"We start 2010 with some early signs of stabilization in the housing market, with house prices and home sales likely nearing the bottom sometime in 2010. We expect that low mortgage rates, relatively high affordability and the homebuyer tax credit will help continue to fuel the recovery. Still, the housing recovery remains fragile, with significant downside risk posed by high unemployment and a potential large wave of foreclosures."
Freddie Mac Chief Executive Officer Charles E. Haldeman, Jr.

The quote is from the Freddie Mac Q4 earnings release:

Freddie Mac Releases Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2009 Financial Results Fourth quarter 2009 net loss was $6.5 billion. After the dividend payment of $1.3 billion to the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) on the senior preferred stock, net loss attributable to common stockholders was $7.8 billion ... for the fourth quarter of 2009.
...
Full-year 2009 net loss was $21.6 billion. After dividend payments of $4.1 billion during the year to Treasury on the senior preferred stock, net loss attributable to common stockholders was $25.7 billion ... for the full-year 2009.

Another $7.8 billion in losses ...

 

via @intowninsider

Big foreclosure discounts vs. job losses ...

If you are interested in the foreclosure market, I've heard good things about this site (it is not free).

However, so far it is only in certain counties in CA, AZ, NV, OR, and WA.

Watch Foreclosures, Seriously

Published: Friday, 6 Nov 2009 | 1:52 PM ET

By: Diana Olick
CNBC Real Estate Reporter

CNBC.com Saving Housing

While the Realtors and Home Builders and Mortgage Bankers all bask in the glow of the home buyer tax credit extension/expansion, we all need to turn our attention to the real drag on a housing recovery: Foreclosures.

Yeah, I know, everyone seems kind of tired of talking about them; we've got the government modification program in place. Big banks are all ramped up with the program, Fannie Mae [FNM  1.04  -0.08  (-7.14%)   ] is letting folks who don't qualify for mods stay in their homes and rent, and foreclosure inventories in the big bad hardest hit states are actually drying up as investors get in and grab up the bargain basement properties.

Homes And More on CNBC

Current DateTime: 01:59:22 08 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 33728834

• Most Affordable Metro Areas
• Most Popular Relocation Cities
• Realty Check with Diana Olick

Clear Capital, a "provider of data and solutions for real estate asset valuation," notes that home prices are improving thanks to fewer foreclosure sales. "The continued decline in REO saturation rates, as well as an increase in the proportion of cash buyers in both distressed and fair market sales, are an encouraging sign of investor optimism coming into the traditionally slow months," says Clear Capital's Sr. Statistician, Alex Villacorta.

That's because banks and Fannie and Freddie [FRE  1.23  -0.02  (-1.6%)   ] are slowing the process, trying to jam as many borrowers into mods as possible. They're also overwhelmed by the sheer numbers, leaving many many delinquent borrowers still sitting in their houses scott free without hearing word one from their lenders. But that's going to change.

Read the rest of the article here.

Upscale Jackson Co. golf community owes $19.8 million

By John Boyle • October 14, 2009 12:15 AM

SYLVA — Another high-end golf community in Western North Carolina is embroiled in foreclosure proceedings, this time the 4,400-acre Balsam Mountain Preserve in Jackson County.

Company President Chris Chaffin said Tuesday that Balsam Mountain has been “a market leader” in sales, with 17 closings this year. The Preserve has sold more than 230 homes sites at an average price of $530,000, but that wasn’t enough to stave off foreclosure proceedings when nearly $20 million in loans came due.

“We had sufficient sales to stay current on our interest payments and to pay down the principal and payables,” Chaffin said. “Unfortunately, our loan is due. It’s apparent the lender doesn’t have the flexibility to free up capital right now.”

Chaffin acknowledged that Balsam Mountain “actually defaulted on our loan the end of last year” and has been working with the lender since then.

The lenders listed in court documents are two corporations under the umbrella of TriLyn LLC, of Greenwich, Conn. Balsam Mountain secured two loans in 2005 for $9.8 million and $10 million.

A foreclosure hearing is scheduled for Oct. 28 at the Jackson County Justice Center. At that hearing, the debtors can show cause as to “why the foreclosure should not be allowed to be held.”

A foreclosure sale could follow later if the parties cannot work out an agreement.

Mark Antoncic, TriLyn's managing partner, declined to comment on the foreclosure.

Opened in 2001, Balsam Preserve is slated for 354 homes, with 3,000 acres of the total land to remain protected and undeveloped. The average Balsam home site is about 1.5 acres, and the homes are often in the $1.5 million range.

Several high-end mountain housing developments are struggling in the recession, including Seven Falls Golf & River Club in Henderson County. That development, planned to accommodate 900 homes on 1,400 acres, faces a possible foreclosure sale Thursday on part of the property because the developers are behind on $15.7 million in loans.

Balsam Mountain Preserve, which has 48 completed homes, has had to lay off 38 of 80 employees and shut down its 18-hole Arnold Palmer golf course and an equestrian center, as well as food and beverage service at a boarding house.

Read the rest of the article here.

via citizen-times.com

Posted via web from Susie Blackmon’s Posterous

Related articles:

• Home Rescue Plan Delaying, Not Solving Crisis (huffingtonpost.com)
• Balsam Mountain Preserve, A Golfer and Equestrian’s Dream
• Balsam Mountain Preserve …. Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains
  

 

By NICK TIMIRAOS

New data suggest that foreclosures are rising in more expensive housing markets.

About 30% of foreclosures in June involved homes in the top third of local housing values, up from 16% when the foreclosure crisis began three years ago, according to new data from real-estate Web site Zillow.com. The bottom one-third of housing markets, by home value, now account for 35% of foreclosures, down from 55% in 2006.

The report shows that foreclosures, after declining earlier this year, began to accelerate in the late spring and that more expensive homes have more recently accounted for a growing share of all foreclosures. "The slope of that curve in recent months is much sharper than it was recently," said Stan Humphries, chief economist for Zillow. Rising foreclosures among more-expensive homes could create added pressure for a housing market that has shown signs of stabilizing in recent months as sales of lower-priced homes pick up.

The Zillow research compared homes against the median values for their local market and broke each market into three tiers by value. Zillow then looked at the share of monthly foreclosures in each tier over the past decade.

Foreclosures are rising in more expensive markets as home values in those areas fall, leaving more homeowners with mortgages that exceed the value of their properties. Prime loans accounted for 58% of foreclosure starts in the second quarter, up from 44% last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Subprime mortgages accounted for one-third of foreclosure starts, down from one-half last year.

The prime category includes so-called exotic mortgages that were increasingly used to buy more expensive homes, including interest-only mortgages that allowed borrowers to defer principal payments during an initial period. Borrowers often aren't able to refinance out of these products because the drop in home values has left them with little equity in their homes.

Default rates are particularly high and expected to rise on option adjustable-rate mortgages, which allow borrowers to make minimum payments that may not cover the interest due. Monthly payments can increase to sharply higher levels after five years or when the outstanding balance reaches a certain level. A study by Fitch Ratings found that 46% of option ARMs were 30 days past due last month, even though just 12% of such loans have reset to higher monthly payments.

Zillow estimated that nearly one in four homes with mortgages was worth less than the value of the property at the end of June. Mr. Humphries said he didn't expect to see foreclosure volumes level off until later in 2010.

Write to Nick Timiraos at nick.timiraos@wsj.com

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A2