foreclosure

Ariz. Attorney General working with feds to crackdown on loan modification scams

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said his office is teaming with the federal goverment to stop more loan modification scams.
Today, at the end of the National Association of Attorneys Generals meeting in Phoenix, Goddard said his office recently met with federal regulators, including the U.S. Department of Justice. He said the prosecutors plan to work together to stop firms from cheating struggling homeowners.
Non-profit housing counselors currently offer free help to homeowners trying to receive government-backed loan modifcations to avoid foreclosure. However, a growing number of firms are solicting homeowners and offering help for fees as high as $5,000. Instead of providing loan modification help, …

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Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Alphabet soup of recovery theories for Phoenix's housing market

Theories for the housing market’s recovery remind many of alphabet soup – V, W, L and U.
Real Estate analyst RL Brown explains the recovery scenarios behind each letter in the latest Phoenix Housing Market Letter.
V – This is the symbol behind a fast crash and subsequent fast recovery. We already know this won’t be the case. “The V’s were the rose-colored glasses folks,” says Brown.
W – The symbol for a double-dip recession. If this plays out, we are in for another stock market crash, spike in foreclosures and big drop in home prices. “The W’s are the skeptics,” says Brown.
L …

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Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Health care trust spends $107 million on Phoenix-area office buildings

Last week, Arizona’s big real estate deals involved foreclosures on prominent developments under construction – CityNorth in Phoenix and the Centerpoint condominium towers in Tempe.
This week’s big deal is the large cash acquisition of Sun City-area medical office buildings by a Scottsdale-based investor, a transaction that conveys more confidence in the area’s real estate market.
Scottsdale-based Healthcare Trust of America, a real estate investment trust, has paid $107 million in cash for 17 properties in Sun City and Sun City West.
“These assets provide stability and growth potential. We were able to secure this unique opportunity because of our strong …

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Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

How Phoenix's housing market fared in 2009

There’s no doubt that 2009 was a horrible year for metropolitan
Phoenix’s real estate market. What most people hope is that it
will be the worst year ever recorded, and 2010 will be better.
Here are some final figures for last year, and not all are as bad
as expected.
There were 7,723 Phoenix-area home sales recorded in December,
according to Mike Orr’s Cromford Report. That’s more than double
the number of home sales from December 2008. Last month’s hearty
sales pace puts the annual total for the area at 92,435, which is
up 50 percent from a year ago and near 2006′s pace.
Foreclosures showed signs of slowing during …

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Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Arizona to receive another $118 million in federal foreclosure help

Arizona will receive another $118 million in funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to help neighborhoods with too many foreclosures.
The money will come in the next few months as part of the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program.
Phoenix’s share of this round of funding will be $60 million. Other recipients are the non-profit Chicanos Por La Causa ($36 million) and Pima County ($22 million).
Funding is awarded based on need. Arizona is one of the states hardest hit by foreclosures. Applications for this round of funding were submitted late last year.
In early 2009, several Valley communities, Maricopa and …

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Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

More money for foreclosure help in Arizona

Additional help for Arizona homeowners facing foreclosure is on the way. About $1.3 million from a consumer fraud settlement with Countrywide Home Loans is now being distributed to 12 housing non-profits across the state.
The money will go towards hiring more counselors to help homeowners facing foreclosures.
“It is our hope that these settlement funds will have a positive impact on families throughout the state who are in great need of counseling assistance to help them stay in their homes,” said Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard.“ The problem is so acute that additional staff can make a big difference."
The multi-state consumer fraud …

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Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Funds needed for Arizona foreclosure help

Arizona’s foreclosure prevention hotline is running out of funding.
The hotline, (877)448-1211, has received 31,885 calls from struggling homeowners across the state since it was launched in mid-2008. Homeowners, who call the number, are referred to local, non-profit housing counseling agencies that are approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. T
he foreclosure service was originally funded with a grant from the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program. But that money ran out last November. The Arizona Department of Housing has kept the hotline up and running with $1.2 million from its funds. But those funds are running out and …

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Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

"Walk in" foreclosure help in Phoenix

Two “walk-in” clinics to help struggling homeowners are now open in Phoenix. Neighborhood Housing Services of Phoenix and Chicanos Por La Causa are partnering with government-owned mortgage giant Freddie Mac to operate what are being called Borrower Help Centers. These new centers provide free, financial counseling and help negotiating a loan modification with lenders.
These walk-in centers might prove to be more accessible to some homeowners and even streamline the process for Freddie Mac borrowers, said Patricia Garcia Duarte, chief executive of Neighborhood Housing.
The Borrower Help Centers are both located at 1405 E. McDowell Road and 1242 E. Washington Street Suite …

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Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Pre-foreclosures fall in metro Phoenix

January’s significant drop in pre-foreclosures is the indicator many metropolitan Phoenix housing-market watchers have been anxiously looking for during the past several months.
For the first time since November 2008, the monthly tally of Valley homeowners to fall behind on their mortgages and face foreclosure is below 7,000. Actual foreclosures dropped as well, although their decline wasn’t as dramatic.
Last month, there were 6,762 pre-foreclosures, or notice-of-trustee-sale filings, against Phoenix-area homeowners, according to the real-estate data firm Information Market. That is a 14 percent drop from the 7,879 pre-foreclosures filed by lenders in December 2009. Pre-foreclosures hit a record 10,689 last in …

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Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Ariz. legislation to limit risky mortgages

Legislation has been introduced to prohibit excessive fees on mortgages and the issuance of certain types of high-cost,home loans in Arizona.
S.B. 1288,introduced by Sen. John Nelson, R-, of Glendale, calls for limiting negative-amortization mortgages as well as balloon payments and pre-payment penalties on most other mortgages.
The Arizona Attorney General backs the legislation, which is aimed at preventing another foreclosure crisis in the state.
A growing number of foreclosures in the Phoenix area are on "negative am" mortgages, which allow borrowers to pay less than what they owe in principal each month. But then those homeowners have to make up what they …

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Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Ariz. Attorney General working with feds to crackdown on loan modification scams

Alphabet soup of recovery theories for Phoenix's housing market

Health care trust spends $107 million on Phoenix-area office buildings

How Phoenix's housing market fared in 2009

Arizona to receive another $118 million in federal foreclosure help

More money for foreclosure help in Arizona

Funds needed for Arizona foreclosure help

"Walk in" foreclosure help in Phoenix

Pre-foreclosures fall in metro Phoenix

Ariz. legislation to limit risky mortgages

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