Foreclosures

While the mortgage market began the year healthy, lenders and borrowers need to prepare for the impacts of the coming coronavirus recession.

The Home Affordable Modification Program became a national blueprint for loss mitigation in the last crisis, but changes in the servicing landscape and circumstances call for a new approach now.

As financial hardships mount with the COVID-19 outbreak, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac released their plans for mortgage borrowers impacted by the pandemic.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Wednesday announced she was banning evictions and foreclosures for the next six weeks, adding to her administration's response to the unprecedented crisis caused by COVID-19.

The temporary foreclosure moratorium on loans backed by HUD, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac comes after lawmakers and housing advocates had pushed for steps to avoid consumers getting booted from their homes.

With small businesses feeling the financial scourge of the coronavirus, bridge loans could be the direction they turn to keep things afloat.

A national moratorium would be costly to lenders and servicers, but proponents say it's needed to help cushion the economic blow of the pandemic.

The dollar amount of fix-and-flip properties purchased using financing reached a 13-year high in 2019, but the share of flips financed was lower year-over-year, according to Attom Data Solutions.

While the overall foreclosure rate fell, the share of zombie properties grew in the first quarter of 2020, according to Attom Data Solutions.

Alabama is fourth in the country for raw vacancy rate with more than 18% of all housing units in the state empty.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development asked mortgage servicers and other stakeholders to respond quickly to a proposed set of foreclosure-sale policy improvements so it can finalize them soon.

The number of new foreclosure lawsuits filed in Hawaii declined in 2019 to mark a sixth consecutive year of fewer cases mostly against homeowners struggling with mortgage debt.

Equifax has released a series of bundled services aimed at helping financial institutions use data and analytics to manage tasks associated with the process of servicing mortgage loans.

Corporations that own California properties could soon be fined for keeping homes vacant for more than three months under a proposed law to give tenants, nonprofits and cities more say over what happens to empty buildings.

For the first time in 15 years, fewer than 2 million mortgaged properties lie in default or foreclosure status as of the end of January, according to Black Knight.

The city's Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion program, born out of the recession in 2008, has prevented nearly 14,000 foreclosures by working with lenders and homeowners to lower mortgage payments.

Mortgage delinquencies dropped to a 40-year low in the fourth quarter as strong employment bolstered borrowers' ability to make timely payments, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

With steady home price appreciation and falling interest rates, by some measures the shares of distressed mortgages existing in the market shrunk to record lows, according to Black Knight.

Default rates for prime jumbo mortgages will increase, but a strong economy and rising home prices will bail most borrowers and lenders out, Moody's said.

Negotiations went to the brink of a foreclosure trial for a Bradenton, Fla., mall, before a settlement was reached between the owners and the lender.