1. From RealtyCheck by Diana Olick

A select group of struggling mortgage borrowers with Bank of America will be offered mortgage principal reduction

Eligible borrowers could get as much as $150,000 knocked off the balance of their mortgages. It is all part of the $25 billion settlement reached this year between federal and state agencies and the nation’s five largest mortgage servicers over fraudulent foreclosure document processing (so-called “robo-signing”).

 

Five thousand borrowers have already received a collective $700 million in principal reduction through a pilot program for those already in a modification negotiation. The 200,000 borrowers being targeted now may have already exhausted modification options or may have yet to contact the lender.

 

2. From Calculated Risk

Lawler: Table of Short Sales and Foreclosures for Selected Cities

Economist Tom Lawler sent the following table… For all of the areas, the share of distressed sales is down from April 2011, the share of short sales has increased and the share of foreclosure sales are down…
“Note that there are BIG declines in the foreclosure share of resales this April vs. last April, reflecting sharply lower REO inventories.”

Note: The table is as a percentage of total sales. Note that the percent of short sales has been increasing, and the percent of foreclosure sales has been declining – and the percent of total distressed sales has been declining too (but is still very high). In four of the six cities, there are now more short sales than foreclosure sales!

3. From Mortgage Refinance

To Rent or To Buy (Infographic)

Created by Mortgage Refinance