J.P. Morgan Chase has been one of the lenders working with homeowners in the Making Home Affordable Program. Over the past months, homeowners have seen an increase in the number of permanent home loan modifications that have been made from Chase, which has helped many to obtain a more affordable home loan payment.

However, there’s still the problem of foreclosures that many homeowners are facing when they are either denied a trial modification or have their modification trial period cancelled. According to the July 2010 Making Home Affordable servicer report, 11,977 foreclosures were begun by Chase, through June 2010. There are also 2,062 completed foreclosures, according to the July report, for homeowners who had their trial modification canceled.

These numbers in foreclosure starts and foreclosures completed for homeowners who had their trial modification canceled were up from the June 2010 report which indicated Chase had started 10,927 foreclosures and completed 1,119 foreclosures through the month of May. Yet, there is also homeowners that were denied a trial modification who also faced foreclosure. The foreclosure starts for homeowners who were denied a trial modification through the Making Home Affordable Program from J.P. Morgan Chase totaled 8,928 while completed foreclosures numbered 1,374.

Full story is available on Red, White, and Blue Press

Mortgage rates  have continued to remain low throughout the summer months. With the 30 year fixed rate at 4.125% and the 15 year fixed rate at 3.625%, one would expect that potential home borrowers would be waiting in line at banks to secure their mortgage. This is not the case today as mortgage rates are not moving the housing market in the direction that it should be going under normal circumstances.

There are several factors that can be blamed for the continued depressed housing market. Without knowing which way housing prices will go, buyers are not looking at purchasing a home as a way to make money and to secure their financial future. As housing prices continue to fall, it will take many years before a buyer will see any equity in their home. Many buyers are still waiting to see if housing prices continue to drop at which point there may only be foreclosures and short sales available.

Some buyers do not want to deal with the problems with purchasing a foreclosure or a short sale. The time and paperwork involved for these homes is stressful and only the beginning of a long journey. The cost associated with potential repairs and maintenance involved with foreclosures is another drawback. Because of this, buyers, who have the upper hand in this market, are looking to purchase homes currently owned and occupied by sellers at the same prices as those offered for foreclosures and short sales. Sellers, on the other hand, are not willing to reduce their prices to those levels. By doing that, many sellers would have to bring cash to the closing table which many are unwilling or not in the financial position to do. With millions of homes in negative equity, sellers are sitting tight on their homes instead of taking a devastating financial hit.

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Demand for home loan refinancing rose for a fifth straight week, a development that may provide a much-needed jolt to a flailing economy as it could portend an increase in consumer spending.

The Mortgage Bankers Association on Wednesday said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage applications, which includes both purchase and refinance loans, for the week ended August 27 increased 2.7 percent. The four-week moving average of mortgage applications, which smooths the volatile weekly figures, was up 5.2 percent.

The MBA’s seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications increased 2.8 percent, reaching the highest level since the week ended May 1, 2009.

Home loan refinancing puts extra cash into consumers’ hands that they can save, use to pay off existing debt or funnel into the economy through extra spending.

“Refinancing activity picked up again last week, reaching new 15-month highs, as borrowers took advantage of even lower mortgage rates,” Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s Vice President of Research and Economics, said in a statement.

Full story is available on Reuters

Some homeowners underwater on their home loan — meaning they owe more on the mortgage than the home’s current value — are turning to “strategic defaults” in which they simply walk away from mortgage debt.

But financial experts warn that the cost of skipping out on mortgage debt can be high.

The American Bankers Association recently warned homeowners about the consequences of strategic default, including the possibility of the bank obtaining a judgment to pursue the homeowner’s assets, such as bank accounts, cars and investments.

Full story is available on detnews.com

The Obama administration plans to set up an emergency loan program for the unemployed and a government mortgage refinancing effort in the next few weeks to help homeowners after home sales dropped in July, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said.

“The July numbers were worse than we expected, worse than the general market expected, and we are concerned,” Donovan said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program yesterday. “That’s why we are taking additional steps to move forward.”

The administration will begin a Federal Housing Authority refinancing effort to help borrowers who are struggling to pay their mortgages, and will start an emergency homeowners’ loan program for unemployed borrowers so they can stay in their homes, Donovan said.

“We’re going to continue to make sure folks have access to home ownership,” he said.

Full story is available on Bloomberg

A new study by Santa Ana, Calif., real estate data services company CoreLogic found that the number of short sales has more than tripled since 2008, and that’s leading to an increase in fraud.

Short sales accounted for 6 percent of all home sales in Portland the first five months of the year and 13 percent of all homes listed for sale in the city as of early June, according to the Regional Multiple Listing Service, or RMLS.

Oregon had the 17th-highest number of short sales among the states during the past two years, according to CoreLogic.

A short sale occurs when a home threatened by foreclosure is sold, with the lender’s permission, for less than the value of the mortgage. The lender agrees to eat money on its original loan, but avoids having an empty home on its hands. The homeowner avoids having a foreclosure soiling his or her credit record.

Full story is available on Portland Tribune

The steep falloff in housing sales — which reached a 15-year low in July — highlights the degree to which the government has been propping up the housing market, and the two biggest pillars of that support system — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are facing a crisis.

In Fla. this month, Fannie Mae auctioned off nearly 100 foreclosed properties. In Chicago, Freddie Mac was offering help to homeowners in distress, reports CBS News business correspondent Anthony Mason.

The two troubled mortgage giants seized by the government nearly two years ago now own or guarantee nearly 31 million home loans, 56 percent of all American mortgages, and they’re bleeding billions in losses.

Full story is available on CBS

President Obama’s signature effort to mitigate the nation’s foreclosure crisis, the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), was established with the goal of providing mortgage relief for three million to four million homeowners facing foreclosure in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis.

Today, more than 18 months since Treasury rolled out the program, HAMP is not living up to the administration’s promises. Even more troubling, it may be causing additional burdens for homeowners already facing default.

The evidence of failure is plain:

HAMP has failed to meet the administration’s own projections.

Full story is available on The Wall Street Journal

New York lawmakers are turning up the pressure on banks to speed up the number of mortgage modifications the institutions approve for delinquent borrowers.

State Sen. Jeff Klein and Brooklyn City Council member Brad Lander will announce Wednesday proposals to make home foreclosures a less attractive alternative to banks.

Proposed legislation includes introducing a fine of $100 a day for banks that don’t maintain foreclosed property and a requirement for lenders to post a bond for each vacant property. The latter is intended to ensure the city collects fees it assesses during the foreclosure period.

Full stroy is available on The Wall Street Journal

When Linda Falcão applied for a mortgage from Wells Fargo, she didn’t realize she would be required to write the type of essay that’s more commonly included with a college application.

So she and her husband, Kemuel Ronis, were taken by surprise when Wells Fargo asked the couple, both 50, to pen a “motivational letter” explaining why they were moving. What they found even more shocking, however, were some of the themes that Wells required them to include in their statement, specifically, their plans regarding an “increase/decrease in family” or property size.

“It is wrong and invasive to ask people about their family plans,” said Ms. Falcão, a civil rights attorney and founder of America Serves, a youth volunteer organization. “It very much offended me.”

Full story is available on The New York Times