Foreclosures

Destin, FL - May 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Since perception is reality a bottom to the U.S. housing market may not develop for a long time. That’s the assessment from a new Housing Predictor opinion poll that found that more than two-thirds of all respondents surveyed do not believe the bottom of the market has arrived in their community.

WASHINGTON, DC - May 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance to five counties in Mississippi and provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes due to April's severe storms, tornadoes and flooding.

WASHINGTON, DC - May 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance to three counties in Connecticut and provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes following last month's severe winter storms and snowstorms

WASHINGTON, DC - April 30, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance to three counties in Connecticut and provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes following last month's severe winter storms and snowstorms

Foreclosure protection offered to displaced families in five counties. WASHINGTON, DC - April 30, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance to five counties in Mississippi and provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes due to April's severe storms, tornadoes and flooding.

Baltimore, MD - April 30, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- After the overwhelming success of a foreclosure prevention workshop earlier this week in Overlea, Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) announced today his office will host another in Essex on Monday, May 3, 2010. Once again, the workshop will connect major lenders together to Marylanders who are at risk of losing their homes.

Henderson, NV - April 28, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Representatives from Fight Fraud Taskforce and the Nevada Foreclosure Prevention Taskforce will be on site tonight at the City of Henderson’s Foreclosure Prevention Workshop to advise consumers how to avoid foreclosure scams.

Henderson, NV - April 28, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Representatives from Fight Fraud Taskforce and the Nevada Foreclosure Prevention Taskforce will be on site tonight at the City of Henderson’s Foreclosure Prevention Workshop to advise consumers how to avoid foreclosure scams.

TRENTON, NJ - April 29, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Division of Law Director Robert Hanna announced today that a New Jersey loan modification company and its owners have agreed to an $11.45 million judgment to settle civil charges they defrauded homeowners who sought help in staving off mortgage foreclosure.

April 29, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Federal Trade Commission has put a permanent stop to another mortgage foreclosure “rescue” operation that allegedly promoted bogus loan modification and foreclosure relief services. The case is one of 17 lawsuits the FTC has brought in the past 11 months in a crackdown on mortgage relief frauds that target financially strapped homeowners, and more cases are being investigated

Destin, FL - April 28, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- A new company started to align bankers interests with upside down homeowners at risk of losing their homes may save 5 to 7 million mortgage holders from losing their homes to foreclosure

BETHEL, CT - April 26, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Countdown To Buy, a next generation online real estate marketplace that offers fair and effective solutions to buy and sell properties, has opened the door for home buyers in Illinois to easily purchase an affordable and recently foreclosed home right in their local community. Declining prices, record inventories and the current favorable interest rate environment, has made homes more affordable. However, many potential home buyers in Illinois remain on the sidelines because of the lack of trust, transparency, and the increased risk and anxiety surrounding purchasing an “as-is” property in foreclosure.

WASHINGTON, DC - April 23, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today, U.S. Senators Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) announced nearly $1 million in funding for two New Jersey organizations to provide counseling to families and individuals facing foreclosure.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - April 23, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Homeowners on the verge of foreclosure face an overwhelming amount of information - from the Internet and TV, well-intentioned friends and family members, and scammers looking to take advantage of the financially distressed. Attorney General Greg Zoeller today announced 11 free workshops are scheduled to take place around the state beginning April 27th. The workshops are intended to cut through the noise and offer straight-forward advice to homeowners looking to understand their rights and options for avoiding foreclosure.

COLUMBUS, OH - April 19, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) announced that it will receive $1,318,451 to support foreclosure prevention counseling efforts across the state.

Pittsburgh, PA - April 19, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLBank) of Pittsburgh is contributing $500,000 to the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) to assist the Agency in its effort to help at-risk homeowners refinance their first mortgages to more affordable terms to avoid foreclosure.

BOSTON, MA - April 20, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Senators John Kerry and Scott Brown today announced that seven Massachusetts housing organizations will receive a total of $399,780 in federal funding from NeighborWorks America. The funding will be used to help local communities revitalize and sustain their neighborhoods and to provide counseling to families and individuals facing the threat of foreclosure.

Washington, DC - April 19, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- In his continued effort to help struggling families stay in their homes, U.S. Senator Michael Bennet is leading an effort to ensure there are more qualified housing counselors for homeowners facing foreclosure in Colorado and across the country. A funding shortfall has lead to a shortage of counselors.

Washington, D.C. - April 19, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Arizona Department of Housing today received more than $2 million from NeighborWorks America, a national non-profit created by Congress to support community revitalization, for counseling to families and individuals facing a home foreclosure. The money will be disbursed by the department’s Housing Finance Authority

WASHINGTON, D.C. - April 14, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Congressional Oversight Panel today released its April oversight report, "Evaluating Progress of TARP Foreclosure Mitigation Programs."

Washington, D.C. - April 16, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva today introduced a bill with Rep. Marcy Kaptur to create a “Right to Rent” (R2R) for homeowners facing foreclosure. The bill allows a family receiving a foreclosure notice to petition a judge to stay in their home as renters under a 5-year lease. The judge would appoint an independent appraiser to set fair market rental value, which would be allowed to rise with inflation

Harford, CT - April 15, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- State Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney helped to lead passage of a bipartisan bill that not only resolves most of the state’s budget deficit for the current year but also extends the state’s landmark foreclosure mediation program for an additional year.

Partnership between MassHousing, city of Haverhill and Haverhill Bank will help create opportunities for qualified buyers who purchase properties in need of repair. BOSTON, MA - April 15, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- MassHousing, Haverhill Mayor James J. Fiorentini and Haverhill Bank announced a new initiative today to make grant funds available to first-time homebuyers who purchase foreclosed homes in Haverhill. Qualified homebuyers who obtain a MassHousing Mortgage through Haverhill Bank will be eligible for a second loan to assist in rehabilitating the foreclosed property. The second loan will be funded through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), which was created in federal economic recovery legislation.

LANSING, MI - April 15, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Granholm Administration today unveiled the state's proposed plan to distribute $154.5 million in federal funds beginning this summer that should help more than 17,000 Michigan households avoid foreclosure, including 11,000 homeowners who are currently drawing unemployment benefits and are struggling to make monthly mortgage payments.

April 14, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Gov. Steve Beshear was joined today by Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway as he signed into law HB 166, a consumer protection bill that addresses debt-adjusting contracts that are often entered into by desperate homeowners who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments and are seeking a quick, easy solution to their financial problems

Baltimore, MD - April 13, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) will hold a Foreclosure Prevention Workshop in Overlea on April 26, 2010. Home foreclosures in Maryland and are up 80 percent from last year, while foreclosures in the rest of the country have stabilized, according to Realty Trac, Inc.,a California-based research firm.“This struggling economy has been tough on Maryland families. If you are in danger of losing your home, we can help. Please join me at my Foreclosure Prevention Workshop where you will have the chance to sit down, one-on-one, with housing counselors, mortgage lenders and other experts to discuss your options to keep you in your home,” said Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger.

BOSTON, MA - April 13, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Attorney General Martha Coakley has filed a lawsuit against Christian Hayes, of Danvers, a former mortgage loan officer with Bank of America, alleging he deceptively funneled loan modification requests originally directed to Bank of America to his company Foreclosure Alternatives where he demanded illegal fees from distressed homeowners before assisting them with their troubled mortgages. The Attorney General’s Office is seeking a preliminary injunction prohibiting Hayes and his business from soliciting or advertising foreclosure-related services to Massachusetts residents, destroying any records or transferring assets.“Homeowners who were struggling to make their monthly mortgage payments went to their lender seeking expert advice and we allege that those homeowners were mislead and taken advantage of,” said Attorney General Martha Coakley. “Under first-in-the-nation regulations that our office issued, it is illegal for a mortgage professional to require up-front fees to assist struggling homeowners. Our office will continue to hold accountable individuals and businesses who attempt to exploit struggling homeowners in this unfair and deceptive manner.”

SANTA ANA, CA - April 9, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- In a clear "warning shot" to unscrupulous loan-modification consultants, Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced that two women have each been sentenced to one year in jail and ordered to repay dozens of homeowners who were charged thousands of dollars in up-front fees for non-existent foreclosure-relief services.

Boise, ID - April 8, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Idaho Department of Finance announced the issuance of a cease and desist order today against California-based “Relief Law Center,” stemming from alleged unlawful mortgage modification solicitations targeted to Idaho homeowners.

Washington, DC - April 8, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Michael Bennet, U.S. Senator for Colorado, today sent a letter encouraging the U.S. Treasury Department to make common-sense improvements to its mortgage loan modification program that would help Coloradans from losing their homes to foreclosure. The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) provides assistance to allow families facing foreclosures to stay in their homes, and the changes Bennet is pushing for would further improve the program's ability to help struggling homeowners.