foreclosures

Dozens of families who risk losing their homes to foreclosure are expected to tell their stories at a Tuesday rally in Albany organized by ACORN.

On May 7, the New York State Assembly overwhelmingly passed legislation to institute a year moratorium on home foreclosure--during which a court would determine an appropriate minimun payment for the owner--and provide additional protections for families with subprime loans. The State Senate has yet to move forward on the issue. Meanwhile, federal legislation to address the subprime crisis is stalled in Washington.

In 2007, there were over 51,000 foreclosure filings in New York State according to RealtyTrac. During the first quarter of this year, 14,000 homeowners in New York began foreclosure proceedings, nearly 50 percent of which occurred in Queens, Brooklyn and Long Island.  read more »

Los Angeles had 17 times New York City's number of new residential foreclosures in May, according to a new report from research site PropertyShark. The nation's second-largest city had 5,308 new foreclosures in May, compared with 313 in New York.

The report defined a new foreclosure as a property scheduled for a foreclosure auction during the month.

The L.A. comparison's the good news. And so is the fact that the number of new foreclosures in New York dropped in May for the second consecutive month, falling 4.86 percent from April.

However! Compared with last spring, foreclosures in the city jumped. The May 2008 number represents a nearly 50 percent increase from the number in May 2007. As the chart above shows, there's been a general increase in new foreclosures in 2008, especially in Queens and Staten Island.  read more »

Here's a breath-taker: The Wall Street Journal reports today that Ed McMahon, Tonight Show regular and one-time spokesman for American Family Publishing, faces foreclosure on his six-bedroom home in Beverly Hills.

The 85-year-old, who recently broke his neck in a fall, took a $4.8 million loan from a unit of notorious Countrywide Financial, and then took a large home-equity line of credit from the lender.  read more »

According to a new Furman Center report, New Yorkers took out more subprime loans and refinanced more loans than the nation on average.

To wit, in New York City in 2006, 21 percent of all home loans and 27 percent of all home refinancings were sub-prime. Compare that to the national averages of 13 percent and 16 percent, respectively.

“In recent years, homebuyers in New York took out subprime loans at rates higher than most other large cities and increasingly relied on piggyback loans, leaving our homebuyers highly leveraged and vulnerable to default," said Vicki Been, director of the Furman Center. "Should we see a downturn in real estate prices, New York City may face serious challenges from increasing numbers of foreclosure filings."  read more »

The number of new foreclosures in New York City shot up in the first quarter of 2008, but not as much as in other large cities.

The number of new foreclosures in the five boroughs increased 51.4 percent in the first quarter of 2008 from the fourth quarter of 2007, according to a new report from research site PropertyShark.com, and 65.7 percent from the first quarter a year earlier.

The number of new foreclosures during the first three months of 2008 totalled 918, with Queens and Staten Island leading the other boroughs with 508 and 174, respectively. Manhattan had the least number of new foreclosures with just 23. Most of the new foreclosures were for single- and two-family homes in outer-borough neighborhoods like Jamaica, Howard Beach, the Rockaways and Woodhaven. (A new foreclosure was defined in the PropertyShark report as a property scheduled for auction for the first time during the quarter.)

Despite the dire increases and all the implications inherent, New York City remained a relative bulwark against the foreclosure wave sweeping much of the United States, especially other larger cities. In Los Angeles County, home of the nation's second-largest city, new foreclosures were up over 34 percent from the fourth quarter to an astounding 8,887. In Miami-Dade County, where the housing boom burned like wildfire until last year, foreclosures were up quarterly 14.88 percent to 2,231.  read more »

The Wall Street Journal reports in depth this morning on what anyone following at home probably realized was inevitable: a drop in home prices because of all the foreclosed homes on the market. Simply put, the new supply is driving down the costs to buyers.  read more »

There are a lot of different bills floating around state and federal governments these days proposing various reprieves for subprime borrowers in danger of foreclosure. One of the most far-reaching plans is a bill being pushed by two state legislators proposing a one-year moratorium on foreclosures in New York to allow at-risk mortgage holders to remain in their homes while they work with their lenders to restructure loans.

The bill is currently being reviewed by the State Legislature and has gained wide support from both Democrats and Republicans—it currently has 71 Assembly sponsors and 19 Senate sponsors.  read more »

Outside of bubbly Manhattan, millions of Americans are hurting after a brutal year of subprime mortgage woes. (President Bush tried to help last month by introducing a toll-free tip hotline for homeowners, but the number he gave was for Texas' Freedom Christian Academy.)

And so today, the country's largest animal protection organization had this message for worried Americans: "With a foreclosure crisis sweeping the nation, The Humane Society of the United States is disturbed by reports that some residents forced out of their homes are simply leaving their pets behind. The HSUS urges all pet owners faced with foreclosure to take their pets with them when they relocate."  read more »

A new report shows that the grand total of home foreclosures in Manhattan was 12 in November, up from 10 in October. Foreclosures citywide rose 17 percent month to month, according to the report from PropertyShark (which we first saw via Brownstoner). Staten Island fared the worst among the boroughs, and Brooklyn came out of November relatively OK.

Meanwhile, the rest of the nation melts.  read more »

Jesse Jackson plans a Monday march on Wall Street to pressure mortgage lenders to help stem the tide of foreclosures washing over the nation. Crain's reports that the rally is meant to lean on lenders to restructure loans and set aside more money for their "victims," instead of waiting for more foreclosures.

The Wall Street Journal this morning goes to town on mortgage coverage. Absolutely none of it is good news for borrowers.

Ugh. You knew this one was coming: Crain's reports this week (subscription required) that the number of firms licensed to collect debts in New York City has nearly doubled in the last two years.

Part of the reason for the surge from 141 licensed firms in 2005 to 274 today is the higher mortgage rates many outer-borough homeowners now pay. These New Yorkers must sink more income into mortgage payments--or face foreclosure--so they have less to pay off other debts, such as those on credit cards.

Crain's has the skinny on a New York Building Congress report that says that the pace of construction spending in New York City will slow in the next few years. Housing construction will slow the most--not surprising, one would think, given both the sluggish pace of sales in some parts of the city, a recent spate of foreclosures, and the tightening mortgage markets.

We had a chance to parse the third-quarter foreclosure report from PropertyShark.com. It showed an 8.55 percent increase from the second quarter in new residential foreclosures in New York City--and a 64.24 percent jump from the third quarter of 2006. Grim statistics, indeed.

Well, not exactly.

In Manhattan, the number of new foreclosures dropped. It declined slightly, from 35 in the second quarter to 30 in the third; and, of the 11 quarters going back to early 2005, the third quarter 2007 total was one of the lowest.

Also, the number of new foreclosures in the third quarter represents barely one-fifth of one-tenth of 1 percent of New York City homes. Got that? It's 698 foreclosures divided by the more than 3 million city households. So, while foreclosures were up in the city--the Bronx and Staten Island had the greatest increases--they are relatively uncommon still.

Look at the nation's second-largest city: The PropertyShark report showed a 40 percent quarterly increase in new foreclosures in Los Angeles. These involved more than 5,300 homes--or about seven and a half times the number in New York.

The number of New York City home foreclosures jumped 8.55 percent from the second quarter of 2007 through the third quarter, which ended Sunday, according to a new report from PropertyShark.com. The third-quarter number was also up 64.24 percent from the same time last year, suggesting that the chickens of credit problems have come home to snugly roost in formerly invincible Gotham.

The outer-boroughs led the foreclosure surge. Staten Island foreclosures rose 64.81 percent from the second through the third quarter; and Queens and Brooklyn together comprised the biggest number of foreclosures among the five boroughs.

Manhattan foreclosures, a release about the report stated, remained rare. This isn't surprising, given Manhattan's much higher housing costs as compared to the four other boroughs; also, the co-op is Manhattan's dominant form of for-sale housing, and most co-ops require a substantial downpayment (as much as 50 percent or higher of the apartment's sales price). Thus cheap home financing, such as subprime mortgages, are difficult to come by in Manhattan and are, to begin with, rare.

In the outer-boroughs, on the other hand, predatory lending--and just plain irresponsible borrowing--have contributed to the spikes in foreclosures, much like in the rest of the country.