Foreclosures rise in many U.S. cities

[Nova78]

Foreclosures rise in many U.S. cities - CBS News

(MoneyWatch) Foreclosures are on the rise in parts of the U.S., according to new data from RealtyTrac. Foreclosure activity rose for the first quarter in 114 out of the 212 metropolitan areas around the nation surveyed by the real-estate industry research firm.
Foreclosures increased from the previous quarter in 26 of the nation's 50 largest metro areas. Pittsburgh saw the highest jump, with a 49 percent increase in homes seized, followed by Indianapolis, Philadelphia, New York, Raleigh, N.C., and Virginia Beach, Va.

Hows that hope and change thingy working out for you ?

 

[waltky]

Cities struggle to deal with abandoned homes...

Abandoned homes plague cities: It takes money to level them
15 June`12 - Census estimates show that although the amount of housing rose slightly in many of the nation's largest counties, some have begun demolishing vacant and unused structures.

Some local governments hardest hit by population losses are struggling with what has been left behind: large numbers of abandoned housing units. Census figures released Thursday underscore the problem: In places racked by foreclosure, job loss and a weak economy, housing units haven't fallen as fast as population. A handful of cities such as Detroit have demolished thousands of housing units over the past few years. Many others — such as Baltimore, where city officials said as many as 10,000 empty buildings need to come down — have seen levels remain flat.

Although an eighth of the nation's 800 largest counties have lost population since 2005, fewer than half those have seen declines in housing stock. "The principal impediment is the cost," said Michael Braverman, deputy commissioner of code enforcement for Baltimore Housing, which tears down 200 to 300 buildings a year. That city plans to use $20 million from a national mortgage settlement to take down 1,000 buildings that won't displace many residents or cause much structural damage to nearby homes. After that, Braverman said, costs rise "into the stratosphere" quickly.

On tours of Cleveland, Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio, has seen how Cuyahoga County's plummeting population has left streets dotted with vacant housing. "These houses, they're eyesores and drug traps and crime traps," LaTourette said. He and Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, in March co-sponsored the Restore our Neighborhoods Act, asking Congress to appropriate $4 billion to help communities demolish vacant buildings. The bill is tied up in a House committee. "If we're talking billions rather than millions, we can get a lot more done," LaTourette said.

Many states are just passing laws to help cities. New York last July made it easier for cities to demolish buildings and re-use the land. Georgia this year expanded its land-banking law, and Pennsylvania is considering a similar measure. Frank Alexander, co-founder of the Center for Community Progress, said the laws would help municipalities follow Michigan's Genesee County, which has shed more than 6,000 housing units in five years. "It's not a silver bullet," he said. "It doesn't create redevelopment. But it does take the properties that are liabilities and at least eliminate the liabilities."

Braverman said that was important. Although many neighborhoods in Baltimore are thriving, he said, some distressed areas need more help than the city or state can afford. "It's an issue of national consequence," Braverman said. "You can't afford not to care what's happening in cities like Baltimore, because really it's cities that are going to be the engine driving the economy."

Source

 

[waltky]

Cautious Moves on Foreclosures Haunting Obama...

Cautious Moves on Foreclosures Haunting Obama
August 19, 2012 WASHINGTON — After inheriting the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, President Obama poured vast amounts of money into efforts to stabilize the financial system, rescue the auto industry and revive the economy.

But he tried to finesse the cleanup of the housing crash, rejecting unpopular proposals for a broad bailout of homeowners facing foreclosure in favor of a limited aid program — and a bet that a recovering economy would take care of the rest. During his first two years in office, Mr. Obama and his advisers repeatedly affirmed this carefully calibrated strategy, leaving unspent hundreds of billions of dollars that Congress had allocated to buy mortgage loans, even as millions of people lost their homes and the economic recovery stalled somewhere between crisis and prosperity.

The nation’s painfully slow pace of growth is now the primary threat to Mr. Obama’s bid for a second term, and some economists and political allies say the cautious response to the housing crisis was the administration’s most significant mistake. The bailouts of banks and automakers are now widely regarded as crucial steps in arresting the recession, while the depressed housing market remains a millstone. “They were not aggressive in taking the steps that could have been taken,” said Representative Zoe Lofgren, chairwoman of the California Democratic caucus. “And as a consequence they did not interrupt the catastrophic spiral downward in our economy.”

Mr. Obama insisted the government should help only “responsible borrowers,” and his administration offered aid to fewer than half of those facing foreclosure, excluding landlords, owners of big-ticket homes and those judged to have excessive debts. He decided to rely on mortgage companies to modify unaffordable loans rather than have the government take control by purchasing the loans, the approach advocated by his chief political rivals in the 2008 presidential race, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain.

The administration did not push for legislation to make mortgage companies help borrowers. The financial incentives it offered were often insufficient. And it responded slowly to warnings, including those in letters homeowners sent to Mr. Obama, that companies were not cooperating. The result was a plan that failed to meet even its own modest goals, data shows. Mr. Obama said in Arizona a few weeks after taking office that the government would help “as many as three to four million homeowners to modify the terms of their mortgages to avoid foreclosure.” As of May, 4.3 million people had applied for aid, but only one million had received government-sponsored modifications, according to the most recent data. About a third of those turned away lost their homes, were facing foreclosure or filed for bankruptcy.

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[expat_panama]

...Moves on Foreclosures Haunting Obama August 19, 2012 WASHINGTON — After inheriting the worst economic downturn...

That's how some people see it. Here's reality--

First, we were fine until Obama came to Washington and Pelosi took over. Second, a sustained recovery came with Peloisi loosing power and new House leadership putting a check on Obama.

 

[william the wie]

Yeah, that did help Expat but the second or maybe third wave of foreclosures with a huge spike in late/missed payments have begun so 24-30 months down the road we will see another round of houses hitting the market.