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Pamela M. Prah | Stateline “Florida still leads the country in overall foreclosure activity, but Maryland and Oregon experienced dramatic increases in foreclosure starts in recent months. Meanwhile, bank repossessions climbed significantly in Kentucky and New York. The number of U.S. homes entering the foreclosure process hit a seven-year low between July and September, but bankRead more

MARTHA BRANNIGAN | Miami Herald | “Even as Florida’s housing market is showing solid recovery with impressive gains in prices and sales volume, the state led the nation in foreclosures completed in the year ended in August; no other state was even close, according to CoreLogic. Of the 658,463 foreclosures completed nationwide during the 12-monthRead more

Mary Ellen Klas | Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau | “From Stateline.org: Florida is among the state’s that has used its millions received from the multi-billion dollar settlement with major mortgage lenders to plug budget holes, according to a new report from Stateline.org, a project of Pewstates.org. Florida recieved $334 million from the legal settlement stemming from stateRead more

Conor Dougherty | The Wall Street Journal | “The number of foreclosed homes continues to fall across the country, which is helping the U.S. housing market creep back to normal. There were some 48,000 foreclosures completed in August, down 35% from a year ago, according to a release by CoreLogic. At the same time the inventoryRead more

JANN SWANSON | Mortgage News Daily | “CoreLogic said today that the shadow inventory or pending supply of homes at the end of July consisted of 1.9 million homes with an approximate market value of $293 billion. The shadow inventory is a measure of the number of properties that are seriously delinquent, in foreclosure or held as REORead more

KATE BERRY | American Banker | “The nation’s four largest banks are holding $57 billion of seriously delinquent loans that they’ve been slow to move into foreclosure over concerns that the Federal Housing Administration, the government mortgage insurer, will refuse to cover the losses and hit them with damages, according to industry sources. The banks —Read more

“Citing a higher than average foreclosure rate, Moody’s Investors Service assigned a negative outlook for the city of St. Petersburg. The negative outlook was part of an Oct. 3 report from Moody’s that also affirmed the city’s Aa2 issuer rating, or a measure of the city’s ability to meet its obligations. The affirmation of theRead more

Celia Watson Seupel, Special to CNBC | “When real estate agent John Lebron opened EZ Investments in Tampa, Fla., he may have already been planning fraud. His very first EZ Investments transaction involved selling a distressed property to his sister, then to his brother-in-law, the kind of “non-arms-length” flopping that tips authorities to collusion. LebronRead more

By John Hielscher |  “In 2009, nearly half of all Sarasota and Manatee county homeowners with mortgages owed more money on their loans than their properties were worth. Thanks to rising home prices and an improving economy, the percentage of so-called “underwater” homeowners regionwide has dropped significantly. But the Sarasota-Manatee region still has one of the nation’sRead more

by TallahasseeRealEstate | Tallahassee.com “A good friend of mine who is also a real estate investor sent me an article yesterday that provides some insight as to why Tallahassee foreclosures are going nowhere fast. The recent article by 247wallst.com on “zombie homes,” pointed out that roughly one in every five of the 770,000 homes in foreclosure across the USRead more