News

In the first 30 days of the new presidential administration, the urgency to deal with the nation’s banking and financial crisis has taken top priority. The crisis has escalated and many potential resolutions are being explored – case in point, on Friday, President Obama named former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, along with 15 other leaders from various industries to an independent committee designed to help the White House combat a growing recession.

Freehold, New Jersey-based First Equity Capital, LLC has established a private equity fund to buy pools of non-performing mortgage notes in an effort to stem the tide of foreclosures and delinquencies.

President Barack Obama named the members of his new Economic Recovery Advisory Board on Friday – a team that he says will bring with it fresh ideas that go beyond the walls of Washington. The group of outside advisers will offer independent advice to the White House to help the administration craft an effective response to the nation’s growing recession.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), regulator of the nation’s GSEs and the more than $6.3 trillion in mortgage funding they supply, released its November Foreclosure Prevention Report today.

According to a new report released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) this week, pending home sales increased at the end of 2008, as more buyers took advantage of improved affordability conditions.

Fourth quarter 2008 home prices declined for the eighth consecutive quarter, and according to a Zillow Home Value Index, the 11.6 percent decline cost American homeowners a total of $1.4 trillion in home value, bringing the total drop in value for 2008 to $3.

The surge of mortgage applications the industry has seen during the past few weeks seems to have cooled off, as the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Market Composite Index dropped 38.8 percent from to 732.

There were many surprises in 2008. From the collapse of the housing market to the election of the country’s first African American president, Americans saw and experienced a lot. But what was most unexpected was the $700 billion government bailout of Wall Street’s financial institutions, according to a TrueCredit.

Fannie Mae will need as much as $16 billion from the Treasury Department to avoid posting a loss in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to an Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The announcement comes just days after Freddie Mac filed a similar report indicating it would as for as much as $35 billion to keep it solvent.

Freddie Mac will need $30 to $35 billion from the U.S. Treasury Department to avoid posting a loss for the fourth quarter of 2008, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission report filed Friday.