Mortgage settlement with banks sparks new scam - WTOP Mobile

Mortgage settlement with banks sparks new scam - WTOP Mobile

WASHINGTON - Scammers are trying to take advantage of the multi-state mortgage service settlement announced last week.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said the calls and emails about scams began very soon after the settlement was announced. The scammers try and convince consumers that, for a fee, they can get some of that money announced in the settlement with major banks.

"It's unbelievable how scammers prey on people who are vulnerable and have already been hurt," said Cuccinelli's spokesman, Brian Gottstein. "These people have no souls."

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Well, you would have a hard time finding a soul in anybody throughout this entire process, from the mortgage originators to the investment banks that created the garbage mortgage backed securities, and on to the ratings agencies that called it AAA and right through the whole line of policy makers who deregulated the industry and left consumers completely vulnerable to predators, and then on to the phony "mortgage rescue" fraudsters, the mortgage foreclosure mills with their sleazy robosigners, and on and on. It is no surprise that yet another bunch of con artists are preying on people.

Cash in as yet another housing bubble bursts - MoneyWeek

Cash in as yet another housing bubble bursts - MoneyWeek
Canada’s housing market is plagued by “overvaluation, speculation and over supply”, says Merrill Lynch. The Economist conducts a survey that compares house prices with the rents that property owners can charge. On this basis, Canadian residential property is overvalued by more than 70%. Even the central bank admits there’s a problem. In short, the country’s property prices won’t be able to defy gravity for much longer.
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Eh?

After Mortgage Settlement, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Face Renewed Pressure On Principal Reduction

After Mortgage Settlement, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Face Renewed Pressure On Principal Reduction

Top law enforcement officials in several states are signaling they will pressure Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to correct what is widely seen as one of the biggest deficiencies of the $25 billion mortgage settlement announced on Thursday: It simply doesn't help that many homeowners.

Borrowers whose loans are backed by the government-controlled mortgage giants -- nearly half of all outstanding mortgages in the United States -- are not eligible for payouts under the deal. State officials who negotiated the deal say they could not convince Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, or the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees the loan giants, to join onto the settlement because they are steadfastly opposed to principal reductions -- loan write-downs for borrowers whose homes are at risk of foreclosure.

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I believe the mystery quasi-settlement is supposed to cover less than 8% of the nation's mortgages. What is all the publicity about, if the GSE's aren't going to help out underwater owners?

Incomplete subdivisions face dangerous conditions | www.wsbtv.com

Incomplete subdivisions face dangerous conditions | www.wsbtv.com

LOVEJOY, Ga. —

Communities left incomplete by the housing bust are causing more problems than just empty and overgrown lots, according to homeowners. Some residents in Clayton County said they're also leading to potentially dangerous conditions. Melanie Scott, a homeowner in the Lovejoy Crossing subdivision, said she and her neighbors have had to fight for basic services, including street lights. Scott said residents also had to go to the city of Lovejoy to get a dark, undeveloped corner of their own neighborhood barricaded after a stream of illegal activity.

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Another chapter in the accellerating failure of private communities. I wonder if municipalities have learned anything from this experience. One would think they would realize that putting their financial future in the hands of real estate developers is risky business. But on the other hand, you can't underestimate the effectiveness of developer dog-and-pony shows that promise city leaders that there will be rainbows, pots of gold, and new village halls in exchange for the development permit.

Thanks to Fred Pilot for the link.

Horror stories prompt industry group to ask Colorado to regulate HOA managers - The Denver Post

Horror stories prompt industry group to ask Colorado to regulate HOA managers - The Denver Post

"Colorado legislators received so many complaints about HOAs that in 2010, they voted to create an HOA Information Office and Resource Center to gather complaints and help homeowners Through Dec. 1, the center had collected 478 complaints, a third of which named managers. Many of the rest centered on poor management practices — from a lack of transparency to ignoring homeowners' concerns About 2 million people in Colorado live under more than 8,000 HOAs, according to state estimates.

"At the CAI's request, the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies is conducting a "sunrise review" to determine whether HOA managers should be regulated. Nine states and the District of Columbia license or regulate community managers."

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When CAI starts asking for regulation, you know the situation is bad. I think many of the mom and pop property management firms are struggling these days. Financial problems trickle up from the owners to the association to the professionals. If the owners can't fund the association, the association can't hire professional management. I realize managers and lawyers do everything possible to sign up associations as clients and start the fee machine, but with all the unfinished subdivisions and foreclosures eventually owners just can't afford management fees. Thanks to Fred Pilot for the link.

Outsourcing Gym Class - The Bay Citizen

Outsourcing Gym Class - The Bay Citizen
The school district can't afford enough gym teachers, so the Parent-Teacher Organization is paying private contractors. Privatizing gym class--thanks to Fred Pilot for the link.

Mind-Blowing Charts From the Senate's Income Inequality Hearing | Mother Jones

Mind-Blowing Charts From the Senate's Income Inequality Hearing | Mother Jones
Just take a look at this and you can see who our public policy makers have been serving these last 30 years or so.

Cities Turn to a Crop for Cash - Medical Marijuana - NYTimes.com

Cities Turn to a Crop for Cash - Medical Marijuana - NYTimes.com
OAKLAND, Calif. — As the stubborn economic downturn has forced this city to take painful steps to balance its budget in recent years, it has increasingly turned to one of its newer industries to raise much-needed revenues: medical marijuana dispensaries. The city has raised taxes on marijuana dispensaries several times in the past few years, and last year it collected $1.4 million in taxes from them — nearly 3 percent of all the business taxes it collected. Now Oakland plans to double the number of dispensaries it licenses, to eight from the current four, in the hopes that it can collect even more revenue.
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My, my. How things have changed. I still remember when people went to jail for selling weed. Oh, wait. They still do. But they aren't the City of Oakland. The city becomes an indirect drug peddler to balance the budget, and that's just sound fiscal policy. But if Joe Schmoe living in Oakland decided to balance his own budget the same way, why, it's a completely different thing, don't you see?


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Exclusive: Mortgage problems? Turn your house into a billboard | Reuters

Exclusive: Mortgage problems? Turn your house into a billboard | Reuters

In return for allowing the front of their four-bedroom house to become a garish advertisement, the Hostetlers are getting their nearly $2,000 monthly mortgage paid by the marketing company behind the project, Brainiacs From Mars.

In a residential neighborhood without heavy traffic, cars passing by the house slowed and drivers gawked at the vivid colors and a giant Brainiacs From Mars billboard.

Romeo Mendoza, the company's founder and CEO, told Reuters that his ultimate goal is to turn 1,000 homes across the United States into giant advertisements for his marketing firm.

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I'm sure the HOAs will find this worthy of their attention.

Mortgage Settlement as Attorney General Sellout: Deal is Not Done, and Final Version Guaranteed to be Worse Than Advertised « naked capitalism

Mortgage Settlement as Attorney General Sellout: Deal is Not Done, and Final Version Guaranteed to be Worse Than Advertised « naked capitalism
"The Administration and the banks both want a pro-bank deal (the only minor point of difference is how much in populist gestures the banks have to submit to in order to get the much more valuable bennies they want). The only parties that cared to any degree about ordinary citizens were the dissident AGs. But they now have now given up any bargaining leverage over how this deal turns out.

The only power any party has in a negotiation is his threat to leave the bargaining table. The AGs can no longer do that. They’ve taken star turns, made ringing pronouncements of how great this pact is. They can’t possibly reverse themselves mere weeks down the road and say, whoops, this deal isn’t go great after all."

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Great analysis. When the real deal surfaces, the AGs who were holding things up will have no way to back out of it. They have already gone on record with their victory laps.

Walker, Van Hollen: Chunk of mortgage settlement going to state budget - JSOnline

Walker, Van Hollen: Chunk of mortgage settlement going to state budget - JSOnline

But of a $31.6 million payment coming directly to the state government, most of that money - $25.6 million - will go to help close a budget shortfall revealed in newly released state projections. Van Hollen, whose office said he has the legal authority over the money, made the decision in consultation with Walker.

"Just like communities and individuals have been affected, the foreclosure crisis has had an effect on the state of Wisconsin, in terms of unemployment. . . . This will offset that damage done to the state of Wisconsin," Walker said.

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Scott Walker is the Koch Brothers-funded tool who ambushed the public employee unions after he became governor. Now he is stealing a bunch of the mortgage foreclosure settlement to balance the budget. It is too early to say for sure, but I think when all the facts are in a few years from now, Walker, Kasich, Daniels, and Scott will turn out to have been as bad for their respective states' economies as David Cameron has been for the UK, which remains mired in recession.

Tallahassee tax cuts put squeeze on cities

The tax cuts are welcomed by the business community, but they come at a high cost that critics say will ultimately fall on local communities. As property tax revenues fall even further this year, local governments will again have to weigh tough decisions that run the gamut from shuttering libraries to ending social service programs to delaying new projects. With fewer options to cut after several years of concessions and layoffs, local officials may have to consider raising property tax rates, a politically dangerous and unpopular option.
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What's next? De-annexing neighborhoods and telling them to privatize their governance and infrastructure if they aren't already within the jurisdiction of a mandatory membership HOA?

Florida HOAs crippled by housing crisis

Florida HOAs crippled by housing crisis
LAKE WORTH, Fla. - The home buying market has undoubtedly had a huge impact on both developers and buyers. But homeowners associations are also in the middle caught up in all the mess of the housing crisis.

Read more: http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/region_c_palm_beach_county/lake_worth/florida-hoas-crippled-by-housing-crisis#ixzz1m5FwUenX

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Indeed. As I have been saying for the last few years. Thanks to Fred Pilot for this link.

No settlement document here!

Federal Government & Attorneys General reach landmark settlement with major banks | NationalMortgageSettlement
This is the web page for the magic disappearing settlement. See for yourself. As of February 11, 2012, two days after the big deal was announced, there is no settlement document to be found. Why? (see below)...

The Obama administration and the banks did the publicity blitz, and the press dutifully covered it to death, and the pundits pontificated, without the actual terms being part of the discussion. We just had a huge media frenzy over something that we can't really scrutinize. Why? Perhaps because the banks are going to get a much better deal than advertised, and they don't want the public to know. When the real settlement document is released, the deal will be old news and won't get much coverage.

That's my speculation. What's yours?

Missing Settlement Document Raises Doubts on $25B Deal - American Banker Article

Missing Settlement Document Raises Doubts on $25B Deal - American Banker Article
"More than a day after the announcement of a mammoth national mortgage servicing settlement, the actual terms of the deal still aren't public. The website created for the national settlement lists the document as "coming soon."

"That's because a fully authorized, legally binding deal has not been inked yet."

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Bet you thought that the announcement of a deal meant there was really a deal. Hah! The joke's on you. And me. And the rest of us. Now the real terms will get no publicity. Clever, don't you think?

Two points! Omaha woman wins in court over basketball hoop

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A judge says an Omaha woman can keep the basketball hoop that her homeowners association had fought.

Omaha television station WOWT says (http://bit.ly/AcJKGt) Jill Lewis had the hoop installed for her three sons at their home in Merrifield Village.

The homeowners association took her to court, saying she'd failed to get written permission for the external improvement.
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Early March Madness. What's really crazy is these cases end up in the courts. Can you spell frivolous litigation?

Sacramento Warned by UN On Homeless Issue - Sacramento News Story - KCRA Sacramento

Sacramento Warned On Homeless Issue - Sacramento News Story - KCRA Sacramento
"An appointee to the United Nations Human Rights Council visited Sacramento in 2011 and has sent a letter to Mayor Kevin Johnson advising him of her findings.In the letter, Catarina De Albuquerque reminded Johnson that the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation is a protected freedom. She noted the lack of access to restrooms and water fountains as a concern."

Read more: http://www.kcra.com/news/30392120/detail.html#ixzz1lfHmFCiI
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Yes, indeed. As Fred Pilot (who sent this link) would say, "So there!"

New York Sues 3 Banks Over MERS Mortgage Database - NYTimes.com

New York Sues 3 Banks Over MERS Mortgage Database - NYTimes.com

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman of New York sued three major banks on Friday, accusing them of fraud in their use of an electronic mortgage database that he said resulted in deceptive and illegal practices, including false documents in foreclosure proceedings.

Mr. Schneiderman, co-chairman of a new mortgage crisis unit under President Obama, filed a lawsuit against Bank of America, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase in New York State Supreme Court in Brooklyn.

The database, called the Mortgage Electronic Registration System or MERS, was created in the mid-1990s for tracking mortgage ownership. It is a collaboration of top mortgage servicers, mortgage insurers and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government entities that hold many of the country’s mortgages.

“The mortgage industry created MERS to allow financial institutions to evade county recording fees, avoid the need to publicly record mortgage transfers and facilitate the rapid sale and securitization of mortgages en masse,” Mr. Schneiderman said.

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About time. MERS was created in order for the banks to securitize mortgages and resell them all over the place without paying county recording fees. It is a gigantic, multi-billion dollar fraud. And MERS exemplifies the state of housing finance in this country. It is based on fraud, perjury, and theft by the biggest banks in the nation.

Big cities cautious about privatizing parking after Chicago's effort - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Big cities cautious about privatizing parking after Chicago's effort - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee
Chicagoans were outraged when meter rates soared and the machines briefly malfunctioned. The city's inspector general said the $1.15 billion price the city received was way too low. While the operating company says citizen anger has abated, the deal is still viewed in political circles as a mistake.
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This tepid article says that despite the Chicago catastrophe, which this reporter just calls a public relations problem, Sacramento is going to do it, too. Most city governments have at least some ability to learn from the failures of others, but not Sacramento, it seems. The rates in Chicago doubled. The payoff to the city was half what it should have been. The city has lost control over its own streets and now has to pay off the private vendor whenever any stretch of road doesn't deliver the money, such as if a block is closed for a street festival. The vendor is a front company for a mysterious sovereign wealth fund. Try getting through them sometime with your complaints.

Thanks to Fred Pilot for the link.

Foreclosures Draw Private Equity as U.S. Sells Homes - Bloomberg

Foreclosures Draw Private Equity as U.S. Sells Homes - Bloomberg

Private equity firms are jumping into distressed housing as the U.S. government plans to market 200,000 foreclosed homes as rentals to speed up the economic recovery.

GTIS Partners will spend $1 billion by 2016 acquiring single-family homes to manage as rentals, Thomas Shapiro, the fund’s founder said. That followed announcements this month that GI Partners, a Menlo Park private equity fund, expects to invest $1 billion, and Los Angeles-based Oaktree Capital Management LP will spend $450 million on similar housing.

“It’s a massive market,” Shapiro said in a telephone interview from New York. “We’re starting to see this as a billion dollar opportunity to buy rental housing.”

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It seems that we are making a historic shift toward being a nation of renters.