Current Housing Indicators |
| CURRENT | PREVIOUS | ||
| Existing Home Sales | 4.49m | ▼ | 4.74m |
| New Home Sales | 309,000 | ▼ | 344,000 |
| Housing Starts | 583,000 | ▲ | 477,000 |
| Building Permits | 547,000 | ▲ | 531,000 |
| HMI | 9 | UNCH | 9 |
| Existing Home Prices | $170,300 | ▼ (annually) | $199,800 |
| New Home Prices | $201,100 | ▼ (annually) | $232,400 |
More Videos
#DIANAOLICK ON TWITTER
- Under Pressure, FHA Skews to Wealthier Home Buyers
- Huge Spike in Home Prices Is Not Real
- Investor Caution: Beware of Heat in Distressed Housing
- Foreclosures Move East as Hardest-Hit Markets Clear
- Foreclosures Fall...And That's a Bad Thing?
- After a Dip, Homebuilder Sentiment Surges Again
- Obama’s ‘Responsible’ Reno Homeowners: Are They?
- Mortgage Market Still Hampers Housing Recovery
- Bank of America Offers Principal Reductions to 200,000 Homeowners
- Short Sales: Necessary Compromise or Scamming the System?
MOST SHARED
- Europe May Be Unprepared for Greece Exit: Official
- Marc Faber: 100% Chance of Global Recession
- As Bank Loans Dry Up in Spain, Small and Medium Businesses Fight for Life
- Where Large Banks Fail, Regionals are Succeeding: Bove
- Facebook Analyst Reports All Over the Map
- How Nasdaq Lost Control of Facebook IPO, by the Minute
- RIM May Cut at Least 2,000 Jobs in Restructuring: Report
- How Boaz Weinstein and Hedge Funds Outsmarted JPMorgan
- China Market Lookahead: Stocks Set for More Weakness
- Steve Jobs and Mickey Drexler: A Tale of Two Retailers
- A New Look at the ‘New Poor’
- Six Pack: Beer Buzz of the Week
- Greek Exit Could Trigger 50% Fall in Euro Stocks: Analyst
- Under Pressure, FHA Skews to Wealthier Home Buyers
- Big Stock Upside for Hudson City Deal: Analyst
- 5 High-Yield Stocks Ready to Boost Dividends
- Yoshikami: Four Things You Need to Know About Gold Now
- Steinbock: The Euro Zone Endgame Begins
- Option Bulls Take Another Shot on Idenix
- How Weinstein, Hedge Funds Outsmarted JPMorgan
- How Nasdaq Lost Control of Facebook IPO, by the Minute
- Week Ahead: Europe Has Wall Street Bull on Short Leash
- Citigroup Lost $20 Million on Facebook IPO Trades
- JPMorgan to Shake Up Risk Team After Big Loss: Report
- RIM May Cut at Least 2,000 Jobs in Restructuring: Report
- EU Finalizes Bank Reforms; Shifts Burden to Bondholders
- Spain's Bankia Eyes Stake Sales After Record Bailout
- EU Set to Launch Action Against China Over Telecom Aid
RSS FEED
Realty Check
Text Size 
Administration Pushes Short Sales And Deeds In Lieu
Today the Obama administration announced a new addition to its Making Home Affordable program that gives servicers and borrowers incentives to do short sales and deeds in lieu of foreclosure.
These are in the cases where an Obamamod (a modification under the MHA program) doesn't work because the borrower simply can't afford anything. I'm glad to see them address these options, although it's certainly telling that by doing so they are admitting clearly that the modification plan isn't going to help everyone.
As for the new plan, I understand why the servicers would need the incentives. Short sales and deeds in lieu are wildly complicated, paperwork intensive and much more expensive for a servicer to deal with than a simple foreclosure where they pay a few attorney fees. What I don't get is why the borrower needs $1500 to "relocate" after a short sale or a DIL. It's nice of course, to help folks out who need to move, but is it really necessary in this case to spend my hard-earned tax dollars on that?
I mean, by doing a short sale the borrower is getting out of the home without the credit hit that a foreclosure would cause and a deed in lieu also wipes the debt clean. Most of the borrowers who would choose this option have no equity in the home anyway and probably couldn't afford the home in the first place. Why exactly are they getting $1500 on top of a clean exit?? Why do they need an incentive, when the only other option would be foreclosure, when they'd be forced out anyway?
I'm all for simplifying and streamlining the short sale and DIL process, as many of you who write into the blog at are attempting these strategies. I also watched a colleague go through a short sale (see previous blog), and it was a total nightmare.
I realize the administration has to give away a lot to deal with the housing crisis, but do they have to give away the farm?
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
