Fannie and Freddie Put to Probe

Posted in Foreclosures, Politics by mrdublin on December 22, 2011 No Comments yet

California attorney general Kamala Harris recently has filed a suit in San Francisco County Superior Court against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which will require the two firms to respond to a series of questions to be thrown into them by the state.

 

This is the latest from Atty. Harris against the mortgage-finance giants and their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency. It is the latest attempt of the attorney to keep the battle over states being able to investigate firms under conservatorship of a federal regulator. According to the lawsuit, FHFA wasn’t within its rights to dismiss inquiries against private companies that operate in the state.

 

It may be noted that just last month, subpoenas have been issued to the firms to provide extensive answers to questions regarding foreclosed properties they own in California.

 

The subpoenas are asking for the firms to disclose records of every vacant home owned by the companies in the state. Then the subpoenas immediately dropped the bomb, if any of the two were aware of the drug dealing, prostitution or the presence of explosives and radioactive materials in these homes.

 

Both firms have been backed by FHFA who have instructed both Fannie and Freddie to disregard the subpoenas. The FHFA said the subpoenas are “frequently vague and ambiguous,” then asked the attorney general to withdraw them.

 

In its statement, FHFA said that the state appears to be “engaged in an open-ended exploratory investigation” which is derogatory to the authority of FHFA while also becoming a lumber on the operations of the firms. The effort required to collect the “voluminous amount of information” to comply with the subpoenas “would be nothing short of staggering.” The FHFA declined to comment further on the issue.

 

Indeed, Ms Harris’ efforts are phenomenal, trying to save the state, which is among the hardest hit by the bad economy, from further tumbling down. Aside from the ongoing scrutiny, she also criticized Fannie and Freddie for continuously resisting efforts to modify mortgages by reducing loan balances for borrowers who owe more than their homes are worth, calling FHFA’s Edward DeMarco to step aside if he was unwilling to approve principal write-downs by the firms.

 

Atty. Harris has been a key figure in the continuous efforts of the Obama Administration in forging a $25 billion settlement with banks over foreclosure abuses.

Tips on Keeping Fireplace and Furnace Safe and Effective

Posted in Generally Speaking by mrdublin on December 15, 2011 No Comments yet

All the snow on the road and your roof can cause so much trouble to you. The road becomes slippery and risky – or impassable at some areas. The roof becomes heavy, and that makes it risky, too, if you think of falling roofs due to heavy snow. But as what happens every year, the worst thing that snow can bring is freezing to death.

Fireplace Care Ideas

Your home is your greatest shield against the undesirably cold weather while your fireplace is your secret weapon. Thank God for the person who conceptualized the fireplace or else most us we’ll be covered in 5 blankets at a time during seasons like this. Can you even imagine yourself being able to sleep comfortably with that much blankets on? In order to keep the fire burning (literally!), here are some ways you can take good care of your fireplace so your house remains safe and your family keeps its protection from the freezing weather for years and years to come.

  1. Have your fireplace be inspected by a certified chimney sweeper annually. The perfect time is two to four weeks before the winter season. The certified sweeper should check for the proper operation of the damper and look for possible cracks in the flue liner. He should also sweep the flue to remove the creosote and other products brought by combustion.
  2. Be sure to close the damper when the fireplace is not in use.
  3. Use chimney cap if you still have none. Some chimneys become a habitat of creatures that shouldn’t really be there and when they stick there for a time, they can affect the functionality of your chimney.
  4. Use aged, dry hardwood to burn. Do not burn construction debris as they most often have toxic chemicals that vaporize in the fire and may enter your living space.
  5.  Clean the fireplace after use but make sure that no ash remains hot. After cleaning, dispose the ashes properly.
  6. Always be alert for unusual colors or smell that come out of your fireplace. This could mean your fireplace or chimney is not functioning properly. Contact your technician immediately. If you smell gas, contact your gas company for assistance.

Maintaining your Furnace Safe and Functional

A furnace is the device used for heating. It needs utmost care to remain functional for years, as well as keep the home warm and safe most especially during winter. Here are some ways on taking care of your furnace.

  1. Have a furnace technician look over your gas furnace annually. Your contractor should perform vacuuming the unit, inspecting the blower motor, inspecting the heat exchanger for cracks, checking the electronics, and performing other necessary checkups. The summer season is the perfect time to clean or replace your furnace.
  2. Ensure that furniture, rugs and drapes are nowhere near vents, space heaters and baseboards.
  3. Keep combustible materials such as paints, rags, clothing, paper, cleaning products, gasoline, or flammable vapors away from the furnace.
  4. If you can afford it, try to install a carbon monoxide alarm inside your home. Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless and dangerous gas that is produced by combustion. Protect your family, especially your kids, from this harmful substance.

What’s up with the Bank of America’s New Rental Program

Posted in Foreclosures, Real Estate by mrdublin on December 12, 2011 No Comments yet

Bank of America said it is looking at developing a new program that will help home renters regain rental possession of a foreclosed home. How would they do this? America’s biggest bank said it is looking for investors who will take for-rent foreclosed homes and take back borrowers as new tenants.

BoA started to form a division back in February that would handle servicing of delinquent mortgages, take care of pending loans, sort out outstanding representation and warranty claims. According to the bank’s 3rd quarter financial statement,  more than 35,000 employees are tirelessly sorting out 1.1 million loans that have been found 60 days delinquent or worse.

Ron Sturzenegger of BoA’s legacy asset servicing division said the plan is one of which that has caught their attention.

“We are looking at programs where you can capture somebody before the REO process and offer a deed-for-lease. We would go to the customer and say, ‘We’ll do a short sale. Will you be interested in leasing your property back? We’re still going to sell the property. You will no longer be the owner. But you can be a tenant now in that same property and save you from moving on,'”

Sturzenegger said, “BoA would still sell the REO as before in areas where there is a market for them and they can still get reasonable bids.” He added that the program is still new and the bank is yet to test the waters on it.

However, there remain areas that are just areas that are too congested with inventory yet no enough demand from investors and homebuyers. Thus, it sits uninhabited for years.

Rick Sharga, executive vice president at Carrington Mortgage Holdings, said that many firms, including Carrington, are preparing to participate.

“We already have the infrastructure and assets in place to participate effectively,” he said. “Everyone is waiting on final direction from the FHFA.”

At present time, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which is trying to work out an REO rental program for government-sponsored Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has received overwhelming response, getting more than 4,000 ideas from real estate analysts named and unnamed.

Millions of homes owned by private banks still remain vacant today with $50.4 billion of REO properties owned by private banks.

 

Source: www.SmartRealEstateNews.com

Obama Speaks Rhetoric, a Tycoon Says

Posted in Generally Speaking, Politics by mrdublin on December 9, 2011 No Comments yet

Last week created a buzz as business tycoon and Wall Street veteran, Lean Cooperman, initiated an open letter to Obama criticizing his tone as he urge the wealthy to pay higher taxes. The letter became viral (what do you expect) and made many concerned and now-only concerned to think about how the President has been speaking in front of the public for the last year. Here is a news from SmartRealEstateNews.com about the issue:


“Leon Cooperman, a 68-year-old Wall Street veteran, says he is for higher taxes on the wealthy. He would happily give up his Social Security checks. He voted for Al Gore in 2000. He says the special treatment of investment gains, or so-called carried interest, for private equity and hedge fund managers is “ridiculous.” He says he even sympathizes, at least to some extent, with the Occupy Wall Street protesters.  And yet, Mr. Cooperman, a man with a rags-to-riches background who worked at Goldman Sachs for more than 25 years in the 1970s and 1980s before starting his own hedge fund, Omega Advisors, which has minted him an estimated $1.8 billion fortune, is waging a campaign against President Obama.

Last week, in a widely circulated “open letter” to President Obama that whizzed around e-mail inboxes of Wall Street and corporate America, Mr. Cooperman argued that “the divisive, polarizing tone of your rhetoric is cleaving a widening gulf, at this point as much visceral as philosophical, between the downtrodden and those best positioned to help them.”

He went on to say, “To frame the debate as one of rich-and-entitled versus poor-and-dispossessed is to both miss the point and further inflame an already incendiary environment.”

The letter comes as President Obama is planning to give a speech on Tuesday in Osawatomie, Kan., about the economy and the middle class, following in the path of President Theodore Roosevelt, who campaigned a century ago in that very city against the wealthy and big business.

Mr. Cooperman’s complaint has less to do with the substance of taxing the wealthy than it does the president’s choice of words in promoting it, an emphasis that he says is “villainizing the American Dream.”

While many executives have complained about what they perceive as the president’s antibusiness bent, Mr. Cooperman’s letter has gained credibility and attention in political and business circles because of his own seemingly liberal stances on taxes and the like.  He said, in an interview, that he had been deluged with hundreds of e-mails and phone calls about the letter, “99.9 percent of it positive.”

Mr. Cooperman, who recently signed the Giving Pledge, Bill Gates’s and Warren Buffett’s effort to press the world’s billionaires to give away at least half of their wealth, said he felt he came into his money honestly and said proudly, “I spend more than 25 times on charity what I spend on myself.” Asked whether he had received any response from the president for his letter, he replied with a chuckle, “I’m not optimistic I’ll hear from him.” “

Source:  www.SmartRealEstateNews.com

Last Call to Take Advantage of Expiring Tax Deductions

Posted in Real Estate by mrdublin on December 6, 2011 No Comments yet

While it’s the season to be jolly, it’s also the last month of the year. That means you have a little less than three weeks to take advantage of tax deductions that are looking to expire by January 2012. Do I really recommend that you take advantage of these benefits now?  From the looks of the government standing today, you certainly should as the government does not seem to be willing to extend any of them. Remember, you have three weeks and less than 20 days if you were to debar the holidays.

Mortgage Insurance Premium Deduction

This deduction was first introduced in 2007 and is set to expire by the end of 2011.  This benefit entitles you to deduct the premiums you pay for the mortgage insurance similar to mortgage interest. The percentage of deduction varies based on levels of income, and to qualify for a full deduction, a taxpayer or a married taxpayer couple must have a gross income of $100,000 or less.

Only payments made in 2011 are eligible for deduction.

Up to $4,000 Education Expense Deduction

There is a deduction of up to $4,000 available to qualified educational expenses to those whose modified adjusted gross income is not more than $80,000 for a single taxpayer or $160,000 for joint payers. Your classes can be taken in 2012 but your payment must be made before the year 2011 ends.

State and Local Sales Tax Deduction

If you are living in a state with no or low income taxes, you are mostly eligible to avail the state and local sales tax deduction benefit. To avail of this, purchase something huge before the end of the year. This Christmas season seems like the perfect time to do this.

Adoption Credit

There is an enhanced adoption credit made available this year which enables any qualified individual to credit up to $13,360 in adoption expenses.

Home Energy Credit of Up to $500

Any homeowner may qualify for an energy credit if in 2011 – you purchase solar panels for electricity or water heating, you install wind energy equipment, geothermal heat pump or any type of fuel cells to generate electricity. You can credit up to 30% of the amount you spend or up to $500.

2% Social Security Tax Cut

Available only in 2011, this benefit aims to add about $1,000 to $2,000 to low income earners or $4,000 and above to income of families with high income earners.

Other benefits to take advantage before January 1, 2011 are IRA to charity tax-free transfers and $250 school teacher expense deduction.

 

Source: http://www.inman.com

Home Sweet Home… At Least For the Holidays

Posted in Foreclosures by mrdublin on December 2, 2011 No Comments yet

In the season of gift giving, the Santa Claus over at the White House agreed that you can keep your home… for now.   So if you’re going through a hardship this holiday season, you’d be amused, surprised, glad and relieved that the government and some other large mortgage lenders has promised not to take any homes this Christmas.

Government-sponsored (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, among other mortgage lenders, said that there will be a temporary foreclosure moratorium,  stating that all single-family homes and two-to-four unit properties will be spared from being foreclosured from December 19, 2011 to January 2, 2012.

“If the property is occupied, our foreclosure attorneys will suspend the eviction to provide families a greater measure of certainty during the holidays,” said Tracy Mooney, SVP of servicing and REO at Freddie Mac.

Although during the enforcement period legal and administrative proceedings for eviction may continue,  families will be allowed to stay in their homes and celebrate the yuletide.

Huge mortgage lender Chase Mortgage, on the other hand, will refrain from sending any families out of their homes between December 22, 10 and January 2, 2011.  Wells Fargo said it is not shutting down its foreclosure procedures entirely but will not touch any homes due for foreclosure during the same period.

Bank of America, meanwhile, stopped evicting homeowners last Thanksgiving. It promises to do the same thing during the Christmas Season.

“The holidays are meant for families to spend time together, especially if they’ve gone through the stress of financial challenges and foreclosure,” said Terry Edwards, EVP of credit portfolio management at Fannie Mae. “No family should give up their home during the holiday season.”

Because of this new moratorium, more than 10,000 homeowners will feel relieved that instead of paying for rent in December, they can just buy themselves food for the table.  Analysts, however, see that this may lead to a permanent benefit as some people may find miracle money during this season that will keep them from giving their homes away.

“It’s a temporary reprieve, a symbolic gesture to help people out during the holidays,” said Daren Blomquist of RealtyTrac.  However, come the New Year, reality will strike  again.