BoA to Release REO Inventory Onto Vegas Market

Bank of America expects to release about 6,000 foreclosed properties into the Nevada housing market in 2010, or about 500 a month, according to a report in the The Las Vegas Review-Journal. The homes are part of a "phantom inventory" of foreclosed units being held by banks as they work through loan modifications and negotiate short sales. Throughout the country, estimates of homes being taken back by Bank of America range from 11,000 to 14,000 a month in the early part of this year to 29,000 to 35,000 by November and December, said John Ciresi, vice president and portfolio manager for Bank of America in Towson, Md. The system became clogged by a voluntary moratorium on foreclosures while banks met the requirements of the Making Home Affordable program and by state rules requiring mediation before banks can start the foreclosure process, Mr. Ciresi said at a panel discussion sponsored by the Nevada chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals.