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Georgia is third in the nation, with 13.5 percent of mortgages one or more payment past due as of December 31st, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Delinquency Survey. Florida and Nevada came in at #1 and #2.

The MBA said the drop in the 30-day delinquency rate is “a concrete sign” that the end of the mortgage crisis may be near. That’s important because mortgages that are 30 days late generally serve as a leading indicator of serious delinquencies and foreclosures.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury recently reported while more than 1 million U.S. homeowners have started the process of modifying their home loans under the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), only 116,000 have actually had their mortgages modified as of last month.

In Georgia, there have been 33,059 active trial loan modifications through January. Of them, 4,508 have been permanently modified.

Atlanta is among the top 15 metro areas for HAMP activity, accounting for 3.2 percent of overall HAMP activity. The city had 30,285 active trial loan modifications through January. Of those, 3,692 were permanently modified.

If you or someone you is having financial issues and concerned about foreclosure, contact us for a free report on Avoiding Foreclosure.

That’s right, 28%. Not a good number.

More than 441,500, or 28 percent, of all residential properties with mortgages in Georgia, were in negative equity at the end of the fourth quarter, according to a new report. The report was prepared by Santa Ana, Calif.-based First American CoreLogic Inc., a real estate information company.

Negative equity, also commonly known as underwater or upside down, means that borrowers owe more on their mortgage than their homes are worth. Negative equity can occur because of a decline in value, an increase in mortgage debt or a combination of both.

More than 11.3 million, or 24 percent, of all residential properties in the United States with mortgages, were in negative equity, up from 10.7 million and 23 percent at the end of the third quarter. The aggregate dollar value of negative equity was $801 billion, up from $746 billion in the third quarter of 2009.

The net increase in the number of negative equity borrowers in the fourth quarter was 620,000, with the largest percentage increases occurring in Nevada, Georgia and Arizona.

“Negative equity is a significant drag on both the housing market and on economic growth. It is driving foreclosures and decreasing mobility for millions of homeowners,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist with First American CoreLogic, in a statement.

First American CoreLogic’s data includes 47 million properties with a mortgage, which accounts for more than 85 percent of all mortgages in the United States.

Having negative equity does not mean that your home will be foreclosed, but it does indicate homes that are “under-water” and if the homeowner is having financial difficulties, foreclosure proceedings can happen pretty quickly.

If you or someone you is having financial issues and concerned about foreclosure, contact us for a free report on Avoiding Foreclosure.

Freddie Mac, one of the two big mortgage finance companies taken over by the government, announced earnings today. It reported a net loss of $6.5 billion, which is great compared to a net loss of $23.9 billion in the same quarter a year ago, but a loss is a loss. So we’re talking semantics when a $6.5 billion loss is an improvement.

For the full year, Freddie Mac posted a $21.6 billion loss, less than half the $50.1 billion in lost in 2008.

Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) says it ended the quarter with a net worth of $4.5 billion and, as a result, did not require additional funding from the Treasury Department. It was the third straight quarter Freddie Mac did not need to tap the Treasury Department’s lifeline.

But all may not be well in Smallville. Freddie Mac CEO Charles Haldeman Jr. pointed out the risk of a potential large wave of foreclosures on the horizon.

The likelilhood of a rise in foreclosures is a very real issue and as loan modifications continue to have almost no impact, the only likely solution will be more short sales. If you find yourself in need of assistance, our team of Certified Distressed Property Experts are here to assist you. Be sure to contact us for assistance. This is a very real problem and we’re here to help.

Federal and mortgage industry officials are increasingly looking for ways to get distressed borrowers to leave their homes voluntarily, without going through the expensive foreclosure process or a messy eviction.

Citigroup, for instance, plans to announce a pilot program on Thursday that would allow delinquent borrowers who don’t qualify for or decline mortgage relief the opportunity to stay in their homes without making payments for up to six months before turning over the keys, in return for keeping the property in good condition.

Other initiatives have also emerged for borrowers likely to lose their homes. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage financing companies, developed programs allowing former homeowners to become renters after a foreclosure or other proceedings.

As part of its federal foreclosure prevention program, known as Making Home Affordable, the Treasury Department announced late last year that lenders would be eligible for $1,000 in exchange for allowing borrowers to sell their home in a short sale.

In such deals, the borrower sells the home for less than the outstanding mortgage, and the lender forgives the difference.

Moody’s Economy.com has forecast that the number of short sales and transactions in which borrowers surrender their deed in lieu of foreclosure will increase more than 50 percent, to about 490,000, this year. That is just a fraction of the 1.9 million homeowners Moody’s has forecast will lose their homes to foreclosure this year, up from 1.7 million last year.

Foreclosure prevention efforts need to become vastly more effective or housing prices will resume their tumble, according to a new report by Credit Suisse analysts.

The industry can expect to see either housing stabilization or “a renewed leg down” in the second half of 2010, depending on the success rate of foreclosure prevention efforts, global financial services firm Credit Suisse said in a research note this week.

“We estimate that roughly 3.2m foreclosures must be prevented in 2010 for home prices to stabilize or potentially tick up,” researchers said. “This is an uphill challenge, but a combination of current government programs and their future iterations offer a narrow path for success.”

The report concludes that some 4.2 million homes are currently estimated to be heading into foreclosure next year and that 3.2 million foreclosures in all need to be prevented to stabilize the housing market. For those doing quick math, that comes out to about 75% needing some sort of modification, short sale or other foreclosure prevention solution.

So far, government and private success rates have been nowhere close to that.

About 31,000 homeowners have received permanent relief under the Obama administration’s mortgage modification program. Part of the administration’s $75 billion effort, the plan aims to help troubled homeowners modify their mortgages into sustainable monthly payments relative to income. About 700,000 homeowners are enrolled in three-month trials.

The administration said the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) would help three to four million homeowners, but that’s their goal through 2012. A government watchdog has publicly questioned numerous times whether that’s achievable, given the performance to date and the plan’s design. For example, the plan requires that homeowners have an income. With 10 percent unemployment, many experts have questioned whether the program can help the unemployed stay in their homes.

“Current performance statistics on HAMP are quite disappointing in the above context,” the Credit Suisse report notes. “However, multiple rounds of government attempts to achieve foreclosure prevention for those who fall through trial mods are likely to keep volume of foreclosure sales under check.”

The analysts argue that there are early signs of recovery. Thanks to a decline in foreclosure sales from their winter highs, the homebuyers tax credit, and “record high affordability levels,” housing prices have begun to stabilize.

But for a recovery to take hold next year, foreclosure sales will have to decrease even more. The analysts note that if foreclosure sales represent some 25-30 percent of all home sales next year, a decline from current levels, then home prices could see an uptick.

“We anticipate multiple rounds of government attempts to achieve foreclosure prevention for those who fall through trial mods by lowering the bar or directing them towards alternative foreclosure prevention programs,” they wrote.

Underscoring the importance of preventing foreclosures, the Credit Suisse report notes: “Home price stabilization has primarily resulted from decline in share of foreclosure sales.”

If those start to creep up, this year’s gains in stabilizing the housing market could evaporate.

Last week, the Obama administration issued their first monthly reports on mortgage loan modifications, which is really intended not to show America that the government is watching, but more of trying to publicly disgrace banks into making a concerted effort to fix the issues that they so aptly created. As we mentioned in the article, “Who to Believe?“, this will be part of the administration’s strategy to ensure the banks work to help keep struggling Americans in their homes.

The initial report included more than 30 lenders, but noted two banks, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, as having a dismal rating, which is concerning since they have received large sums of taxpayers’ bailout money. The rescue money that was spent on the banks was expected to encourage greater lending and more loan modifications.

The report indicated that Bank of America only extended modification offers to 13% of the nearly 800,000 mortgages that were at least 60 days late on payments and potentially eligible for a modification. It began trial loan modifications with only about 4 percent, or 27,985 borrowers.

Wells Fargo led the banking sector’s voluntary loan-modification program during the Bush administration’s efforts. However, the initial report indicated that Wells had serviced 329,085 mortgages that were 60 days late, it extended offers to only 38,673 homeowners, or about 12 percent of those eligible, and started trial modifications with another 20,219 loans, about 6 percent of the eligible.

I’m sure we will be getting the bank’s interpretations of this report and their own PR spin along the way. So the question ultimately will be whether the Obama administration’s plan can pick up pace are start making real improvements or will it continue to flounder.

With the new short sale incentives being introduced, but not taking effect until April 30th, it will be interesting to see what happens in the coming months. If you are an Atlanta home owner and you are behind in your mortgage payments, be sure to contact us . We’ll be glad to discuss your situation and offer solutions and a step-by-step strategy to avoid foreclosure.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently released a letter to lenders covering short sales and short payoffs. Mortgagee Letter 09-52 is effective immediately and provides guidance to lenders regarding borrower eligibility when pursuing a new Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage.

In a nutshell, FHA guidance included:

Borrowers are not eligible for a new FHA mortgage if they pursued a short sale agreement on their principal residence simply to:

• Take advantage of declining market conditions, and
• Purchase, at a reduced price, a similar or superior property within a reasonable distance.

Borrowers are considered eligible for a new FHA-insured mortgage if:

• They were current on their mortgage and other installment debts at the time of the short sale of their previously owned property, and
• The proceeds from the short sale serve as payment in full.

Borrowers in default on their mortgage at the time of the short sale (or pre-foreclosure sale) are not eligible for a new FHA-insured mortgage for three years from the date of the pre-foreclosure sale. Lenders may make exceptions to this rule under certain circumstances, such as a short sale being due to the death of the primary wage earner.

The U.S.Treasury Department issued new guidelines for short sales that should make the process easier, faster and more consumer-friendly. Imagine a world where short sales were short? Somehow whenever I think of the word “imagine” I think of the the song written by John Lennon and his depiction of a world that would never be. The same could be said for a world where short sales are actually short.

If you’ve been a frequent reader of our ShortSalesCentral.com, then you know that a short sale is when the mortgage lender accepts less than what they are owed in lieu of foreclosing on the property. It’s generally considered a win-win. It allows the homeowner to walk away from the property without a foreclosure on their credit and allows the lender not have to go through the cost and hassle of foreclosing, maintaining and marketing the property after the fact. Not to mention having to increase their reserves due to foreclosing on the home.

The new program doesn’t go into effect until April (why wait???), but here are the major points on the new program:

-Mortgage servicers will have 10 days to approve or disapprove a short sale price. This will speed up time and allow the borrower to be released from debt more quickly.

-The borrower will receive $1,500 in relocation credit. This will help move out of the home and into an alternative residence without as much stress or worry about getting into debt again right off the bat.

-Mortgage servicers will receive $1,000, and second lien holders up to $3,000. This encourages them to release the home for a lower price than they may have otherwise.

-Loan servicers will no longer be able to require a reduction in commission for agents or Reators on a short sale. This will make sure agents don’t shy away from short sales for fear of not earning as much.

The new guidelines should allow the process to go faster and make short sales a more viable option. But that is if the lenders agree to play along since the program is voluntary. Time will tell. Contact us if you need assistance with your Atlanta short sale needs. We have a team of Certified Distressed Property Experts ready to go to battle for you.

With the Obama administration recently putting forth new guidelines to help address the foreclosure epidemic, there seems to be a lot of finger-pointing going on.

A recent report stated only about 10,000 homeowners have received permanent loan modifications this fall under the mortgage relief plan, with the biggest issue being borrowers getting through their trial modification periods.

The report indicated that 14 percent of homeowners with a mortgage are either late on their payments or in foreclosure, and that number is expected to keep rising as unemployment remains stubbornly high. Compare this to 3.9 million homeowners having receive foreclosure notices this year.

With the release of new guidelines last week, clearly the Obama administration was putting pressure on the banks to step up and start making more progress. The program is voluntary, so ultimately you may see the administration  inpublicizing what percentages each bank is modifying, accepting short sales or foreclosing. Essentially trying to shame them into action.

Since the release of the guidelines and the pressure, the banks have been pushing back. Perhaps they’re better at public relations than modifying loans or approving short sales.

The major banks have been pushing back and reporting the number of loans that they’ve modified and are trying to depict a scenario where they’re doing everything they can but are being held by government bureaucracy and homeowners not providing the documents required.

Homeowners, of course, have been claiming that banks are losing their paperwork.

Who to believe? There’s truth in all scenarios undoubtedly. But the resounding truth is not enough is being done to address this crisis in a constructive and efficient manner.

So with the foreclosure crisis not slowing down, U.S. Treasury officials are hoping new incentives will accelerate short sales and other alternatives to rescue homeowners.

While new incentives have been introduced, keep in mind that they don’t take effect until April 30, 2010. Effective that date, the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) will incentivize lenders to accelerate short sales or deed-in-lieus.

Certainly one of the most needed items is the guideline requiring lenders to consider borrowers for a short sale on their primary residence 30 days after missing two consecutive payments on a modified loan or after the borrower requests a short sale.

The MAHP will also be offering monetary incentives. It will pay up to $1,500 for a homeowner to relocate; $1,000 to lenders that accept a sale to cover processing expenses, and a maximum of $1,000 to help settle a second mortgage or subordinate lien. The Treasury plan requires that borrowers be fully released from future liability for the debt.

U.S. Treasury and bank regulatory officials say foreclosures are still greatly outpacing the alternative of short sales or deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure. For every short sale or DIL as of the first half of 2009, there were 23 foreclosures, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

So what’s a short sale? In a short sale, the lender allows the borrower to list and sell the property with the understanding that the net proceeds from the sale may be less than the total amount due on the mortgage. While the lender is not actually a party to the contract to sell the home, any contract is contingeny upon the lender agreeing to not being fully reimbursed.

Deed-in-lieu of foreclosure is less common, but essentially the borrower voluntarily transfers ownership of the property to the lender to fully satisfy the total amount due on the first mortgage. The lender’s approval is contingent upon the borrower’s ability to provide marketable title, free and clear of mortgages, liens and encumbrances.

The new incentives are intended to simplify and streamline the use of short sales and DIL options by allowing the borrower to receive pre-approved short sale terms prior to listing the property, prohibits the lender from reducing the real estate commission, implement standard processes, documents and timeframes and provides financial incentives to borrowers, servicers and investors.

What the final outcome and how this program is received in the industry will only be determined in time. If you are a distressed Atlanta home, it is important to to work with an Atlanta Realtor, with the knowledge base and expertise to guide you through the process. Contact us to schedule a confidential consultation to assess your situation and determine how we can assist you.