Troubled days are ahead for those with ARMs as new foreclosures are waiting to crash. This time the sub-prime crisis could pale into insignificance causing the housing crisis to get prolonged and intensify.
Read more via New Foreclosures Waiting to Crash | Government Repo Homes News Center.
Americans everywhere are feeling the recession’s pain – some more than others. Click on the link below to see your state rank
Read more via Where does your state rank? – CNNMoney.com.
Where the deep cuts are
Real estate prices have been dropping for more than a year now, even in formerly strong areas like Manhattan and San Francisco. But where some cities have seen more of their inventory lower their prices, other cities have seen deeper price reductions. For example, Scottsdale, Ariz., leads the nation in terms of having the most discounted homes on the market, but Detroit has the dubious honor of having the deepest price reductions. How bad? The average asking price in the motor city, not including foreclosures, has dropped 23%. For anyone in the market to buy, that’s good news. To find out which other cities have experienced the greatest price drops, read on.
Read more via U.S. Cities with the Biggest Home Price Reductions: Where the deep cuts are – BusinessWeek.
U.S. foreclosure activity in April jumped 32 percent from a year ago to a record high, and should mount because temporary freezes on foreclosures ended in March, RealtyTrac said on Wednesday.
One in every 374 households with mortgages got a foreclosure filing in April, the highest monthly rate since RealtyTrac began tracking it in January 2005. Filings were reported on 342,038 properties last month.
Read more via U.S. foreclosure filings sets record in April, seen jumping | Reuters.
Foreclosure rate grew 24 percent in the first three months of this year
The number of American households threatened with losing their homes grew 24 percent in the first three months of this year and is poised to rise further as major lenders restart foreclosures after a temporary break, according to data released Thursday.
Read more via Number of Homes Threatened With Foreclosure Rose Sharply – ABC News.
Kingsport, Tennessee could be in the same situation as Elkhart, IN if something happens to Eastman Chemical. What does it take to wake up our politicians and get them to be more diversified in the industry here?
In hard-hit Elkhart, leaders and citizens are exploring all economic options
In a sense, the entire community is hitting the reset button. With the virtual collapse of the RV industry, long the mainstay of the economy, nearly 20 percent of workers in the area are unemployed, about triple the number a year ago. Meantime, the jobless benefits system, food banks and emergency assistance programs are struggling to meet demand, and home foreclosures are climbing. Elkhart — dubbed the “RV Capital of the World” — is scrambling to attract new industries and to retrain its workforce for new occupations. The task is more daunting amid a national economic crisis.
“We’ve not had to do it, and I guess you don’t do things when you don’t have to,” said Elkhart Mayor Dick Moore. “I think we’ve learned a lesson, and we’ve learned that we’ve got to be more diversified in the industry here.”
Read more via A city struggles: ‘We are back at square one’ – The Elkhart Project- msnbc.com.
The action this spring home-buying season isn’t unfolding in prestigious Manhattan or Beverly Hills, but in a middle-class neighborhood near you.
The global economic meltdown has put a freeze on sales of mansions and penthouse condos, which held strong through years of tight credit, foreclosures, and plummeting prices in lower-cost markets. These days, sales of lower-priced houses are accelerating as first-time home buyers and investors take advantage of bargain prices, low interest rates, and government incentives.
One thing hurting the luxury market is that jumbo mortgages—typically those larger than the conforming limit of $417,000—have higher interest rates and are tough to get, requiring pristine credit, six or more months of reserves, and full documentation. The deteriorating economy also makes it difficult to justify making a discretionary purchase of more than $1 million, especially with so much uncertainty in the job market.
Read more via Luxury Homes Are Lingering on the Market – BusinessWeek.
The existing home sales data which was released to the market earlier was a “half empty, half full” set of data. The market seemed to take it as just full and left the empty part behind.
Home resale rates rose 5.1% in February to an annual rate of 4.72 million, according to the National Association of Realtors. In the same breath, the organization said 45% of the activity was foreclosures or short sales. Because of the huge discount that most buyers get when they buy homes in foreclosure, the average price of a house fell 15.5% to $165,400.
Read more via The Housing Mirage: Misleading Numbers – TIME.
Knoxville — Anderson County business and government groups are joining forces to offer workers help in dealing with a tough economy. The Anderson County “Resource Exchange” Expo on April 17 will offer information on a variety of topics, including home foreclosures, insurance, job options, adult education, managing your time and money, refreshing your resume.
Sponsors are the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce, United Way of Anderson County and Anderson County government.
via ‘Resource Exchange” to help job hunters : Business : Knoxville News Sentinel.
Loans dry up, foreclosures and delinquencies rise for houses of worship
Add houses of worship to the list of casualties of the mortgage crisis.
Foreclosures and delinquencies for congregations are rising, according to companies that specialize in church mortgages. With credit scarce, church construction sites have gone quiet, holding shells of sanctuaries that were meant to be completed months ago.
Congregants have less money to give, and pastors who stretched to buy property in the boom are struggling to hold onto their churches.
Read more via Boom-years borrowing hits churches – Faith- msnbc.com.