HUD's got a big red editing pen in hand and is going to work on what we've all understood to be the traditional meaning of foreclosure. The federal agency announced Friday that, effective immediately, it is classifying any property that is at least 60 days behind on the mortgage or the property owner is 90 days or more delinquent on tax payments as a "foreclosed" home. Officials say the new wordsmith-ing will help communities acquire and re-sell foreclosed properties more quickly under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program.
The Treasury Department announced Friday that it has received a total of $181 billion from companies to repay their government bailouts. The new figures were released after the Treasury collected full repayment on Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) money given to insurance and investment firm Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. in the sum of $3.4 billion. Automaker General Motors also repaid $1 billion. While the auto industry's bailout is expected to be one of the biggest TARP losers, Treasury now estimates that its programs aimed at stabilizing the banking system will earn a profit.
There are thousands of troubled mortgages in need of modification, but some lawmakers think there is a conflict of interest, in the form of second mortgage ownership, that may be preventing large mortgage companies from voluntarily offering modification services. In hopes of eradicating this issue, two members of the House Financial Services Committee have introduced the Mortgage Servicing Conflict of Interest Elimination Act, which prohibits servicers from owning debt secured by a home that backs a mortgage they already service.
The U.S. Department of Labor released new numbers Friday, and although the unemployment rate held steady at 9.7 percent, the still-elevated number of jobless Americans continues to be one of the biggest obstacles to recovery in both the residential and commercial real estate markets. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in an interview ahead of the labor report, "The unemployment rate is still terribly high, and it's going to stay unacceptably high for a long period of time."
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