1. The Great American Foreclosure Song,

a summary of the housing crisis a smart music video:

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2. From  Calculated Risk Blog

Some Thoughts on Housing and Foreclosures:

“According to LPS, there are currently about 2 million properties in the foreclosure process and another 1.7 million loans 90+ delinquent. However many of these loans are in judicial states, and even with the mortgage settlement, it will take some time to work through the courts. So it is hard to imagine a huge wave of foreclosures, if anything it will be more like a sustained high tide in certain judicial foreclosure areas.”

Calculated Risk goes on to talk about lenders giving incentives for short sales, new GSE short sale procedures, the HARP refi program, and REO-to-Rental pilot programs all combining to reduce the number of foreclosures going to the sale.

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3. From ZeroHedge,

Tyler Durden posts “No Housing Recovery Until 2020 in 5 Simple Charts“:

“Every day (for the past 3 years) we hear countless fairy tales why housing has bottomed and will improve any minute now. Just consider the latest kneeslapper from that endlessly amusing Larry Yun of the NAR, uttered just today: “pent-up  demand could burst forth from the improving economy.” Uh, right. Here’s the truth – it won’t and here is why, in 5 charts from Bank of America, so simple even an economist will get it…”

Summary:

• Epic supply backlog
• More opting to live with parents
• More forced to rent
• Home prices continue to slide
• Hope returns… in 2020

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4. From HuffPo

 Mortgage Foreclosure Scams See Huge Spike:

“The number of reported mortgage foreclosure scams has shot up 60 percent so far in 2012, … About 50 percent of the scams involve attorneys or others claiming to offer “specialized services.” The surge in schemes comes in the wake of recently launched federal programs that scammers have been able to exploit. “Regretfully, every new government initiative spawns a slew of foreclosure avoidance scams, often from the same cast of characters doing business under various names to avoid easy detection and identification,” Colleen Hernandez said in a release that accompanied the findings.”

Summary:

Watch out for scammers:

• claiming to be government officials
• prying for personal data
• charging money to join a class action
• charging for bogus loan audits

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5. From The Big Picture

Spring brings signs of hope and renewal– except in the housing market.

Summary:

• Shadow Inventory has a huge overhang
• House affordability index is worthless
• Prices have improved but are not rising
• The psychology of renting
• Asset prices after a bubble

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