Real Estate Market

The House Financial Services Committee will hold a meeting March 3 to discuss the future of the federal Home Affordable Modification Program and three other foreclosure-prevention efforts.

Republicans want to eliminate funding for the initiatives, and some Democrats agree that the programs have done more harm than good. Obama administration officials are lobbying to preserve as much of the $50 billion in aid as they can, even as they concede that the programs have fallen short of expectations.

Source: “Treasury, HUD Lobby to Save Foreclosure Prevention Programs,” BusinessWeek, Lorraine Woellert and Rebecca Christie (03/03/11)

Related Stories: Fate of Foreclosure Programs Heads to a Vote

The costs to obtain an FHA mortgage are going up.  All files originated on April 4th, 2011 or after will be subject to the increased monthly Mortgage Insurance Premiums.  The hypothetical transaction below displays the increased expense for a standard $163,000 home purchase.

Government agencies are investigating Wells Fargo & Co.'s foreclosure practices, and the company says it will likely face penalties from how it handled many foreclosures.

The investigations center on whether the bank violated fair-lending laws and if it followed proper procedures with its foreclosure affidavits, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"With regard to the investigations into foreclosure practices, it is likely that one or more of the government agencies will initiate some type of enforcement action against Wells Fargo, which may include civil money penalties," Wells Fargo said in its filing.

The bank also faces seven class-action lawsuits as well as several individual-borrower lawsuits, which mostly accuse Wells Fargo of submitting fraudulent affidavits or other documents to foreclose on homes.

Wells Fargo says it may face as much as $1.2 billion in losses from the lawsuits.

Source: “Wells Fargo Says Being Investigated, Could Face Penalties on Foreclosures,” Associated Press (Feb. 25, 2011)