by RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosed properties. As a result, the number of filings climbed by 7 percent in October.

Delayed Foreclosure Paperwork Finally Being Processed

Two recent reports have highlighted the unwanted yet very real link between foreclosure and homes with an underwater mortgage. One report found the foreclosure process is moving so slowly throughout half of the country, it could take decades to clear millions of delinquent and foreclosed homes. In the second separate report, the delayed foreclosure process was blamed for a sharp increase homeowners saddled with negative equity.

Backlogged Foreclosure Could Take Decades to Clear

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By Casey Bond

As home prices continue to plummet and unemployment remains a huge problem, more and more homeowners are turning in the keys to their homes and refusing to make any more payments on their mortgages. However, walking away from an underwater mortgage, known as strategic default, has long been a subject of controversy and often viewed as highly irresponsible– until now.

Millions of current and former homeowners will have an opportunity to have their foreclosure cases examined to determine whether they should be compensated for banks’ mistakes. A sweeping review of how mortgage loans for homes going through foreclosure have been managed over the past couple of years is being planned by federal regulators, according to a recent Wall Street Journal story.

Regulators to Initiate Reviews of 2009 and 2010 Foreclosures

By Nicholas Pell

Fewer things are worse than taking advantage of someone losing their home. This is precisely what mortgage loan modification scams are doing at the worst time in the foreclosure crisis. Perhaps worst of all, most of those targeted are minorities, bringing an even more sinister edge to what’s already a heinous crime.

A new report released by RealtyTrac Inc. revealed that foreclosures made up one-third of all home sales in the second quarter of 2011. Despite the fact that this share of sales is far larger than what’s expected in a healthy market, experts say foreclosure sales could have been much higher if faulty paperwork hadn’t held up repossessions.

Foreclosure Sales Too High for Healthy Market

Research released by Morgan Stanley earlier this week revealed that home ownership in the United States has dropped to the lowest level since 1965. According to the report, the large decline in home ownership has a lot to do with the foreclosure crisis that is wreaking havoc on the housing market.

Morgan Stanley Home Ownership Rate Lower than Census Bureau’s

A new report from RealtyTrac revealed that foreclosures declined in more than 84 percent of U.S. metro areas during the first half of the year. However, as RealtyTrac has repeated numerous times over the past year, the drop in foreclosures does not necessarily mean the housing market as a whole is turning around.

Foreclosure Pipeline Still Clogged

The mortgage industry is coming under fire again after lawmakers and enforcement agencies received word that robo-signings have continued. Numerous major mortgage servicers came under fire in 2010 after it was revealed they were utilizing this illegal practice to speed up the foreclosure process.

Robo-Signing Continues in Mortgage Industry