Looking for Mortgage Recovery and Attacking Mortgage Fraud

Looking for Anything that Says Real Estate Recovery

Home price deceleration leads the front-page real estate and mortgage news.

“While the declines in residential real estate continued into February, we witnessed some deceleration in the rate of decline in some of the markets,” said David M. Blitzer, chairman of S&P’s index committee. Still, 10 of the 20 metro areas reported record year-over-year declines.

As of February, the 10-city index is down 32% from its mid-2006 peak and the 20-city is down 31%. The two indexes have fallen every month since August 2006, 31 straight.

The indexes showed prices in 10 major metropolitan areas fell 19% in February from a year earlier and 2.1% from January. In 20 major metropolitan areas, home prices also dropped 19% from the prior year and 2.2% from January.

Early trading has the markets surging on indicators that price declines may be slowing and consumer confidence is returning. However, beware of the dead cat bounce again with unemployment still increasing and Monday’s swine flu panic still in the news and the markets. Oh, and by the way, these are still housing price declines and sizable ones at that.

Also, don’t discount the effects of the White House sending in jumbo jets chased by fighter jets into a major city near you.

Net Tangible Benefit, The Rope that Hangs

Representative Barney Frank (D-MA)  is dabbling in mortgage reform again. This is a classic quote about giving mortgage regulators “flexibility:”

“Is it vague? To some extent, but that’s what you do with the law and then they are defined by practice,” he said. “In terms of net tangible benefit I would say to the person doing the loan, ‘Would you tell your mother to do it?’”

I guarantee that someone goes to jail because they don’t have a high enough regard for their mother.

Mortgage Fraud Squad is Getting Real Teeth

Mortgage fraudsters and scam artists are full on in this market. A market flush with desperate victims and tones of over-taxed government mortgage assistance. However, charging through the Senate is the cavalry:

The bill would give the Justice Department $165 million a year for 2010 and 2011 to hire investigators and prosecutors. The bill would also give extra funds to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and other agencies to root out fraud.

I guess my question is how much of this money will flow into the States Attorneys Offices, where most mortgage fraud gets investigated and prosecuted?

Bank of America Re-brands the Countrywide Cancer

This one is for the “Why did it take so long file?” Bank of America Home Loans:

Bank of America Corp., the second- largest U.S. home lender after buying the biggest provider of credit before property prices slumped, hopes to bolster its mortgage brand as it drops the Countrywide Financial Corp. name.

The campaign includes a new consumer disclosure intended to let applicants see potential mortgage costs, said Barbara Desoer, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank’s mortgage chief. The one-page “Clarity Commitment” form includes worst- case scenarios for adjustable loans, reflecting a survey of 5,000 customers, she said in an April 23 telephone interview.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Bank of America lets go of Countrywide name (money.cnn.com)
• Homeownership Continues Decline (mortgageloan.com)