Worst Street In America for Mortgage Fraud is In Orlando (actually they have 5 of the top 10 streets)

According to the 2010 Mortgage Fraud Trends Report released by CoreLogic this week, fraud risk in the mortgage industry has declined by 25 percent since it peaked in the third quarter of 2007.  Even though

Continue reading... Mortgage Fraud Trend Down; Still $14 Billion in 2009 Losses

1. Mortgage Fraud Continues to Climb Incidents of Mortgage Fraud Increase 7 Percent from 2008 to...
2. Mortgage Fraud Sweep Results in Almost 500 Arrests Dennis Norman According to a press release issued by the...
3. Mortgage Fraud Surge Investigation Nets More Than 100 Individuals Throughout Middle District of Florida Department of Justice Press Release TAMPA—United States Attorney A. Brian...

Average discount on Foreclosure and Bank-Owned Homes is 27 Percent

This morning RealtyTrac released a report stating that 31 percent of all residential sales in the first quarter of 2010 were foreclosure homes or bank-owned homes. They are reporting 233,000 foreclosure and bank-owned homes sold during first quarter 2010 at an average price

Continue reading... Nearly 233,000 Foreclosure and Bank-Owned Homes Sold in First Quarter

1. Foreclosure Activity Drops 3 Percent in May; 15th Consecutive Month of Over 300,000 Foreclosure Actions Dennis Norman The good news is, foreclosure activity for the...
2. Foreclosure Activity Decreases 9 Percent in April RealtyTrac® released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™ for April 2010,...
3. Forecast predicts 2.8 million homes in foreclosure by year end By: Dennis Norman There just seems to be no end...

According to data from NeighborWorks America, a national nonprofit organization created by Congress to provide community-based

Continue reading... Loan Modification Scams On the Rise

1. Update on Fed’s Foreclosure Prevention and Loan Modification Programs Dennis Norman Today the Federal Housing Finance Agency released...
2. Obama Administration HAMP Loan Modification Program Falling Short Dennis Norman The Treasury Department Plans to Spend $50 Billion...
3. Over 360,000 borrowers have taken advantage of Fed’s Loan Modification Program Dennis Norman By: Dennis Norman Earlier this week the...

Continue reading... Fannie Mae Issues Guidelines For HAFA Short-Sales and Deed-in-Lieu

1. Can your buyers obtain a mortgage if they have done a short sale or deed-in-lieu? Dennis Norman No doubt over the next couple of years...
2. Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program (HAFA) Launched Dennis Norman Last week the Treasury Department announced the Home...
3. Help for homeowners facing foreclosure or are underwater Dennis Norman Back in early December I did a post...

California typically marches to the beat of it’s own drum, as I discovered last year when I did a post on the Mortgage Forgiveness Act only to find out that the State of California was not following suit, as most states were, and forgiving homeowners of their state income taxes on forgiven debt.

Continue reading... California REALTORS Push Legislation To Extend Anti-Deficiency Protection for Homeowners

1. FHA Offers Alternative For Underwater Homeowners Dennis Norman Last week HUD announced changes to FHA home...
2. Help for homeowners facing foreclosure or are underwater Dennis Norman Back in early December I did a post...
3. FHA Looking For Input On Anti-Flipping Rule Waiver Conditions Dennis Norman Back in January I did a post about...

As readers know, I have been somewhat critical of the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) which is part of the Obama administrations’ Making Home Affordable Program for a few reasons, one is I believe it is just a temporary “band-aid” and not a cure for the problem and two, it does not appear

Continue reading... Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) Update

1. Is the Obama Administrations’ Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) working? Dennis Norman This week the Treasury Department issed a report...
2. Obama Administration HAMP Loan Modification Program Falling Short Dennis Norman The Treasury Department Plans to Spend $50 Billion...
3. Borrowers receiving permanent Loan Modifications under HAMP triples in December Dennis Norman Last week the Treasury Department issed a report which...

Dennis Norman

Back in early December I did a post about a new program that was announced in November, the Home Affordable Foreclosures Alternative (HAFA) Program which is scheduled to go into effect April 5, 2010. There was recently supplemental documentation published as well as FAQ’s about the program and I have to admit,

Continue reading... Help for homeowners facing foreclosure or are underwater

1. Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program (HAFA) Launched Dennis Norman Last week the Treasury Department announced the Home...
2. Mortgage Programs Fall Short in Keeping Homeowners out of Foreclosure To alleviate some suffering by homeowners, the Obama Administration introduced...
3. Almost 11 million homeowners are underwater on their mortgage Average value of home with “underwater” mortgage $210,300 – Average...

“Generally speaking, real estate agents and brokers are not independent or properly trained valuation specialists.”  This was said in a letter from several appraiser organizations that was sent to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner last week.  The letter, not actually signed by anyone, but instead just bearing the names of the following four appraiser

Continue reading... Do Real Estate Agents and Brokers Know The Value of a Home?

1. Real Estate Agents and brokers eligible for SBA loans Charles McMillan 2009 President, NAR By: Dennis Norman In response...
2. Green building information and resources for real estate agents and brokers Dennis Norman As green building gains in popularity and...
3. NAR asks SBA to make real estate agents eligible Charles McMillan 2009 President, NAR By: Dennis Norman National Association...

Today the Internal Revenue Service released a new form that eligible homebuyers must need to use to claim the first-time homebuyer credit this tax season, along with instructions and guidelines for other documentation that must accompany your tax return.

The new form and instructions follow major changes in November to the homebuyer credit

Continue reading... IRS Releases Instructions on how to Claim Homebuyer Tax Credit

1. New updated info from IRS on Homebuyer Tax Credit First-Time Homebuyer Credit Extended to April 30, 2010; Some Current...
2. First-time homebuyer credit provides tax benefits to 1.4 million familes to date according to the IRS By: Dennis Norman Dennis Norman “I’m from the IRS and...
3. IRS Warns Taxpayers to Beware of First-Time Homebuyer Credit Fraud The Internal Revenue Service this week announced its first successful...

Zip Realty broke down what they considered were the nine major real estate stories for 2009 and they are:

Continue reading... Foreclosures and Short Sales Dominated the U.S. Housing Market in 2009

1. Using the MLS to find cash buyers for your foreclosures, REO’s and short sales By: Dennis Norman I just did a post to a...
2. Where is the most expensive housing market in the U.S.? How about most affordable housing market? Dennis Norman This is probably not going to come...
3. Nearly half of all homes for sale have reduced prices Dennis Norman By Dennis Norman According to a report issued yesterday...