“Homes that fall into foreclosure in Phoenix are sold at a public auction. The highest bidder becomes the new owner. The former owner then has to move out.

Departing owners have five days under Arizona law to vacate the property. But in the overheated foreclosure market that has come in the wake of the metropolitan Phoenix housing crash, some people are being told to get out the same day their house is sold at auction.

In some cases, people aren’t allowed back into their house to collect their belongings. In others, people leave the house for a few hours, and the new owner changes the locks.

Facing aggressive foreclosure buyers who want to resell homes quickly, struggling homeowners often don’t know their rights…”

Read the full article: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2010/03/07/20100307evictions0307.html

“Tuesday’s latest home-price reading shows that momentum slowed at the end of 2009 for the housing market, adding to the confusion about where prices are headed from here.

The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city composite index in December fell 0.2% from November, but after adjusting for seasonal factors, home prices were up 0.3%. That was the same change that the index showed in November.

Fifteen of 20 markets tracked by the index showed monthly declines, though the battered Southwest fared well. Las Vegas had its first monthly gain in more than three years (and today’s story helps to explain why conditions there have improved), while Los Angeles led the nation with a 1% monthly increase…”

Read the full article: http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2010/02/23/case-shiller-adds-to-confusion-on-housing-market/

 ”While 2009 saw local declines in the number of homes sold and in the average sales price, some builders and developers are bucking that downturn.

In 2009, 733 homes were sold locally, down from 781 in 2008, according to the Green Valley/Sahuarita Association of Realtors. The numbers cover southern Tucson to Tubac.

The average selling price last year was $175,000, a decline from $199,493 in 2008. Homes spent an average of 167 days, about five and a half months, on the market in 2009, compared to 160 days the year before.

Cathy York, president of the association, said 2009 was a pretty stable year for the local real estate market considering the rest of the U.S. economy…”

Read the full article: http://gvnews.com/articles/2010/02/11/news/74realestate.txt

“Close to half of the existing home sales in the Phoenix metro area last month were foreclosed properties exhibiting continued struggles in the housing market, according to an Arizona University report released Thursday.

The report also said that two out of three home sales in the Valley in January were either foreclosures or re-sales of foreclosed homes…”

Read the full article: http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2010/02/08/daily62.html

“For the 12th straight quarter, home values declined year-over-year, according to property search and valuation site Zillow. The site released its fourth-quarter 2009 real estate market report Wednesday.

Home values declined 5 percent between fourth-quarter 2008 and fourth-quarter 2009, and 0.5 percent from the third quarter of 2009 to the fourth, to a median valuation of $186,200. More than 1 in 5 mortgaged single-family homes, 21 percent, were “underwater,” meaning the owners owed more on the house that it was worth. That negative equity rate remained virtually unchanged quarter-over-quarter.

In a sign of an impending “double dip” in the housing market, 20 percent (29 out of 143) of metropolitan areas Zillow studied had flat or decreasing home values after at least five straight months of increases during 2009. Zillow defined a market experiencing a double dip as one that saw decreasing monthly home values of at least 1 percent for at least five consecutive months, followed by a similar increase in monthly home values, followed by a similar decrease…”

Read the full article: http://www.inman.com/news/2010/02/10/zillow-signs-a-double-dip?page=0%2C0

“The share of borrowers who are falling seriously behind on loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration jumped by more than a third in the past year, foreshadowing a crush of foreclosures that could further buffet an agency vital to the housing market’s recovery.

About 9.1 percent of FHA borrowers had missed at least three payments as of December, up from 6.5 percent a year ago, the agency’s figures show.

Although the FHA’s default rate has been climbing for months and eating into the agency’s cash, the latest figures show that the FHA’s woes are getting worse even as the housing market shows signs of improvement. The problems are rooted in FHA mortgages made in 2007 and 2008. Those loans are now maturing into their worst years because failures most often occur two to three years after a mortgage is made.

If the trend continues and the FHA’s cash reserves are exhausted, the federal government would automatically use taxpayer money to cover the losses — a first for the agency, which has always used the fees it charges borrowers to pay for its losses…”

Read the full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/01/AR2010020103527_pf.html

“A new survey reveals that savvy consumers cashing in on the new and improved homebuyer tax credit are helping fuel economic recovery.

The vast majority of current homeowners say they would spend the expanded version of the homebuyer tax credit on repaying existing debts, home improvements, savings and investments and household expenses, according to a Coldwell Banker survey of 1,000 homeowners…”

Read the full article: http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20100128_taxcred.htm

“The Obama administration is trying to simplify the paperwork for people seeking lower home-mortgage payments in an effort to avert more foreclosures.

The Treasury outlined new guidelines Thursday aimed at streamlining requirements for mortgage relief under the administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program launched a year ago.

The guidelines specify that borrowers must provide three items to loan servicers, the companies that collect mortgage payments: a form requesting a loan modification, authorization for the servicer to seek tax information from the Internal Revenue Service and evidence of income, such as two recent pay stubs. Previously, some servicers have asked borrowers to fax in copies of their tax returns. Borrowers sometimes couldn’t find the needed tax forms or complained that servicers repeatedly lost material faxed to them…”

Read the full article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704878904575031321628902414.html

“For more than a year, the government pulled out the stops to revive home buying by driving down mortgage rates.

Now, whether the housing market is ready or not, the government is pulling out.

The wind-down of federal support for mortgage rates, set to end in two months, is a momentous test of whether the Obama administration and the Federal Reserve have succeeded in jump-starting the housing market and ensuring it can hold its own. The stakes for the economy are massive: If the market again falls into a tailspin, homeowners could face another wave of trouble, and it would deal a body blow to President Obama’s efforts to get the economy on track…”

Read the full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/24/AR2010012402996.html

“Chandler is preparing to spend millions of dollars trying to shore up one of its most sickly economic indicators, the home foreclosure rate, which surged by 95 percent over the last year.

In the coming weeks, the City Council is expected to consider expanding an eight-month-old program to buy up bank-owned properties and renovate them for sale as affordable housing. The council this month also passed a resolution declaring the entire city an “economic recovery zone,” making it eligible to issue $8 million in bonds to pay for infrastructure projects like roads and drainage, meant to create jobs and stimulate the local economy.

Dennis Strachota, the city’s management services director, said Chandler’s home foreclosure rate rose 95 percent from the third quarter of 2008 to the fourth quarter of 2009. Similarly, unemployment increased from 4.3 percent in October 2008 to 6.6 percent last October, and Chandler’s poverty rate now stands at 7.3 percent, he said…”

Read the full article: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/149953