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Report: Calif. AG rejects proposed foreclosure settlement

Jan 27
Posted by News Feed in Local Real Estate

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Legal Newsline) – California Attorney General Kamala Harris has reportedly rejected a proposed settlement with the nation’s top mortgage servicers.

The Sacramento Bee reported Wednesday that Harris thought the latest proposed deal, rumored to be worth $25 billion, was again “inadequate.”

“At this point, this deal does not suffice for California,” Shum Preston, a spokesman for the attorney general, told the Bee.

For months, state attorneys general and various federal officials have been in talks with five banks over their mortgage foreclosure practices, including Wells Fargo Co., JPMorgan Chase Co., Citigroup Inc., Ally Financial Inc. and Bank of America Corp.

The probe began in October 2010 with inquiries into so-called “robosigning” practices, and has since broadened into identifying and addressing additional alleged improper foreclosure practices.

The newest proposed settlement, which would cover only those mortgages held by the five banks, is said to lower nearly 1 million homeowners’ mortgages by about $20,000 and provide for payments of $1,800 to those harmed by the banks’ lending practices.

Earlier this week, it was reported that the deal would decrease by $6 billion if Harris did not sign on.

The attorney general stepped away from the nationwide talks in September.

In a letter to Associate U.S. Attorney General Thomas Perrelli and Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller — who is heading up the talks — Harris argued at the time that the settlement provided too much protection for financial institutions.

The newest version, her office told the Bee, was still too lenient and would prevent the State from taking legal action against lenders.

Meanwhile, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is remaining mum on whether he will join the settlement.

“My concern with that has always been to make sure that we’re not releasing claims that obviously now are even more important to me because I’m investigating them,” he told reporters, according to Reuters.

In August, Schneiderman was removed from an executive committee negotiating the nationwide foreclosure settlement for “actively” working to “undermine” its effort.

Since then, he — along with Harris, Delaware’s Beau Biden and Nevada’s Catherine Cortez Masto — has started his own comprehensive investigation.

This week, the New York attorney general was selected by President Barack Obama to co-chair a national mortgage crisis unit aimed at investigating home lending by banks.

The unit is designed to focus on those actions that created the financial crisis, not the abuses that occurred after, he explained.

From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by email at jessica@legalnewsline.com.

Article source: http://www.legalnewsline.com/news/235006-report-calif.-ag-rejects-proposed-foreclosure-settlement

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Local Politicians Pushing For Foreclosure Help

Jan 27
Posted by News Feed in Local Real Estate

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – President Barack Obama called for Congress to pass a plan to help homeowners in danger of foreclosure, but a number of national lawmakers, including some from California, are already pushing forward a plan.

In San Joaquin County alone, two-thirds of all homes are “underwater,” with homeowners owing more on their mortgage than their house is worth. One out of five county homes has already been through the foreclosure process.

San Joaquin County homeowner Bobbie Zawkiewicz said she is only a month away from losing her home, but hopes that Obama’s State of the Union speech will lead to action that will quickly give her mortgage help.

“Dealing with the banks has been one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had,” Zawkiewicz said. “It’s just an awful situation to be in.”

In Tuesday’s speech, Obama said homeowners need help right away. “That’s why I’m sending this Congress a plan that gives every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage by refinancing at historically low interest rates,” he said.

California lawmakers have already proposed steps to ease pressure on homeowners, including:

- Speeding up the short sale process

- Creating a plan to reduce the principal owed on underwater homes

- Requiring lenders to have one point-of-contact for homeowners

Stockton real estate agent John Morris says a couple of key changes in the foreclosure process could help keep people in their homes, but he’s not sure that forcing banks to reduce the principal on homes is practical.

“If they start writing these losses off from principal reductions, then it subjects them to tighter scrutiny on the government’s part in their financial stability,” Morris said.

A national proposal is still in its beginning stages and must still be passed by Congress.

Article source: http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2012/01/26/local-politicians-pushing-for-foreclosure-help/

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Real Estate is Looking Up in Fairfield County

Jan 27
Posted by News Feed in General Real Estate

FAIRFIELD COUNTY, Conn. – Real estate markets are expected to be stronger this year in most lower Fairfield County towns, brokers say. In fact, some brokers are saying 2012 could be a great year.

“I’ve been in the industry for 25 years,” Brenda Maher, manager of the Norwalk office of Prudential Connecticut Realty, told The Daily Norwalk. ”I’ve never seen a January as strong as this year. It could be the weather – I mean think about last year at this time, we had about three feet of snow. Last year, basically we lost about three months of typical sales because of the weather – we almost lost a full quarter. But right now, the activity at our open houses is tremendous.”

RE/MAX Heritage broker Judy Szablak is equally bullish about all markets except Norwalk and Stamford. “I do think 2012 is going to be a great year, but the cities are going to suffer a little bit,” said Szablak, a real estate researcher who also writes for The CT Realty Blog. She said in the urban communities she is seeing an increase in “shadow inventory,” property that is bank-owned or foreclosed, and that could be bad for the markets. 

Fairfield seems to be the only town in the county that hasn’t had a good start to the year, Szablak said, adding that the first quarter will be important in determining the rest of the year for the town.

Overall, Szablak sees reason to be optimistic. “Historically, presidential elections have brought about increased real estate activity,” she wrote to The Daily Fairfield. “And coupled with low interest rates and increasing consumer confidence, I expect that 2012 will surpass last year’s sales in volume and pricing gains, and fully expect that we have a very good probability to gain more ground in value by the end of this year.”

Peg Koellmer, owner of Realty Seven in Wilton, is also upbeat. “I’m feeling like it’s going to be a little better this year than it was last year, and that’s the kind of growth that you need,” Koellmer told The Daily Wilton. She said that before the “hard years in 2009 and 2010,” housing prices were increasing 12 percent to 15 percent every year, which she said was unsustainable.

“I think prices will stay down, which is great for buyers,” Westport broker Bunny Mostad of Coldwell Banker said.  The market will be especially attractive for first-time buyers, who have become the National Association of Realtors’ biggest market, Mostad told The Daily Westport.

Reporters Greg Canuel, Nancy Guenther Chapman and Vanessa Inzitari contributed to this story.

Article source: http://www.thedailystamford.com/news/real-estate-looking-fairfield-county

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REAL ESTATE: Foreclosures continue to dominate Inland home sales – Press

Jan 27
Posted by News Feed in General Real Estate

Foreclosures continued to dominate Inland Southern California home sales in the third quarter of 2011, with 51.87 percent of homes sold either in the foreclosure process or already foreclosed on and bank owned, according to data released this week by RealtyTrac, an Irvine-based foreclosure monitoring firm.

Because of the strong influence of foreclosures on the rest of the Inland Southern California housing market, the price discount home buyers got for buying foreclosures in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area was less than for other parts of the nation, said RealtyTrac spokesman Daren Blomquist. He said the 18.88 percent average foreclosure discount in Inland Southern California was the 34{+t}{+h} lowest foreclosure discount found in 176 metropolitan areas that RealtyTrac compared in its third quarter report.

According to RealtyTrac 11,950 homes in the foreclosure process or bank-owned were sold in the Inland metropolitan area in the third quarter at an average price of $173,461. That was 2.6 percent fewer homes sold in this distress category than a year earlier.

By contrast, nationally homes in foreclosure or bank owned constituted 20 percent of all sales, which was sharp drop from 30 percent in the third quarter of 2010. The average price was $165,322 and the average foreclosure price discount was about 34 percent. Blomquist attributed the national drop in foreclosure sales to delays stemming from regulatory concerns, particularly in states that, unlike California, initiate foreclosures in the courts.

Because foreclosures need to work through the system before the housing market can heal, “In the long term it will be better that the Inland Empire is disposing of these properties more quickly,” Blomquist said.

Article source: http://www.pe.com/business/business-insider-headlines/20120126-real-estate-foreclosures-continue-to-dominate-inland-home-sales.ece

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2011 a vintage year for sales of California wine

Jan 27
Posted by News Feed in Economy

SACRAMENTO — Despite a sluggish economy, California wineries last year posted their biggest increase in shipments in a decade and could soon face a shortage of some popular varietals that will drive up prices, experts said this week.

Many wineries, however, still find it difficult to raise prices on store shelves, even as their suppliers boost prices for grapes and bulk wine.

California wine shipments rose about 5 percent in 2011, reaching about 210 million cases, analyst Jon Fredrikson said Wednesday at the 18th annual Unified Wine Grape Symposium in Sacramento, the largest wine industry conference in the United States.

“By far the most growth we’ve seen in a decade or more,” Fredrikson said. “And especially considering the conditions, it was a very strong market.”

Price discounting, brands designed to cater to the nation’s sweet tooth, and unpretentious labeling all contributed to the industry’s growth, said Fredrikson, president of Gomberg, Fredrikson Associates, a wine industry consulting firm based in Woodside.

Fredrikson called sweet red wines and red blends the “wave of the future,” and said the wine industry has brought in new consumers with “gateway” wines like moscato, sangria and chocolate-infused wines. New labels that offer sweet red blends at a value price have done well.

“It’s natural for wineries to blend up what they want, and I think consumers are really getting into them,” Fredrikson

said. “It’s a free-for-all. It’s a food fight. There are so many creative marketing ideas … There’s unbelievable creativity that is in fact driving the market.”

Baby boomers have remained core consumers, apparently with the attitude that “Life is too short to drink bad wine,” Fredrikson said.

A preponderance of mass market media helped raised the profile of California wines in 2011. New celebrity brands like “Skinny Girl Sangria” and endorsements of moscato wine in hip-hop lyrics attracted younger drinkers, Fredrikson said. And Sonoma County’s exposure as a wine brand grew with Ben Flajnik’s starring role on ABC’s hit reality shows “The Bachelorette” and now “The Bachelor.”

Pinot noir sales were particularly strong, climbing 12 percent by volume in food stores, Fredrikson said. Trendy sweet red wines jumped a whopping 200 percent. And moscato or muscat wine sales grew 64 percent in food stores. But sales of blush wines, white zinfandel, merlot and syrah or shiraz fell.

Among the hottest California wineries in 2011 was Gloria Ferrer Winery, a Sonoma sparkling wine specialist that had strong pinot noir sales, Fredrikson said.

Meanwhile, the California wine industry is heading for shortages, in part because vineyard planting hasn’t kept pace with the projected demand for California wine, said Nat DiBuduo, president of Allied Grape Growers.

And rainfall has been scarce this winter, raising concern among some growers that the 2012 harvest may have challenges.

“The lack of rain worries me, because there is no underground aquifer,” DiBuduo said. “We’re telling all our growers to irrigate.”

“Grape demand remains strongest at the lower price points,” DiBuduo said.

Compounding the grape shortages, inventories of bulk wine have sank to their lowest level in 11 years, said Steve Fredricks, president of Turrentine Brokerage, the Novato-based wine and grape brokerage firm. The drastic change comes after 10 years of excess, and corresponds with global lows in wine inventories, Fredricks said.

There will be shortages in cabernet sauvignon grape supply, so there will be rationing and high prices in the future, Fredricks said. New cabernet sauvignon vineyards are being planted in the San Joaquin Valley, mostly by wineries or under contract. And supply of planting materials is outpaced by demand.

“If you’re not one of those wineries involved in those contracts, it’s going to be tough for you to get that supply,” Fredricks said.

As the trends collide, some California wineries are turning to countries with favorable exchange rates to purchase wine, instead of sourcing from more expensive California grapes, Fredricks said.

+5 percent

Increase in California wine shipments for 2011

20 million

The number of cases of California wine shipped last year

Article source: http://www.mercurynews.com/food-wine/ci_19828972

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Profit up for most Sacramento-area banks

Jan 27
Posted by News Feed in Economy

Banks serving the Sacramento region appear to have emerged from the wreckage of the recession and statewide real estate crash.

Quarterly and annual financial reports released this week had a recurring theme: increased profits, reductions in loan-loss provisions and upticks in loans and business in general.

American River Bankshares, parent of Rancho Cordova’s American River Bank, is a primary example.

ARB said Thursday that net income for 2011 totaled $2.5 million, or 25 cents per share, compared with $500,000, or 5 cents a share, in 2010. The bank pointed to reductions in its provision for loan/lease losses, improved asset quality and lower expenses.

ARB also announced that its board has authorized a 2012 repurchase of up to 5 percent of the outstanding shares of the company’s common stock – about 494,500 shares.

Other bank results included:

• Sacramento-based River City Bank, which operates 15 branches in the region, had profit of $2.6 million, or $1.79 per share, for the fourth quarter, up from $1.8 million in the last quarter of 2010.

For all of 2011, the bank had a profit of $10.6 million, or $7.37 a share, compared with $5.2 million in 2010.

“Despite the difficult economic environment throughout the Sacramento region, we are pleased to report that 2011 is the second most profitable year in the history of the bank,” said Steve Fleming, president and CEO.

• Placerville-based El Dorado Savings Bank, one of the area’s most consistently profitable financial institutions, saw a slight decrease in net income in 2011.

The bank, which operates 32 branches in Northern California, reported a full-year profit of $10.2 million, down from $10.9 million in 2010.

Chairman and CEO Thomas Meuser said he was pleased with bank operations and a flow of new customers amid “challenging conditions” in 2011.

• Portland, Ore.-based Umpqua Holdings Corp., which oversees more than 20 Umpqua Bank branches in the Sacramento region, had a 2011 profit of $74.1 million, or 65 cents a share, a sharp improvement over net income of $16.1 million, or 15 cents a share, in 2010.

“During 2011, the company reported improved earnings, credit quality, loan growth and shareholder return,” said CEO Ray Davis.

• Medford, Ore.-based PremierWest Bancorp, which recently announced the upcoming closure of six Northern California branches, was an exception to the rule as it continued to struggle with high loan-loss provisions.

The bank lost $17.6 million in 2011, up from a loss of $7.5 million in 2010.

Earlier this month, the bank said it would close 11 of its 44 branches by the end of April. Five are in Oregon; the other six are in the Northern California communities of Weed, Dunsmuir, Dorris, Tulelake, McCloud and Redding.

Area PremierWest branches are in Elk Grove, Folsom, Rocklin, Galt, Davis and Woodland.

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

Call The Bee’s Mark Glover, (916) 321-1184.

• Read more articles by Mark Glover

Article source: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/01/27/4218963/profit-up-for-most-sacramento.html

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Foreclosure settlement punishes hard work

Jan 27
Posted by News Feed in Mortgages

<!–Saxotech Paragraph Count: 6
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On Jan. 24, I read that five major banks — Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citibank, and Ally Financial — and the U.S. state attorneys general, reached a settlement related to mortgage foreclosures. The Obama administration has kept pressure on state officials to make the big banks pay for their part in the collapse of the housing market.

Taken in perspective, it’s not a settlement, but rather, an attack on our economy, the banking industry, and the average American homeowner, who is doing the right thing, honoring their obligations, and making their mortgage payment every month.

There are roughly 62 million homeowners with mortgages in the U.S., and the overwhelming majority make their mortgage payment every month. Since 2008 somewhere between 5 and 7 million faced possible foreclosure, and more than 1 million did get foreclosed. The Attorneys General in many states, following the Obama administration’s criticism of bank foreclosures, decided to sue the nation’s five largest mortgage lenders, accusing them of deceptive foreclosure practices that “drove homeowners out of their homes,” according to an Associated Press story.

Let’s all remember that foreclosure starts after many months of non-payment. Foreclosures are the result of non-payment, not the result of foreclosure practices. After constant bombardment from populist politicians, both state and federal, as well as negative media horror stories, the five largest mortgage lenders agreed to a settlement.

I’m sure that there were many mistakes made in the foreclosure process, just because of the large numbers of mortgages involved, but banks don’t foreclose on mortgages that are paid promptly every month. That’s just plain stupid. Banks love having mortgages that are paid promptly. That’s how they get back the money they lent to borrowers to purchase homes. If they don’t get paid back, they become unprofitable and go out of business.

Imagine you’ve been paying your mortgage for years, sometimes skipping vacations, buying used cars instead of new cars, sending the kids to community colleges, skipping eating out, etc., so you had enough money each month to make that mortgage payment. You work hard to pay your bills, own a nice home, and pay for your kids education. Now imagine that you never saved for a down payment on a house, yet, learned you could get a mortgage at 100 percent or more of the value of a house, with no down payment, and no income verification. Even with a history of poor credit, you qualified. So you sign a mortgage, with none of your money invested and agree to pay a monthly payment that you know is beyond your capability. Gee, that’s quite a deal.

Article source: http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20120127/NJOPINION02/301270005/Foreclosure-settlement-punishes-hard-work?odyssey=nav%7Chead

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Dynamic Video Produced by Commercial Mortgage Firm to Promote 3.5% Commercial …

Jan 27
Posted by News Feed in Mortgages

SFGate
January 27, 2012 04:00 AM
Copyright SFGate. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/01/27/prweb9140221.DTL

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Foreclosure deal may be in trouble

Jan 26
Posted by News Feed in General Real Estate

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Article source: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/al_heavens/138148432.html

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Foreclosure closings account for fewer home sales in South Carolina

Jan 26
Posted by News Feed in General Real Estate

By Lauren Ratciffe
lratcliffe@scbiznews.com
Published Jan. 26, 2012

Sales involving foreclosure-related properties totaled 10.25% of all sales in South Carolina during the third quarter of 2011, according to new data released by RealtyTrac, a national foreclosure tracking firm.

Focus on real estate

CRBJ JAN. 26

Read more about commercial and residential real estate, including a look at distressed properties in 2011, in Monday’s edition of the Charleston Regional Business Journal. To subscribe to the Business Journal, click here.

The average sales price for a home in foreclosure or a bank-owned property was $136,021 in the Palmetto State.

Sales involving foreclosed properties are down from 30% of all sales during the same period last year across the U.S., RealtyTrac reported. Properties in some stage of foreclosure accounted for 20% of all U.S. residential sales in the third quarter of 2011.

Charleston County sold the most foreclosed properties in the Lowcountry, with 228. Greenville topped the Upstate region, selling 254 properties and Richland County sold 185 foreclosure-related properties in the Midlands.

The biggest discount to homebuyers came to those shopping in Richland County. Those homebuyers saw foreclosure-related properties sell at prices 37% lower than non-foreclosure properties.

Nationally, the average sales price for foreclosure-related properties was $165,322, down 3% from the third quarter of 2010. Foreclosure-related properties sold at prices 34% below the average sales price of homes not in foreclosure.

“While foreclosures continue to represent an excellent bargain-buying opportunity for many buyers and investors, foreclosure sales accounted for a smaller share of the total market in the third quarter,” said Brandon Moore, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.

Moore said the smaller proportion of foreclosure-related sales is related to the confusion about the process involved with selling and buying foreclosed properties. Clarity could come with an expected settlement between states’ attorneys general and major lenders.

“The sooner the market gets more clarity about accepted foreclosure procedures … the sooner the market can more efficiently dispose of these distressed properties,” he said.

Nevada, California and Arizona had the highest percentage of foreclosure sales for the third quarter at 57%, 44% and 43% respectively.

Those states also have the highest number of homes in some state of foreclosure.

Third quarter 2011 foreclosure-related home sales

Region

Lowcountry
Berkeley
Charleston
Dorchester

Midlands
Richland
Lexington
Calhoun

Upstate
Anderson
Greenville
Spartanburg

S.C.
USA

# Sold

94
228
120

185
98
0

52
254
100

1,712
221,536

Change from Q3 2010


-27.6%
-20.8%
-3.2%

-19.9%
-24%
-100%

-32.5%
-30.4%
-40.5%

-29.8%
-4.7%

% of Total Sales

11.34
12.29
15.42

11.12
10.8%
0

7.95%
13.1%
8.9%

10.25%
20.4%

Price

$138,976
$228,911
$129,766

$96,603
$122,623
0

$78,156
$117,091
$101,916

$136,021
$165,322

% Discount

27.9%
28.3%
29%

37.2%
17.1%
0

27.1%
29.2%
29%

27.1%
34%

Article source: http://www.charlestonbusiness.com/news/42522-foreclosure-closings-account-for-fewer-home-sales-in-south-carolina?rss=0

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