This is the ONLY news that matters

[sportage]

America's dirty little secret. Not so little...

Foreclosures: 'Worst three months of all time'
Despite the Dow hitting 10,000 and hopes for an economic recovery, the third quarter shows that the foreclosure plague is still spreading.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Despite concerted government-led and lender-supported efforts to prevent foreclosures, the number of filings hit a record high in the third quarter.

"They were the worst three months of all time," said RealtyTrac spokesman Rick Sharga.

During that time, 937,840 homes received a foreclosure letter -- whether a default notice, auction notice or bank repossession -- according to RealtyTrac, the online marketer of foreclosed homes. That means one in every 136 U.S. homes were in foreclosure, which is a 5% increase from the second quarter and a 23% jump over the third quarter of 2008.

 

[Red Irish]

It's the same situation more or less everywhere on the planet (I can personally vouch that Spain, Eire and the UK are suffering a similar fate) , so I hardly think that this is a secret or news. The question is, what is being done to control the bankers this time?

 

[HannibalX]

LOL, sure, it's entirely the bankers fault that people stopped paying their mortgages. Yes, lets regulate the banks more.. hell, lets make them give the houses away for free!

 

[Red Irish]

Originally posted by: iFX
LOL, sure, it's entirely the bankers fault that people stopped paying their mortgages. Yes, lets regulate the banks more.. hell, lets make them give the houses away for free!

Laugh all you want, the banks gave mortgages to people who obviously couldn't make the payments. Clearly I am not laying all blame at the door of the bankers, but in response to past economic crisis we heard calls for greater control of banks, which didn't materialise, and guess what, here we are again.

 

[Siddhartha]

This is not a secret. There was an article on Yahoo about this yesterday.

 

[StageLeft]

Don't worry it's a jobless and houseless recovery :0

The question is, what is being done to control the bankers this time?

Don't ask, don't tell.

Nothing is being done except that if the bankers fvck things over again we're going to be "really really mad this time" and possibly even cancel the family trip to disney.

OK I'm kidding, we won't cancel the trip to disney, but you will not be able to watch tv for a week if you do it again. Ok, mister? Do you understand? Behave yourself or I'm going to be so disappointed.

 

[LTC8K6]

It's discrimination if you won't loan money to people who are unlikely to be able to pay it back.

 

[Ausm]

Originally posted by: Red Irish

Originally posted by: iFX
LOL, sure, it's entirely the bankers fault that people stopped paying their mortgages. Yes, lets regulate the banks more.. hell, lets make them give the houses away for free!

Laugh all you want, the banks gave mortgages to people who obviously couldn't make the payments. Clearly I am not laying all blame at the door of the bankers, but in response to past economic crisis we heard calls for greater control of banks, which didn't materialise, and guess what, here we are again.

I don't think that dude understands what "predator lending" is

 

[Red Irish]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Don't worry it's a jobless and houseless recovery :0

The question is, what is being done to control the bankers this time?

Don't ask, don't tell.

Nothing is being done except that if the bankers fvck things over again we're going to be "really really mad this time" and possibly even cancel the family trip to disney.

OK I'm kidding, we won't cancel the trip to disney, but you will not be able to watch tv for a week if you do it again. Ok, mister? Do you understand? Behave yourself or I'm going to be so disappointed.

 

[Red Irish]

Originally posted by: Ausm

Originally posted by: Red Irish

Originally posted by: iFX
LOL, sure, it's entirely the bankers fault that people stopped paying their mortgages. Yes, lets regulate the banks more.. hell, lets make them give the houses away for free!

Laugh all you want, the banks gave mortgages to people who obviously couldn't make the payments. Clearly I am not laying all blame at the door of the bankers, but in response to past economic crisis we heard calls for greater control of banks, which didn't materialise, and guess what, here we are again.

I don't think that dude understands what "predator lending" is

Tell him about the ninja, but tell him that you're not referring to Lee Van Cleef's last tv series or the historical shinobi warriors of Japan.

 

[Starbuck1975]

I don't think that dude understands what "predator lending" is

Predator lending is one of many culprits. If you look at CA, the majority of foreclosures in the pipeline are due to HELOC abuse...people who WERE able to afford their homes, had been living in them for some time BUT bought into the notion of entitlement that their home was a personal ATM machine for fueling a certain lifestyle.

 

[brencat]

Originally posted by: Red Irish
It's the same situation more or less everywhere on the planet (I can personally vouch that Spain, Eire and the UK are suffering a similar fate) , so I hardly think that this is a secret or news. The question is, what is being done to control the bankers this time?

Right...it's the bankers fault that people signed on the dotted line to buy a home with a loan they had no prayer of ever being able to pay back. Somewhere in there you forgot to mention personal responsibility for being stupid. Cry me a river. We are going to have deflation in home prices for years, lots of people with horrible credit, and some good lessons learned the hard way. My hope? That some of these unfortunate people learn to deal with life and money with less emotion and more critical / conservative thinking going forward...hope for the best but plan for the worst.

 

[Ausm]

Originally posted by: iFX
LOL, sure, it's entirely the bankers fault that people stopped paying their mortgages. Yes, lets regulate the banks more.. hell, lets make them give the houses away for free!

Yeah we can't blame the bankers who leveraged themselves to unspeakable amounts of risk.

Checkout this little nugget...

http://money.cnn.com/news/spec...is-anniversary/stocks/

 

[Triumph]

I've noticed that there has been a shift in the blame over the last 9 months or so, from people who bought more than they should have, to the banks who sold what they shouldn't have. Nobody seems to be calling out all the people who bit off more than they could chew, even though they deserve it. It's impossible to do so, but I'd love to see an evaluation of the finances of these "victims" of foreclosure, circa May 2008. I'd like to know how many of them had 3 months of cash readily available in a checking or savings account at that time. This would be purely an exercise for my curiosity. I'm not implying that the impending financial crisis would have been stayed if all of these people had a 3 month security net. I just think it would be very telling about their own ability to be financially responsible.

I'm not even sure if lenders should be punished, or regulated, for "predatory lending". It's what the lenders did with the mortgages after the fact that ruined everything - the risk to the initiator of the loan was effectively absolved. This is what should not have happened.

 

[Red Irish]

Originally posted by: brencat

Originally posted by: Red Irish
It's the same situation more or less everywhere on the planet (I can personally vouch that Spain, Eire and the UK are suffering a similar fate) , so I hardly think that this is a secret or news. The question is, what is being done to control the bankers this time?

Right...it's the bankers fault that people signed on the dotted line to buy a home with a loan they had no prayer of ever being able to pay back. Somewhere in there you forgot to mention personal responsibility for being stupid. Cry me a river. We are going to have deflation in home prices for years, lots of people with horrible credit, and some good lessons learned the hard way. My hope? That some of these unfortunate people learn to deal with life and money with less emotion and more critical / conservative thinking going forward...hope for the best but plan for the worst.

I didn't forget stupidity, but the numbers of stupid people are pehaps more difficult to control than the banks, so maybe we should work on the element within the long equation that we can tangibly affect. Sorry, but I can't address each and every issue in a single post.

Of course people were stupid, but they were also encouraged to be stupid.

 

[0marTheZealot]

Originally posted by: Triumph
I've noticed that there has been a shift in the blame over the last 9 months or so, from people who bought more than they should have, to the banks who sold what they shouldn't have. Nobody seems to be calling out all the people who bit off more than they could chew, even though they deserve it. It's impossible to do so, but I'd love to see an evaluation of the finances of these "victims" of foreclosure, circa May 2008. I'd like to know how many of them had 3 months of cash readily available in a checking or savings account at that time. This would be purely an exercise for my curiosity. I'm not implying that the impending financial crisis would have been stayed if all of these people had a 3 month security net. I just think it would be very telling about their own ability to be financially responsible.

I'm not even sure if lenders should be punished, or regulated, for "predatory lending". It's what the lenders did with the mortgages after the fact that ruined everything - the risk to the initiator of the loan was effectively absolved. This is what should not have happened.

The problem is that a lot of bankers, systematically at some places, outright forged their clients' incomes. Instead of making 40,000 on paper, they were making 140,000. A lot of people were goaded into buying houses they could not afford. Sure, they have some culpability, but when someone in authority is saying "hey look man, you can buy this bigger house over here for only 48 bucks a month more, just let me handle the paperwork" then neglects to tell you about the ARM resetting and jacking your bill up 400 bucks.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Triumph
I've noticed that there has been a shift in the blame over the last 9 months or so, from people who bought more than they should have, to the banks who sold what they shouldn't have. Nobody seems to be calling out all the people who bit off more than they could chew, even though they deserve it. It's impossible to do so, but I'd love to see an evaluation of the finances of these "victims" of foreclosure, circa May 2008. I'd like to know how many of them had 3 months of cash readily available in a checking or savings account at that time. This would be purely an exercise for my curiosity. I'm not implying that the impending financial crisis would have been stayed if all of these people had a 3 month security net. I just think it would be very telling about their own ability to be financially responsible.

I'm not even sure if lenders should be punished, or regulated, for "predatory lending". It's what the lenders did with the mortgages after the fact that ruined everything - the risk to the initiator of the loan was effectively absolved. This is what should not have happened.

It may be because people are losing their homes so the sense is they are getting what's coming to them whereas the banking industry is still throwing out bonuses and has not been punished. They are the golden child.

 

[Darwin333]

Originally posted by: Ausm

Originally posted by: Red Irish

Originally posted by: iFX
LOL, sure, it's entirely the bankers fault that people stopped paying their mortgages. Yes, lets regulate the banks more.. hell, lets make them give the houses away for free!

Laugh all you want, the banks gave mortgages to people who obviously couldn't make the payments. Clearly I am not laying all blame at the door of the bankers, but in response to past economic crisis we heard calls for greater control of banks, which didn't materialise, and guess what, here we are again.

I don't think that dude understands what "predator lending" is

Like what the FHA is currently doing?

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: 0marTheZealot

Originally posted by: Triumph
I've noticed that there has been a shift in the blame over the last 9 months or so, from people who bought more than they should have, to the banks who sold what they shouldn't have. Nobody seems to be calling out all the people who bit off more than they could chew, even though they deserve it. It's impossible to do so, but I'd love to see an evaluation of the finances of these "victims" of foreclosure, circa May 2008. I'd like to know how many of them had 3 months of cash readily available in a checking or savings account at that time. This would be purely an exercise for my curiosity. I'm not implying that the impending financial crisis would have been stayed if all of these people had a 3 month security net. I just think it would be very telling about their own ability to be financially responsible.

I'm not even sure if lenders should be punished, or regulated, for "predatory lending". It's what the lenders did with the mortgages after the fact that ruined everything - the risk to the initiator of the loan was effectively absolved. This is what should not have happened.

The problem is that a lot of bankers, systematically at some places, outright forged their clients' incomes. Instead of making 40,000 on paper, they were making 140,000. A lot of people were goaded into buying houses they could not afford. Sure, they have some culpability, but when someone in authority is saying "hey look man, you can buy this bigger house over here for only 48 bucks a month more, just let me handle the paperwork" then neglects to tell you about the ARM resetting and jacking your bill up 400 bucks.

If any of this is true that is fraud and people should be going to jail. I am sure this happened in isolated instances. But systemwide I highly doubt it.

ARM loans people knew what they were getting into. The loan documents spelled it out for them. I have little sympathy for anybody who utilized an ARM(including myself) to purchase a home.

 

[LTC8K6]

Weren't some bankers forced to loan people money that they considered bad risks?

Weren't some bankers forced to take TARP funds?

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: iFX
LOL, sure, it's entirely the bankers fault that people stopped paying their mortgages. Yes, lets regulate the banks more.. hell, lets make them give the houses away for free!

You joke, but watch. . .just give it some more time.

 

[lupi]

Originally posted by: Siddhartha
This is not a secret. There was an article on Yahoo about this yesterday.

 

[b0mbrman]

I was expecting to see unemployment.

Why foreclosures? Because 100% of the population owns or should own a home?

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: Triumph
I've noticed that there has been a shift in the blame over the last 9 months or so, from people who bought more than they should have, to the banks who sold what they shouldn't have. Nobody seems to be calling out all the people who bit off more than they could chew, even though they deserve it. It's impossible to do so, but I'd love to see an evaluation of the finances of these "victims" of foreclosure, circa May 2008. I'd like to know how many of them had 3 months of cash readily available in a checking or savings account at that time. This would be purely an exercise for my curiosity. I'm not implying that the impending financial crisis would have been stayed if all of these people had a 3 month security net. I just think it would be very telling about their own ability to be financially responsible.

I'm not even sure if lenders should be punished, or regulated, for "predatory lending". It's what the lenders did with the mortgages after the fact that ruined everything - the risk to the initiator of the loan was effectively absolved. This is what should not have happened.

I disagree somewhat but not totally. It was partly that the lender was absolved of the responsibility for the loan by selling it off to some broker who would then package together a bunch of loans into various CDO's (Collateralized Debt Obligations) that were extremely complicated and convoluted such that it was almost impossible for the average investor to know what they were actually buying. But the other thing was that the ratings agencies responsible for rating these investments were giving them AAA ratings. Clearly they were beholden to the brokerages who brought them business so the ratings agencies were hardly in a position to be neutral and objective. It was a nice little racket between the ratings houses and the brokerages. . .You give our junk CDO's AAA ratings so people will buy them and we keep you swimming in new business. You scratch my back and I scratch yours, nudge nudge wink wink. . .This is where the real breakdown occurred because this was basically fraud. People on the inside knew full well what was going on but nobody wanted to blow the whistle because to do so would be to kill the goose that laid the golden egg but the epidemic got worse and worse and worse until finally it reached the tipping point and the bubble exploded. So the question I ask is what's being done to keep the ratings agencies objective and neutral. That is a sticky problem to overcome. How do we even know if the ratings are accurate because the formulas the ratings agencies use to give the ratings to securities are surely closely held institutional trade secrets. How are ratings to be verified? And can anybody outside the security rating business understand or do we just blindly trust the ratings houses word?

 

[Vic]

pfft... so many mortgage defaults are intentional right now it's not even funny. I could write a book about it. So many people who are underwater on their homes think they can just walk away. While countless others are gaming the system to live in their homes for free.

Anyway, there is a lot of confusion in this thread. First, read the OP's article. These are foreclosure filings. That means the borrower has stopped making their payments for a certain period of time (determined by state law), the lender has declared the borrower in default, and initiated foreclosure proceedings. After this, the borrower could still be in the home for a long time, a year or more even depending on state law.
Second, there is a federal moratorium on certain foreclosure auctions (or 'sheriff sales,' 'trustee sales,' or whatever they are called in your state) at this time. Essentially, lenders cannot go to sale on owner-occupied homes unless the borrowers refused to comply or failed to qualify for the lender's loss mitigation resolution, beginning with the govt's HAMP.

As to predatory lending, people should read legal documents before they sign them. But why do that when homes were appreciating in value 25% a year and you were missing out on the big money? But uh oh the music stopped and now everyone's a victim... :roll: