News

The Distressed Property Institute is training Realtors to help struggling homeowners in danger of foreclosure. The institute, based in Florida and launched last January, is now offering the Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE) designation after in-depth on-site or online training on how to handle short sales.

According to a report released last week by the New York Times:http://www.nytimes.com, an independent investigator of the U.S. Treasury Department has uncovered evidence that officials from the nation’s banking supervisory body, the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), helped the failing IndyMac Bancorp paper over its financial difficulties.

This year has proved to be one of the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) best yet in terms of loan originations – during FY 2008, which officially ended for the agency on September 30, lenders originated a record $171.

Families on the verge of foreclosure and facing eviction in several cities across the country hosted early Christmas dinners with Congressional lawmakers this week to intimately discuss the impact of the economic and housing downturn on Main Street Americans.

Home prices across the country entered their ninth consecutive month of depreciation in October, but October’s 10.4 percent decline from one year ago is better than September’s 11.2 percent decline, and early data for November predicts an even smaller decline of 9.

Walnut Creek, California-based National Loan Auditors (NLA) now offers an online resource portal for clients to gain up-to-date information on statues and case law pertaining to lending and foreclosure.

According to a recent study by the Associated Press:http://www.associatedpress.com, banks that are now receiving bailout money from taxpayers, awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year.

National Short Sale Center, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based company that assists lenders, real estate agents, and homeowners nationwide in short-selling properties for maximum value, has announced that short sales in 2008 hit an all-time high in Arizona, Nevada, California and Florida.

Chicago-based Navigant Consulting, Inc. released a report yesterday showing an unprecedented escalation in the number of subprime-related filings, and worsening economic conditions promise to drive the litigation volume ever higher, the research firm said.

The nation’s foreclosure hemorrhage has finally slowed and 2009 should see a significant decline in foreclosures as buyers return, pushing home prices up and fueling a real estate recovery, according to the 2009 Outlook from California-based ForeclosureS.