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Mortgage

FORECLOSED HOMES 

‘We want people to stay in their homes’: Mortgage lenders don’t expect a flood of foreclosures when moratorium ends

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At Greenfield Savings Bank, about 20% of mortgage customers are in deferral, said President John H. Howland.

These are people who have told the bank they’ve suffered an economic loss from the coronavirus pandemic.

“It allows people to not make payments,” he said. “It basically goes on the back end of the mortgage.”

But now those deferrals of 30, 60 or 90 days are ending just as the statewide moratorium on mortgage foreclosures is set to end Saturday. A moratorium on residential evictions is also expected to sunset.

All are measures meant to soften the blow and guide households through COVID-19. But even with the moratoriums ending, local mortgage lenders don’t expect a rush of foreclosures to come sweeping through the system, as they did in the 2008-09 recession.

“We don’t know what is going to happen when the deferral period ends and people start payments,” Howland said. “We want

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HOME FOR SALE 

Rocket Mortgage Introduces New Tech Platform to Empower Real Estate Agents

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DETROIT, Oct. 12, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Rocket Companies (NYSE: RKT) today launched “Rocket Pro Insight”, a new technology platform providing real estate agents real-time updates on the status of their clients’ mortgages. Through both a website and mobile app, real estate professionals will have transparency into the loan experience. They are now able to see where each loan is in the process, the terms of their clients’ loans, if additional documentation is needed and when it will close.

“Our team is constantly leveraging the power of technology to streamline and simplify the mortgage process. Rocket Pro Insight is the latest innovation in a long line of FinTech tools we have created to improve the experience and give added confidence to our clients and their partners,” said Jay Farner, CEO of Rocket Companies. “There is no doubt real estate agents are crucial in the home purchase process. They are the homebuyer’s

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FORECLOSURE HOMES 

‘The Con’: How 91-year-old Addie Polk’s suicide attempt in Ohio became a symbol of America’s home mortgage crisis

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Addie Polk, a 90-year-old Black woman, shot herself twice in the chest as deputies were knocking at her door with eviction papers in hand. Polk, a widow, who lived in the house alone, knew when the foreclosure date of her home was and waited until the last moment before taking her own life in 2008. The Federal National Mortgage Association, Fannie Mae, foreclosed on Polk’s home in Akron, Ohio after acquiring a mortgage in 2007. 

Polk’s desperate measure made her a symbol of the nation’s home mortgage crisis, which saw hundreds of Americans rendered homeless. Polk was a deaconess at her church and was admired by her friends and fellow churchgoers. Some remembered her as a great cakemaker. Before the interest started piling up, Polk and her husband lived as a happy and loving couple. During the prime of their lives, the pair could have moved on to a bigger

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FORECLOSURE HOMES 

Owners of Westin Cleveland Downtown, already mired in FBI probe, face mortgage foreclosure lawsuit

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CLEVELAND, Ohio – The owners of the Westin Cleveland Downtown – currently mired in an FBI investigation into whether they helped launder money through the purchase of real estate in the U.S. – are now facing a foreclosure lawsuit for the hotel.



a group of people standing in front of a building: The Westin Cleveland Downtown, seen here in a file photo.

© Plain Dealer file photo/cleveland.com/TNS
The Westin Cleveland Downtown, seen here in a file photo.

Optima 777 owes $35 million in the unpaid principal of a mortgage for the 484-room St. Clair Avenue hotel, as well as nearly $500,000 in interest and a $1.4 million late fee, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. The company obtained the loans from Cleveland International Fund of Cleveland Heights, a firm that connects foreign investors seeking residency in the U.S. with real estate development opportunities.

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Cleveland International Fund CEO Stephen Strnisha said in an interview Monday that Optima 777, which owns 95 percent of

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HOME VALUES 

How to get a mortgage when considering downsizing in retirement

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If you’re retired and are thinking about downsizing or relocating, and it involves buying a home, you might want to look into how you would finance it.

You may discover that qualifying for a mortgage is different from the last time you bought a house. Not only have lenders tightened credit during the coronavirus pandemic, retirees generally have left a steady paycheck behind.

It can be tricky for retirees to get a mortgage, said Al Bingham, a mortgage loan officer with Momentum Loans in Sandy, Utah.

“You can have a lot of money but show very little income and have difficulty qualifying for a mortgage,” Bingham said. “It frustrates a lot of them.”

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FORECLOSURE HOMES 

How to avoid foreclosure if you’re in mortgage forbearance using CARES Act during COVID-19 pandemic

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CHICAGO (WLS) — You may be one of about 3.5 million Americans already in a forbearance on your mortgage, but what of you need an extension? Or what if you want to start paying again?

“This is home, Villa Park is home to me,” said Roger Feigenbaum. “I’ve owned this house since 1987 and I don’t have any other place to turn to, this is my house.”

Feigenbaum was laid off due to the covid-19 pandemic and is now fighting to stay in his home. He is in a reverse mortgage: the bank pays him for his equity in the home, but he can’t afford the property taxes and home insurance.

As a result, his reverse mortgage company is forced to pay those fees and Feigenbaum could be at risk for foreclosure. He’s now trying to get the lender, Reverse Mortgage Funding LLC, to help him out.

“So I was

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FORECLOSURE HOMES 

Louisiana ranks high in the US in late mortgage payments, and there’s one key factor why | Business

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The number of Louisiana homeowners late on their mortgage payments remains stubbornly high and the state is still second in the nation for that metric as of August — as it was in June just three months into the economic disruptions resulting from shutdowns to slow the spread of coronavirus.

More than 11.2% of home mortgages in the state were past-due on payments or in delinquency as of August, up from 7.7% the same time last year and higher than last month’s national average of 7.27%, according to data from Black Knight, a Florida-based publicly traded technology business with access to loan-level data from some of the largest mortgage service companies.

Coming off a brief, slight decline in July, the 11.2% August rate is roughly the same as in June after furloughs and layoffs took their toll on homeowner finances, data shows. The percentage rate is about 56% higher than

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HOME VALUES 

Mortgage rates fall as demand for home loans rises

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The 15-year fixed-rate average reached 2.36 percent, down from 2.40 percent, with an average 0.7 point. The five-year adjustable-rate average at 2.90 percent, with an average 0.2 point, was unchanged from the previous week. The 15-year rate was 3.14 percent and the five-year was 3.38 percent a year ago.

“Mortgage rates are in a holding pattern because we have lots of big things looming and investors are waiting to see what happens,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist with Realtor.com. “Obviously, they’re waiting on the election results, but also on the next stimulus plan, which seems to start and stall. I expect mortgage rates to stay stable and not go up or down much until we get some of this big news.”

Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, from which the averages are derived, is confined to rates on conventional home loans for borrowers who make a 20 percent down payment

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FORECLOSURE HOMES 

Mortgage rates keep falling, but will rising home prices push some buyers out of the market?

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Despite the economic downturn, home prices have continued to increase this year — largely because mortgage rates have remained below 3%. But will home buyers reach a breaking point where they’re priced out of the market en masse?

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.88% for the week ending Oct. 1, down two basis points from the week prior, Freddie Mac
FMCC,

reported Thursday. A few weeks ago, the average rate for the 30-year loan fell to an all-time low of 2.86%.

The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped four basis points to an average of 2.36%, while the 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage held steady at 2.9% on average.

Low mortgage rates have been a boon to home buyers and sellers alike. The low-rate environment has given buyers a boost even as the economy has remained in a coronavirus-fueled downturn and home prices have risen.

“In the pandemic-driven recession of 2020, we’ve

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HOME VALUES 

Mortgage and real estate news this week: Booming market, increasing equity

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The mortgage and real estate industries remain as hot as ever, which means now can be a great time to buy your first home, refinance your mortgage or tap your home equity to do some remodeling. Here are five stories Bankrate published this week to help you navigate these options.



a man and a woman sitting in a yard: Mixed-race family in front of a house

© jhorrocks/Getty Images
Mixed-race family in front of a house

1. Looking ahead: Housing heat stays on through the fall

There’s no indication that home sales are going to see a significant dropoff in the coming months. Tight supply and low mortgage rates have combined to make it look like the cooler weather and school restarting will do little to dampen competition in the real estate market. Even after some regular, seasonal loss in momentum, the fall is likely to be pretty busy.

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2. Home prices are staying up

Unlike the Great Recession in 2008,

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