Scottsdale-based Meritage Homes building up a 2010 profit

April 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

To survive the housing crash, home builders had to slash prices, cut costs and find ways to compete with foreclosures.
Scottsdale-based Meritage Homes is one of the industry’s survivors. The company, metropolitan Phoenix’s only publicly-traded home builder, is on track to make a profit this year, says CEO Steve Hilton.
The builder is selling more homes than a year ago, experiencing fewer cancellations from buyers, receiving a hefty tax refund and has completed a large financing deal.
Meritage Homes closed on a $200 million private placement offering Tuesday. The deal helps the Scottsdale-based home builder to pay off some of its senior notes …

read the rest of this post

Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Filed Under: Phoenix News Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Ariz. lenders offer help for home buyers

March 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The Arizona Mortgage Lenders Association is teaming with several government housing agencies to hold the Home Buyer’s Fair 2009 on Saturday Oct. 17th.
 The free event offers help on: the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home-buyers; buying a home with no money down; credit requirements and repair; qualifying for a mortgage and buying a foreclosure home.
The Mortgage Lenders Association is working with the Phoenix office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Consumer Credit Counseling and several city housing agencies to put on the event, which starts a 10 a.m. at the Glendale Renaissance Hotel. Details: www.azmortgagelenders.com.
  …

read the rest of this post

Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Filed Under: Phoenix News Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Key indicators from Phoenix's Housing Market

March 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

There are some positive signs coming from metropolitan Phoenix housing market. Foreclosures dropped slightly in September while home prices inched up again.
Last month, lenders foreclosed on 3,759 Valley homes, an almost 5 percent drop from August, according to the Information Market. It’s the second month in a row foreclosures, or trustee sales, have fallen. Pre-foreclosures also dropped in September, a good sign there will be another decline in foreclosures this month. There were 7,857 pre-foreclosures, or notice of trustee sales, filed by lenders last month. That’s an 11 percent drop.
There’s been a big push by the government and nonprofits for …

read the rest of this post

Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Filed Under: Phoenix News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Two AZ "foreclosure rescue" firms to pay $1.37 million in fines, restitution

March 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The Arizona Attorney General’s office has settled two mortgage fraud lawsuits for $1.37 million. Most of the money will go towards paying restitution to consumers who lost money to the "foreclosures help" firms.
Richard Winer, principal of the firm Taken Care of Investments, has agreed to pay fines totaling $691,000,half of which goes to consumers who lost money to the firm, according to a Maricopa Superior Court consent judgment.
In March, Attorney General Terry Goddard’s filed a complaint alleging Winer and his businesses defrauded 270 Arizona homeowners in danger of foreclosure, by promising to obtain the deed to their home and then …

read the rest of this post

Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Filed Under: Phoenix News Tagged With: , , , ,

Check out Valley Home Values

March 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

There’s no doubt its been a tough year for metro Phoenix’s housing market. But some areas are showing smaller declines than last year.
Foreclosures homes resold by lenders continue to dominate the market, but the marketshare for those homes is shrinking.
Check out Valley Home Values at homevalues.azcentral.com to see what home sales and foreclosures are doing to prices in each metro Phoenix ZIP code. …

read the rest of this post

Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Filed Under: Phoenix News Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Bankers file lawsuit over repeal of AZ foreclosure law

March 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The Arizona Bankers Assocation has filed a lawsuit to overturn legislation that repealed a controversial new state foreclosure law.
Earlier this week, the Bankers Association field the suit in the Arizona Supreme Court alleging the legislation is unconstitutional. The fight centers around SB 1271, which was passed in early July and allowed lenders to go after the assets of many homeowners in foreclosure. The bill made it legal for lenders to seek the difference between what a borrower owed and how much they were able to recoup from reselling the forecloure home.
Many in the real estate industry fought to repeal the …

read the rest of this post

Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Filed Under: Phoenix News Tagged With: , , ,

Controversial Arizona foreclosure law, SB 1271, repealed

March 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Arizona owners of second-homes or investment properties facing foreclosure have one less thing to worry about. The law that could have made them liable for tens of thousands of dollars, SB 1271 was repealed on Monday when Gov. Jan Brewer signed SB 1004.
Controversial SB 1271 required some Arizona homeowners in foreclosure to prove they had lived in a home for six straight months or they would be liable for their lenders loss on the property.
 
SB 1271 was repealed in the Arizona’s special budget legislative session a few months ago. But then in October, the Arizona Bankers Association filed a lawsuit …

read the rest of this post

Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Filed Under: Phoenix News Tagged With: , , , ,

Ilegal foreclosure auctions in Maricopa County

March 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

When foreclosure homes come up for public auction in Phoenix, a minimum opening bid is set and bidding is open to anyone.
At least that is the way it’s supposed to work.
But a Republic investigation into the daily public auctions held on the Maricopa County Courthouse steps and at some local law offices suggests a growing number of homes are sold for less than the posted opening bid.
Prices on some foreclosure homes are being dropped below the opening bid just hours or even minutes before the auction. Buyers aware of the "drop bids" scoop up the houses before other bidders know …

read the rest of this post

Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Filed Under: Phoenix News Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Short sales jump in Phoenix; lenders making faster decisions on deals

March 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Short sales may be a new best option for Valley homeowners struggling to avoid foreclosure.
Home-loan modifications, endorsed by the federal government, are most borrowers’ first choice when they fall behind on their mortgage payments because of a drop in their income. But short sales are also part of the federal housing plan to slow foreclosures. Unlike their slower-than-expected actions on loan modifications, lenders are now moving quickly on many short-sale requests in the Phoenix area.
New figures for the Valley show a record number of short-sale deals in various stages of completion. Pending short sales, including all of the deals …

read the rest of this post

Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Filed Under: Phoenix News Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Homeowners wanted

March 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Are you trying to sell your home, contemplating walking away because you owe more than it’s worth or just frustrated by the foreclosures in your neighborhood? I am working on a story to tell the plight of the typical Valley homeowner right now. Please contact me with your story at catherine.reagor@arizonarepublic.com. …

read the rest of this post

Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Filed Under: Phoenix News Tagged With: , , , ,
« Older Posts