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Another Utah Mortgage Fraud Scam Exposed
2007-11-15 01:56:00
It has been said about investors that those swimming naked are only revealed when the tide goes out. In essence, it's hard to get caught with your pants down when you're up to your neck in water.During the mortgage boom, lenders were so focused on expanding business, they didn't care too much about protecting the quality of their loans. Now that things have slowed down, they are paying much closer attention to specific deals.The latest group to get caught up are the loan officers and mortgage brokers of Champion Mortgage . In an investigation by the Utah Department of Real Estate, these brokers were found to have falsified loan documents, forged signatures and even "modified" tax records to close more deals. According to KSL.com -Derek Miller, director of the Utah Division of Real Estate, said, "Looking into his business led us to a second mortgage officer, to a third, to a fourth, until we realized that pretty much all loan officers in that company were involved."That busines...
More About: Fraud , Mortgage Fraud , Scam

Salt Lake Economy Looks Good in the Short Term
2007-11-10 06:32:00
Despite the downturn in real estate, projections for Utah's economy are still quite positive. A report released this morning shows Utah's economic future is till quite bright.In September, Utah led the nation in job creation -Pointing to September's job growth figures, Matthews said Utah was the top state with a 4.4 percent increase."We were way above everyone in the country," he said, noting that Wyoming and Montana came in second and third with 3.3 percent increases while Arizona was fourth with a 2.6 percent jump in the number of new jobs created.Higher fuel prices and the real estate slow down are expected to have little effect on Utah's economy during the projected period.Even the prospect that the price of gasoline might remain above $3 a gallon in Utah and that the pace of home construction will continue to slacken, doesn't significantly diminish Utah's economic outlook for next year, he said."If you look at total construction employment [commercial and residential] in...
More About: Economy , Short-term , Salt , Good , Short

Salt Lake Real Estate Poised to Fall...and Other Media Exaggerations
2007-11-09 02:23:00
25 real estate markets poised to fall read the headline on CNNMoney this morning. I was curious to see if Salt Lake was on the list. Sure enough, it was. When I examined the "criteria" displayed for making the list, I was a little disappointed...again...with the reporting. The photo article showed three data points: the 15 year average price/rent ratio, the current ratio and a five year projected forecast. For Salt Lake, the forecast is -22.5%. (Is that a 22.5% decline per year or 22.5% at the end of five years which is 4.5% per year?)Initially I was pretty peeved, until I saw this companion piece which explained things a little better. Still the negative skew on the whole has me irked. The "decline" could be avoided by an increase in rents, increased demand for housing or any other combination of unpredictable events. The pretentiousness of presenting projections as facts is misleading and tiring.I'm not saying there's no reason for concern out there. The American econ...
More About: Media , Estate , Real Estate , Real

Richard Culbertson Loses Bid For Mayor's Office
2007-11-08 03:33:00
Richard Culbertson, a mayoral candidate for Eagle Mountain, lost his bid for office in yesterday's election by a landslide. Culbertson, recently investigated for mortgage fraud had his real estate license revoked for among other things forging the signature of his own son-in-law on real estate documents.The fraud investigation was revealed just weeks before the election. Further, an inflammatory ad ran last week that poked at Culbertson's marital history. Culbertson's opponents discovered through a digital "fingerprint" the ad actually came from Culbertson's camp. The Salt Lake Tribune got the Culbertson volunteer responsible to confess after previous denials -An anonymous advertisement published in a community newspaper, the Crossroads Journal, encouraged residents to vote for Jackson because of her "great marriage." It criticized Richard Culbertson's divorce, asking, "If he can't even keep a marriage together, how can he bring the city together?"Jackson, worried she would b...
More About: Office , Richard , Char

Enjoy Today's Election...
2007-11-06 16:12:00
South Park - Turd Sandwich vs. Giant DoucheBalding Man: You... don't belong here, Stan. You should return home.Stan: I can't. I was banished for not voting.Balding Man: But, why on earth wouldn't you wanna vote?Stan: I think voting is great. I just didn't care this time because it was between a giant douche and a turd sandwich.Balding Man: But Stan, don't you know, it's always between a giant douche and a turd sandwich. Nearly every election since the beginning of time has been between some douche and some turd. They're the only people who suck up enough to make it that far in politics.Stan: I guess... I guess you're right.
More About: Enjoy , Election

Lease Options in Utah - Four Things Every Buyer Should Do
2007-11-05 15:53:00
I saw an interesting article in the Salt Lake Tribune yesterday about the rise of lease options being used in the Valley. A lease option is a type of seller financing I think will become very popular for first time home buyers and people with bad credit who want to buy homes.The Tribune writes -Home sales are down in many areas locally, in great part because some buyers are having difficulty qualifying for loans under tighter lending criteria put in place after the nation's subprime lending meltdown.Enter the lease-option or lease-to-own agreement. Through such arrangements, a buyer with credit blemishes can sign an agreement to lease a home for a specified period of time (typically two or three years), and then gain the right to purchase the property outright. In some cases, part of the rent payment goes toward a down payment on the property.The lease option tends to favor the seller because the buyer doesn't actually get their name on title. Additionally, the vast majority of ...
More About: Buyer , Utah , Options , Things , Lease

New Homes in Utah - More Vacant Than Last Year
2007-11-04 03:58:00
The number of new homes available in Utah has nearly doubled from last year according to a recent report.At the end of September the Wasatch front had 93 percent more newly built vacant homes than they did one year ago, according to a Metrostudy report.This is bad news for home builders, but good news for home buyers. Much of the excess new inventory is concentrated in Northern Utah County in communities like Traverse Mountain. Multiple cases of mortgage fraud in Utah County aren't helping home values either.Not all new homes are created equal. Some communities are still seeing demand. Based on a search of existing inventory from a builder I'm familiar with, I noticed certain homes in Lehi were seeing discounts of tens of thousands of dollars. Meanwhile homes in Daybreak weren't being discounted at all.Home builders in Utah may be willing to deal even more than their advertised, or sale prices. If you're in the market for a new home, be prepared to offer less than the list...
More About: New Homes , Homes , Vacant , Year

Richard Culbertson - Welcome to the Utah Mortgage Fraud Hall of Infamy
2007-11-03 04:53:00
A few weeks ago, I wrote about Eagle Mountain mayoral candidate Richard Culbertson. If you recall, Culbertson was investigated by the Division of Real Estate and punished by having his real estate license revoked, having a fine levied of $40,000 and having his case turned over to law enforcement.Since then, new details have emerged about the case. For instance, the specifics of what Culbertson was accused of were revealed. Political challengers of Culbertson have been particularly diligent in finding information about him. The facts of the fraud case Culbertson admitted to were revealed here -Using a straw buyer to buy 3 houses (paragraphs 9 & 10)Falsely claims that the straw buyer would occupy the house he is currently living in (paragraph 11)Forged signatures on multiple documents (paragraph 12 & 16)Falsifying income statements (paragraph 13)Inflated property values to barrow (sic) money above the property value (paragraph 14)Used multiple Limited Liability Companies ...
More About: Fraud , Mortgage Fraud , Mortgage , Utah , Hall

How To Protect Yourself From a Crazy Real Estate Market
2007-11-01 22:48:00
The last 24 hours on Wall Street have been a crazy mess. Ben Bernanke handed Wall Street trick or treaters a "sweet" rate cut of .25% and like overstuffed children, the Dow promptly threw up yesterday's 137 point gain with a drop of over 360 points.The 10 year bond saw a huge gain yesterday (good for investors, bad for borrowers) and also saw a dramatic reversal of 12 basis points today. Oil is up, the dollar is down and the Fed just injected an amount of money into the financial system not seen since 9/11.As a homeowner or prospective homeowner, how can you make the best mortgage decision in today's volatile market?Good sales people have a philosophy called SWAT. Sell what's available today. It means that as a salesperson, you will probably never have the same customer, same needs, same product, same pricing available like you have now. So take advantage of it. This same philosophy applies to the current real estate market. Worries about pricing, rates and credit availabil...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Real Estate Market , Market , Crazy

Finally, Some Good News For the Economy
2007-10-31 15:55:00
Two reports out this morning suggest the American economy isn't as bad off as it may seem. First of all, economic production is up more than forecast.The gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the nation's economic activity, rose at an annual rate of 3.9 percent during the three months ended in September, according to the report.That's up from the 3.8 percent growth in the second quarter. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast growth would slow to a 3.1 percent percent growth pace.It was the strongest pace of economic growth since the first quarter of 2006, when the U.S. economy was catching up from the hit it took in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita the previous quarter.Individual consumption was up by three percent. One of the positive characteristics of a weak dollar is an increase in demand for exports which rose by 16% in the quarter. The report also showed inflation is in check, which could justify a rate cut by the Fed today.While this is good ...
More About: News , Economy , Good News , Finally , Good

Real Estate Marketing Must Comply to Regulation Z
2007-10-29 18:02:00
I received a post card in the mail a few weeks ago advertising a new town home community in Sandy. East Town Village is a development by Trophy Homes and the front side of the mailer said - Own a new home in Sandy for as little as 981/mo*.I'm always curious when I see a mortgage marketing piece because so many of them violate the advertising section of Regulation Z. This piece was no exception the asterisked note said the following - $981 payment based on condominium purchase price of $162990 and includes a 2/1 buy-down through Copper Mountain Mortgage using Utah Housing financing, OAC. HOA fees and insurance not included. See sales agent for details. Incentive and prices are subject to change or be withdrawn without notice.Nowhere did this marketing piece mention the APR, a requirement of Regulation Z 226.24 when a monthly payment is mentioned.What really got me curious was the financing through Utah Housing. The Utah Housing program allows financing for first time home buyers, wh...
More About: Marketing , Estate , Real Estate , Real Estate Marketing

Countrywide Reports 3rd Quarter Loss
2007-10-26 18:17:00
Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words. That was a screenshot from CNNMoney's coverage of the Countrywide story where the company reported a 3rd quarter loss of $1.2 billion dollars.$1,200,000,000 lost!More unbelievable than the loss is the statement/belief/prayer the company has already turned around and will post a profit in the current quarter.The Countrywide results have been eagerly awaited as many analysts consider the country's largest mortgage servicer and originator as a barometer of the real estate market as a whole.Countrywide's stock leaped after the earnings result and though it lost some of its position, still showed a double digit gain. Wall Street as a whole also jumped positive, though we'll have to wait until closing to see how permanent those gains are.President David Sambol remarked,"We view the third quarter of 2007 as an earnings trough, and anticipate that the company will be profitable in the fourth quarter and in 2008," said a statement f...
More About: Loss , Quarter

Real Estate Market - Is It Really That Bad?
2007-10-25 21:25:00
I wanted to address a few things that have come up this week. I've been trying to keep this blog more Utah centric and focus the national discussion over at Easy Mortgages, but this seems to be the best forum for discussion.First of all, I want to discuss an email I got from Brooks. He asked, Anyway, I would like to know your thoughts on the comparison of Utah home prices in Q307 with Q207. While there was still a positive increase in sales price when comparing Q307 to Q306, it appears, based on a small sampling of 11 zip codes in Salt Lake county, that the median price actually fell from Q207 to Q307.For some reason, and I'll discuss that next, the media has us convinced that comparing non-similar periods of time in relation to housing is a worthwhile pursuit. Nowhere else in business are you seeing these kinds of reports. Nobody cares if Wal-Mart had a gain from Q2 to Q3. It's irrelevant. Bonuses aren't paid on that. Stock prices and earnings don't change on those numbers.To ...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Real Estate Market , Market , Real

Mortgage Refinancing - Is Now A Good Time?
2007-10-24 19:50:00
If I had tried to answer this question even a month ago, my advice would have been, "Yes, refinance into the lowest fixed rate available. Buy down your rate if you're able to do it."Given the changes in the mortgage market since then, my advice has changed as well. Yesterday's announcement by Countrywide that it will refinance borrowers with adjustable rates, even though they don't qualify, just made it more difficult for the vast majority of homeowners who are making their payments on time. It's also punishing homeowners that took out fixed rate loans as downward pressure on the bond markets is making new loans less expensive than old ones.If this were a one time occurrence, I would advise everyone to go out there and refinance to take advantage of it. However, it appears right now that rates will be trending down for some time. The Fed has room to play and can push rates down all the way to zero if they need to. We'll see next week how well this theory holds up when the...
More About: Time , Mortgage , Good , Mort , Refinancing

The Inside Scoop
2007-10-23 23:50:00
I'm pleased to announce a new feature of the Salt Lake Real Estate Blog. Today was the inaugural issue of The Inside Scoop , an e-newsletter put out by local real estate agent Mark Alder of Windermere Realty and myself.Mark has been sending out this newsletter for two years and wanted to add greater value to his subscribers. I've been wanting to put out a newsletter, but didn't have an established base. Voila, The Inside Scoop.Mark is also keenly interested in real estate blogging and has been writing his own blog this year. We are offering unique content in the newsletter you can't find anywhere else, so it's well worth the 5 seconds it will take to sign up. We're not interested in spamming you either and our list is maintained by a trusted third-party - Constant Contact. You can easily opt out at any time.So take a look at The Inside Scoop and subscribe today. This month's articles discuss housing inventory levels in Salt Lake City and what you need to know about FHA loans.S...

Utah Real Estate - Third Quarter Reveals Some Pain
2007-10-23 18:13:00
Third quarter numbers are out for Utah 's real estate market and they aren't pretty. I previously reported that volume was down, but the average sales price held up pretty well.The new numbers reflect median sales prices which turned out to be 50% lower than the average.Selling prices in Salt Lake County were up 5.4 percent in the third quarter, to $253,000, compared with the same period in 2006. Prices in Davis County were up 9.7 percent, to $230,500, with Utah County increasing 8.1 percent, to $241,000.Having gains is still better than many other areas of the country, but it's clear the market psychology in Utah has changed. How long this will last is yet to be determined.News reports, lower access to loans and highly publicized cases of mortgage fraud have buyers holding back while record numbers of homeowners are putting their homes up for sale. Now that we're headed into the slowest real estate season of the year, I don't see things picking up, though last year's fourth...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Pain , Real

Countrywide No Fee Offer - It's For Real
2007-10-22 20:55:00
You may have noticed a number of Countrywide commercials on TV pitching a no closing cost loan. I've wondered for some time whether this is a true "no fee" loan or just a "no out of pocket" loan where the fees are added to the new loan.I got my answer on Friday in an email from Countrywide. As a past customer - not by choice - they end up servicing a large number of loans regardless of the original lender - I "qualified" for their promotion. The email was titled "We want you back" and disclosed the terms of their "no fee" offer.Upon examination, it is truly that, a "no fee" loan. Countrywide is taking a lot of bashing and I'm one who has been piling on. They deserve it, but not for this promotion. Their fine print says -Some upfront fees (ex. credit report and appraisal) may apply that are credited back at funding. Borrowers who choose to pay lenders fees and closing costs upfront may qualify for a lower rate. Refinancing may increase the total number of monthly payments and...
More About: Real , Offer

Housing Starts Down, But What Does It Mean?
2007-10-19 17:24:00
You've probably seen the news this week about builder confidence reaching a 23 year low and housing starts and completions going down across most of the nation. Even Utah is not immune to this building downturn. Yesterday's Tribune reports -The news just keeps getting worse for home builders along the Wasatch Front, where demand for new homes in September plummeted to the lowest level since 1990.Builders took out permits for the construction of 485 homes locally last month, down from 1,191 in September 2006, according to Construction Monitor, which tracks building activity throughout the West. The last time residential building activity along the Wasatch Front was this low was 17 years ago, when builders pulled 396 permits for new housing units.I'm not writing this to deny building has gone down, I'm simply trying to explain what's going on. The Tribune misspoke when it wrote demand for new homes is the lowest since 1990 simply because permits were at that level. There are o...
More About: Housing

Job Growth Cools in Utah and Nation
2007-10-18 17:13:00
Utah's job boom appears to be coming to an end. One of the factors driving Utah's real estate markets has always been plentiful jobs and attractive quality of life which has kept the flow of people from other states steady. Signs of a slow down are imminent.Utah created 53,500 jobs in the year that ended in September, for an employment growth rate of 4.4 percent, the Utah Department of Workforce Services reported Tuesday. Although that rate remains higher than all other states, it is down from 4.5 percent in August, 4.7 percent in July and a peak of 5.4 percent in June 2006.Utah's rate will continue to slow down, said Workforce Services economist Mark Knold, who predicts employment growth will drop into the 3 percent range by next year.Utah's economists are not that concerned yet. The State's low unemployment rate has actually hampered growth. Utah should still remain a desirable place to relocate, but times are certainly changing.Nation ally, jobs are also on the downturn.T...
More About: Utah , Growth

Eagle Mountain Mortgage Fraud Investigation Targets Mayoral Candidate
2007-10-18 16:44:00
Get ready for a wide range of mortgage fraud reports as the Utah housing market begins its slowdown. The latest person to get entangled is Eagle Mountain mayoral candidate Richard Culbertson who is also a real estate agent...or was.The Daily Herald has the scoop -"Culbertson forged signatures, falsified loan papers and used a straw buyer in equity skimming scheme," said state officials in a media statement. "According to the Division of Real Estate's investigation, Culbertson admitted to using a 'straw buyer' (i.e., using a false identity or the identity of another person) to purchase a home for his personal residence. He also admitted using a straw buyer to purchase other properties at artificially inflated values in order to obtain money in excess of the sales price and acquire cash at closing for his personal benefit."This investigation was conducted by the Utah Division of Real Estate which licenses mortgage brokers, appraisers and real estate agents. After their investigatio...
More About: Fraud , Mortgage Fraud , Fraud Investigation , Mortgage , Investigation

Economic History Lesson - Post War Germany
2007-10-17 19:48:00
Excuse me as I put on my tinfoil hat today to discuss some of the economic calamities the United States is currently experiencing.We're hearing news today with such headlines as Housing starts, permits plunge and More price drops, more layoffs. The dreaded "recession" word is being talked about a lot more often. It sounds like things could get real bad, real soon.I was referred to an article this week that I read with interest. It starts out -The many parallels between 1924 Germany and present-day United States are cause for concern. Though the U.S. has not yet reached the depths to which Germany descended in that era, few can look at the constant depreciation of the dollar since the early 1970's and fail to be alarmed. It seems contemporary America differs from 1924 Germany only in the duration between cause and effect. While the German experience was compressed over a few short years, the effects of the American inflation have been more drawn out.Up until recently, the United...
More About: History , Post , Economic , Lesson

FHA Loans - First Choice for Impaired Credit
2007-10-16 15:42:00
I'm not surprised by an article late yesterday covering the Mortgage Bankers Association convention in Boston. The article said FHA is coming to the forefront of loan choices for people with less than perfect credit.Now with the subprime market eviscerated, loan officers will be steering more borrowers with weak credit to loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration and advising those with little savings to get private mortgage insurance in cases where they can't put down 20 percent.The segment of people in this category are very important to the real estate market as they are often first-time home buyers and fuel "move up" sales for people who have already been homeowners for a few years. I've been saying for some time that FHA would re-emerge as the financing of choice for this market.One has to understand though that FHA underwriting is fairly prudent. If a deal doesn't make sense, it won't be approved. There are no stated income FHA loans. Two years of employment his...
More About: Credit , Loans , Choice

The Flip Side To Mortgage Broker Restrictions
2007-10-15 18:51:00
With the real estate slowdown causing everyone to find someone to blame for the problems, mortgage brokers are taking a huge share of criticism. Now, I'm not saying some brokers deserve this. There was and is a bunch of nonsense going on out there.However, for reputable mortgage brokers, some of this criticism has turned into much more. In Utah for instance, the vetting process for mortgage brokers is pretty intense, especially compared to other states. The licensing process in Utah was born out of high rates of mortgage fraud in the state. When politicians talk about adding to the restrictions simply because they're facing election and real estate is a hot topic, I have a problem with it.Consider Chris Dodd, Senate Banking Chair and aspiring Democratic Presidential Candidate, who last month proposed a "Predatory Lending" bill.The key provisions in this legislation are:Require lenders to assess borrowers' ability to pay the mortgage even after a rate reset if they're signin...
More About: Mortgage , Side , Broker , Flip , Mort

Mortgage Legislation Update
2007-10-13 19:29:00
I've been noticing a lot of inbound traffic coming about some of the pending mortgage related legislation designed to reduce the number of foreclosures.There are three key pieces of legislation pending. All are at different points in the process.H.R. 1852 - Expanding American Homeownership Act of 2007This is the key FHA reform legislation. It has passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate Banking Committee. However, it will probably not go before the full Senate until next year. Due to substantial differences in the House and Senate versions, it may never become law. H.R. 3648 - Mort gage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007Designed to eliminate the tax burden of forgiven mortgage debt for those homeowners who do lose their homes through foreclosure, a sheriff's sale or deed in lieu of foreclosure, this legislation was passed by the House of Representatives this week.The popular bill passed 386 ? 27 with overwhelming bipartisan support. Similar legislation is pending be...
More About: Update , Legislation

Salt Lake County 3rd Quarter Results - The Inside Scoop
2007-10-12 20:38:00
Utah's third quarter numbers have not been publicly released yet, but I was curious how Salt Lake was doing. I asked local Realtor and fellow blogger Mark Alder if he could get me the data for Salt Lake City. It just happened that he received it yesterday. The results are positive, but clearly the market is slowing.The number of days homes take to sell has increased to 35 from last year's 27. Sales volume has dropped. Single family detached homes have dropped by 34.43% to 2687 units. Condos dropped by 20.7% to 705 units. 2006 sales were lower than 2005 during this quarter as well, but only in the single digits.Prices are still appreciating. Houses saw gains in the quarter by 9.56% to $310,567 and condos jumped 12.68% to $189,816. These are average sales prices, not median so when the official numbers come out next week, they will be different.In my opinion, this data suggests more people buying real estate are purchasing condos or townhouses as a less expensive alternativ...
More About: Results , Scoop , Inside , County

Dave Fox Mortgage Fraud - A Career Resolution
2007-10-12 06:54:00
Dave Fox, the embattled Utah sportscaster at KUTV, got his job back tonight. He had to sacrifice part of his dignity to do it and cry on camera, but overall this was probably a small price to pay considering the potential damage his involvement in a real estate fraud scam could have been.Unlike Bill Clinton's denial of "having sexual relations with that woman," I believe Dave Fox was probably duped in his involvement as a straw buyer in a real estate flipping scam, supposedly masterminded by Bradley Kitchen of Sequoia Capital in Provo.The scandal has evolved from a simple real estate scam to one that has caused significant financial damage to all homeowners in the Provo Riverbottoms neighborhood and attracted the attention of the U.S. attorney's office in Salt Lake.I did not watch Dave Fox's mea culpa - Latin for "my bad" - on KUTV tonight, but I can imagine it was painful for him. KUTV's recollection of the interview revealed Fox teared up. For a sportscaster, that kind of...
More About: Fraud , Mortgage Fraud , Mortgage , Career , Dave

Foreclosures in September - The Numbers Are Stunning
2007-10-12 00:32:00
This morning I commented on some of the articles about September 's foreclosure activity that I found to be confusing. Thanks to reader Alex, I was able to review the actual numbers per State and the results are stunning.First of all, let's explain what the column headers mean for the chart and then we can examine the numbers. Please remember the RealtyTrac foreclosure report measures all foreclosure activity ranging from the Notice of Default (Hey, you're late on your mortgage and we may take legal action) to the Real Estate Owned (The bank has repossessed your house) and all that's in between.The Notice of Default (NOD) is the first step in the foreclosure proceeding. The lis pendens (LIS) may be the second step depending on the State the property is in. This is a legal notice attached to the title of the property there is pending legal action. The notices NTS/NFS are the last step before the sheriff's sale and the property is sold or repossessed. Those stand for notice of tru...
More About: Foreclosures , Numbers , Stunning , Number

Foreclosures Fall in September - Or Did They?
2007-10-11 15:41:00
I don't usually get confused writing a post. Normally I have a theory worked out and find supporting evidence to justify it. Today's foreclosure numbers for September are a jumble.CNN and CNNMoney are reporting foreclosures fell in September. This is the lead sentence I was going to write:Foreclosure activity fell for the second time this year as September posted an 8% drop from the previous month.Meanwhile, Bloomberg's headline is Home Foreclosures Doubled in September on Loan Rates.So which one is right? Technically, they both are. The better question is, which statement has more meaning?Yes, foreclosure activity declined in September, with the comparative month being August, 2007. I've discussed before how these month to month comparisons are meaningless, the important number is year over year. In that case, YOY, foreclosures jumped to double the previous year.From CNN -But the figures were still double the number reported a year ago. "It's important to note that September'...
More About: Fall

Utah Bankruptcies Up - Will Foreclosures Follow?
2007-10-09 15:59:00
Despite a rush to file for bankruptcy when the laws changed in 2005 and a favorable economic market, more Utah ns have filed for bankruptcy in the first three quarters than last year.The Salt Lake Tribune reports this morning 23% more filings have occurred this year than last. Even with this increase, the State is doing better than most and we're still at levels less than 2005.Yet even with that increase in bankruptcy filings, Utah still is doing pretty well relative to many other areas of the country, Sime said.Utah's bankruptcy numbers remain well behind the levels experienced prior to adoption of the Bankrupt cy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, which initially resulted in a sharp decline in the number of bankruptcies filed nationwide.Outsiders may be shocked by the level of bankruptcies in Utah, but like fraud and foreclosures, Utah has always been ranked highly in these categories. The local media will usually pin the reason on large family sizes as being ...
More About: Foreclosures

Foreclosure Prevention - Physician, Heal Thyself
2007-10-08 18:31:00
I've been pondering the guidance given to loan servicers by the FDIC Friday to freeze subprime adjustable rate mortgages as a means to help prevent foreclosure. The knee jerk reaction in the blogosphere was it's a bad idea. But considering the circumstances and other alternatives, it seems to make a lot of sense to me.Let's consider the full implications of the scenario. On Friday, the FDIC chair said, "Keep it at the starter rate. Convert it into a fixed rate. Make it permanent. And get on with it," Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said in prepared remarks at an investor's conference.There are a few caveats to this freeze -Bair proposed that servicers convert only those ARMs that haven't reset yet and only for borrowers who are current in their payments and occupy their homes. Loans taken out by speculators who don't live in the homes they bought would not qualify for the automatic conversion.Let's also be clear about what kind of loans these are. The...
More About: Foreclosure , Prevention , Physician , Heal