The metro areas of Las Vegas have a population of about 200,000 and one out of every 54 houses or 14,681 are repossessed homes. The May figures were seven times higher than the national average foreclosure rate. Data showed that the region’s foreclosure rate rose by 4 percent from April and 78 percent from May 2008.

As a result of the high foreclosure rate in the region, most homeowners associations are struggling to collect fees from repossessed houses and implement maintenance codes.

RMI Management President Kevin Wallace said that foreclosed homes are thorns on the side of homeowners associations. RMI manages about 230 homeowners associations that represent 75,000 units.

But homeowners associations need not fret anymore because two pieces of legislation can help them deal with neglected repossessed homes.

The Assembly Bill 204 gives homeowners associations extended superiority lien ability. Under the law, homeowners associations have the authority to collect 9 months of delinquent fees. Previous rule allowed associations to collect only six months of unpaid dues. This means that homebuyers are required to pay full association dues before they can get the ownership title.

Meanwhile, Assembly Bill 361 provides homeowners associations the authority to maintain the exteriors of repossessed homes. Most often, lenders neglect to maintain foreclosure homes which led to their deterioration and becoming blights to neighborhoods, dragging down surrounding property values.

The law gives homeowners associations the right to improve exteriors of foreclosed properties in a state of disrepair. Previously, associations could not make any move to repair deteriorating properties because of trespassing issues.

Now, homeowners associations can put fresh paint, drain pools, replace landscaping and do other works that could help prevent the deterioration of distressed properties. All the costs incurred will be passed on to homeowners who will be required to reimburse the homeowners associations before they can gain the ownership title.

Wallace said that foreclosure proceedings could take as long as one year and a half. He explained that the laws could greatly help homeowners associations lessen the devastating effects of foreclosures on neighborhoods.

Nevada is one of the top 10 states with high foreclosure rate. Last May, an increase in the number of bank repossessed homes has helped catapult the state’s foreclosure activity by 5 percent.

HOAs Aggressive Collection of Fees From Repossessed Homes is a post from: Bank Foreclosures Information

There were 121,756 completed foreclosures in February, an increase of 49,062 units from the total January foreclosures of 72,694. It even surpassed the highest monthly record of 104,243 in September 2008, setting a new record. Pre-foreclosure filings also increased by 24 percent from the January level, setting a new pre-foreclosure record.

There was no data presented on tax foreclosures, but it is believed that the number of individuals who have lost homes to tax foreclosures have also risen. Unemployment, the key factor cited by Alexis McGee, also affected people troubled not only by lender foreclosures, but also by tax foreclosures.

In January, when foreclosure figures went down by 26 percent from December 2008 data, several analysts had hoped that lender and tax foreclosures were beginning their slide down, but the February data is another letdown.

McGee reported that foreclosures in all regions increased despite moratoriums on foreclosures and evictions. The largest increase occurred in the Northeast, where filings rose by 138 percent from January levels, followed by Midwest, which had an increase of 90 percent. Third was the Southwest, with an increase of 63 percent. The Southeastern region was fourth, with an increase of 46 percent.

Foreclosures.com also emphasized that the foreclosure numbers represent completed foreclosures, not just foreclosure filings going through the foreclosure process. McGee contended that based on the first two months’ data, total foreclosures for the year 2009 could reach 1.2 million if nothing is done to stop the foreclosure avalanche. He is however hopeful that lender and tax foreclosures would decline by the end of the year because of Obama’s more aggressive program in comparison to the Bush administration’s lackluster effort.

Obama’s program, now dubbed Home Affordable initiatives, offers loan refinancing to up to 5 million borrowers of loans provided or guaranteed by either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. It also offers loan modification to up to 4 million borrowers whose home values have deteriorated to levels much lower than the amount they owe. Although not included in the program, individuals troubled by tax foreclosures can be indirectly helped by the broader parts of the program intended to create and save jobs.

February Data on Lender and Tax Foreclosures Dash Hopes is a post from: Bank Foreclosures Information

Hardest hit cities are Deltona and Kissimmee where six of their neighborhoods are experiencing high rates of Central Florida foreclosures.

According to industry experts, areas most affected by Central Florida foreclosures are communities that have affordable housing market.

Florida foreclosures took a beating in January 2009 with 10,007 units falling victims to the crisis and pre-foreclosure filings reaching 43,070. It is predicted that Florida foreclosures could rise by 100 percent this year, making critics doubt whether President Barack Obama’s foreclosure prevention plan would succeed in its goal to help as much as 9 million American homeowners remain in their properties.

Meanwhile, Florida Governor Charlie Crist explained his plan to reduce taxes to allow distressed homeowners pay for mortgages.

Florida has the highest number of default mortgages, with one out of five mortgage loans in default in 2008.

On the other hand, the Bank of America will offer $2.5 million grants to help stem the tide of Florida foreclosures.

The $2.5 million grant will be coursed through the Alliance for Stabilizing Our Communities, a coalition led by the National Council of La Raza, National Urban League and the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development.

The alliance, which was established to help multicultural borrowers facing the threat of losing their properties to foreclosures, will find the best possible solutions for the housing problems, particularly how to control the growing number of distressed homes.

The grant that the Bank of America would provide will fund the hiring of additional counselors, conduct of counselor training, production of multi-language outreach educational materials for at-risk homeowners and resource guide materials to educate and prepare communities on potential foreclosure challenges.

The alliance will host 49 property retention fairs in various cities, including Fort Lauderdale in Florida, to offer over 11,000 distressed homeowners onsite counseling by nonprofit organizations approved by the Housing and Urban Development.

Bank of America will post retention associates at various fairs to partner with alliance nonprofit organizations to review mortgages and determine several foreclosure-prevention options such as refinancing and loan modifications.

Central Florida Foreclosures Increased Three Times is a post from: Bank Foreclosures Information

Bank of Utah’s vice president Scott Parkinson explained the bank can release information only on or after March 4, the date when financial institutions will be formally given details as heard from industry communications.

Lee VanDyke of Layton First National Bank also can not provide details on the program to reduce foreclosure homes. He says the press has just published the news. He volunteered however that it is more likely that loan modifications would be offered through mortgage processing firms. These usually are not banks even if the home loans were provided by the banks.

Wells Fargo, among the country’s largest mortgage servicing corporations, is also waiting for details on the foreclosure plan and on the decisions of investors. The firm’s chief executive officer Mike Heid said Wells Fargo has stopped selling foreclosure homes until March 13 to enable troubled borrowers to explore their options under Obama’s scheme to reduce the number of foreclosure homes.

Heid also explained that it is not easier with holders of loans that Wells Fargo do not own but only service. Wells Fargo has to work out the details of Obama’s plan with investors and owners of the mortgages.

Parkinson is almost saying the same thing as Heid. He says that the Bank of Utah have sold most of its mortgages to other entities because the bank can not afford to have its money tied up by mortgage loans for long periods of time.

According to the University of Utah’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research, there are about 440,000 houses with mortgage loans across the state. Although Utah is not among the states hit hard by soaring numbers of foreclosure homes, the state had 6,800 foreclosure homes in 2002. Using the national foreclosure rate of three percent, Utah could have about 13,000 foreclosure homes as of January.

The bureau’s director James Wood related that people were still buying houses on subprime mortgages with cheap promotional rates just before the housing meltdown in 2007. He also said that while Utah’s unemployment rate has always been lower than most states, the economic crisis has affected the state’s job market.

Utah Banks Await Instructions for Reducing Foreclosure Homes is a post from: Bank Foreclosures Information

Homebuilders want a $250 billion-worth stimulus package known as “Fix Housing First”, which argues that financial markets will not recover until falling home prices are stopped. They are appealing for mortgage rate subsidies and greater tax credits.

Critics say that this offer is expensive and promotes more of distressed home purchases than loan modifications. The proposal offers a tax credit of 10% of the property’s value, making it $22,000, about three times of the $7,000 credit that has been earlier approved by Congress. However, builders say this has never been enough.

Builders call for interest rate subsidies, to bring rates down from 6.2% to 3% for loans in the first half of next year and 4% on the second half. Realtors push for a 4.5% interest rate for its estimate show that a 1% decline in interest rates makes about 500,000 to 800,000 home sales. However, this proposal will cost the Treasury about $143 billion.

Some economists see the need to stop building since a home price floor would just keep the supply and demand for housing out of sync. Interest rate subsidies may work but sometimes, no matter what kind of credits offered, if buyers do not have a job or enough income then they might not take the offer.

With the declining prices of foreclosures and tightening mortgage credit, home prices just continue falling. Coming up with an incentive to buy, instead of refinancing mechanisms could make buyers purchase a new house on better terms and give up their existing one.

Larger tax credit could attract buyers but it does not necessarily save the economy from falling home prices, increasing foreclosures, and the mismatch in the supply and demand for housing.

Home Builders Lobby for Federal Aid is a post from: Bank Foreclosures Information

For the group, the foreclosure numbers is being dictated by the states hit hardest by the subprime mess. They include California, Nevada and Florida. Even if the foreclosure situations in states like Massachusetts, Maryland and Texas have improved considerably during the same period, they were still overwhelmed by the increases.

Subsequently, 39 percent of all foreclosure filings during the second quarter recorded came from Florida and California. Other states that contributed considerably include Michigan, Nevada, Rhode Island, Ohio, Arizona and Indiana. These states have foreclosure rates that are above the nation’s average.

Aside from this, the subprime mortgages also accounted for 36 percent of the total foreclosure filings. This figure is quite depressing considering that subprime loans represent just 6 percent of the total outstanding loans. Compared to fixed rate mortgages, the figure for the subprime loans is nearly 20 times more.

To make matters worse, it would seem that the subprime loans are not the only ones defaulting. There was also a significant increase in delinquency rate for the prime loans in the second quarter – 3.9 percent compared to 3.7 percent of the first quarter and 2.7 percent from last year.

For experts and analysts, any stabilization experienced in the subprime market will still not herald the end of the foreclosure crisis since the prime loans are starting to catch up. This only means that the problem is not only confined to the credit industry and is probably fueled by weak economic conditions.

The only good news that can be observed from the report is the slowing down of home price decline in the past months. With home prices stabilizing a bit, delinquencies might level off as well.

Foreclosure Homes Reach Record 1.2M is a post from: Bank Foreclosures Information