House Doctors

The Mortgage Bankers Association sold its 10-story headquarters building in Washington, D.C., for $41.3 million, well below the $79 million it paid in 2007.

Connecticut pulled off a coup when Starwood Hotels agreed to relocate its headquarters there. But now there are questions being raised over how the state sealed the deal.

Beijing is preparing to rebuild a Rem Koolhaas skyscraper in the complex housing the national broadcaster, a year after fire gutted the structure.

Fewer write-downs and cancellations along with improved order rates are putting some lift into the depressed home construction market.

The number of pre foreclosed homes in the Chicago metro area soared by 10.2 percent to over 70,000 in 2009, according to data from the Woodstock Institute.

The institute said that more homeowners in the metro area defaulted on their home loans during the fourth quarter last year than in any other three-month period over the past four years.

In the last quarter, more than 24,000 homeowners were given notices of mortgage default, warning them about foreclosure if they do not make their accounts current. The figures also showed that defaults have been increasing in affluent neighborhoods.

According to Geoff Smith, senior vice president of Woodstock, foreclosures will continue this year in Chicago and in most other cities across the country because of continuing job losses and inadequacy of job creation programs.

Smith also said that the federal loan mitigation program would not be able to save homes as even reduced monthly payments would not be paid by unemployed borrowers. He added that there are also other unresolved issues such as underwater mortgages and adjustable-rate mortgages. Any recovery in the market, he said, will be wiped out as soon as the federal tax credit expires.

Woodstock data showed that pre foreclosed homes increased by the biggest rates in Lincoln Park, Near North Side and Near South Side, communities which had fewer defaults during the first year of the crisis. Previously hardest-hit communities like Hyde Park, Austin, Englewood and Auburn Gresham posted fewer defaults this year compared to 2009.

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association, as of October last year, nearly 10.5 percent of mortgage loans in Illinois were in default by at least 30 days but were not yet foreclosed, and another ten percent were delinquent by at least 3 months and already in foreclosure.

To step up local government efforts to fight and mitigate foreclosures, the Chicago Department of Community Development will increase its mortgage rescue events this year. The city will also continue to carry out its program of buying and fixing vacant homes with help from 43 selected developers.

Since July last year, the city has already received over $150 million to turn about 2,000 foreclosures into affordable homes.

In addition, Freddie Mac has also launched its program to cut down the number pre foreclosed homes in Chicago. It will offer assistance to distressed borrowers through the Neighborhood Housing Services and the Latin United Community Housing Association.

The number of pre foreclosed homes in the Chicago metro area soared by 10.2 percent to over 70,000 in 2009, according to data from the Woodstock Institute.

The institute said that more homeowners in the metro area defaulted on their home loans during the fourth quarter last year than in any other three-month period over the past four years.

In the last quarter, more than 24,000 homeowners were given notices of mortgage default, warning them about foreclosure if they do not make their accounts current. The figures also showed that defaults have been increasing in affluent neighborhoods.

According to Geoff Smith, senior vice president of Woodstock, foreclosures will continue this year in Chicago and in most other cities across the country because of continuing job losses and inadequacy of job creation programs.

Smith also said that the federal loan mitigation program would not be able to save homes as even reduced monthly payments would not be paid by unemployed borrowers. He added that there are also other unresolved issues such as underwater mortgages and adjustable-rate mortgages. Any recovery in the market, he said, will be wiped out as soon as the federal tax credit expires.

Woodstock data showed that pre foreclosed homes increased by the biggest rates in Lincoln Park, Near North Side and Near South Side, communities which had fewer defaults during the first year of the crisis. Previously hardest-hit communities like Hyde Park, Austin, Englewood and Auburn Gresham posted fewer defaults this year compared to 2009.

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association, as of October last year, nearly 10.5 percent of mortgage loans in Illinois were in default by at least 30 days but were not yet foreclosed, and another ten percent were delinquent by at least 3 months and already in foreclosure.

To step up local government efforts to fight and mitigate foreclosures, the Chicago Department of Community Development will increase its mortgage rescue events this year. The city will also continue to carry out its program of buying and fixing vacant homes with help from 43 selected developers.

Since July last year, the city has already received over $150 million to turn about 2,000 foreclosures into affordable homes.

In addition, Freddie Mac has also launched its program to cut down the number pre foreclosed homes in Chicago. It will offer assistance to distressed borrowers through the Neighborhood Housing Services and the Latin United Community Housing Association.

Lenders holding the $180 million mortgage on entertainment mogul Robert Sillerman's luxury resort in Anguilla have taken over the half-built project.

Bank foreclosures are expected to continue rising in part because of the increasing number of homeowners prioritizing the payment of their credit cards over their home loans, according to a recent study released by Chicago-based research firm TransUnion.

The trend of prioritizing credit cards was already evident in the last quarter of 2007, but it only began to be noticed widely in the first three months of 2008 when 4.3 percent of homeowners were not paying their home loans but were current on their cards. The trend got more defined when the percentage climbed up in the third quarter of the same year to 4.9 percent.

Last year, in the second quarter, the percentage shot up to 6.3 percent and then further rose in the following quarter of July to September to 6.6 percent.

On the other hand, the percentage of homeowners who were current on their mortgage payments but not on their credit card payments in the July-September quarter last year dropped to 3.6 percent, compared to the 4.1-percent level in the first months of 2008.

According to Sean Reardon, consultant in the analytics unit of TransUnion and author of the report, said that the decision of risking homes to bank foreclosures is unconventional. American consumers have always paid their secured loans first before their unsecured debts, especially when it concerned their homes.

But the hard times have screwed priorities, according to Reardon, and people who have lost their jobs cannot be blamed. Their families have to eat, so they have to guard the credit cards that could buy them some time.

Reardon studied credit-card holding homeowners with a mortgage loan and examined their mortgage and credit card delinquency data between April 2008 and September 2009.

In the July-September quarter of 2009, the default rate for homeowners with low credit scores who are current on their cards but delinquent on their home loans was 29 percent, far above the 19.1-percent posted in the last quarter of 2007.

In contrast, the percentage of low-credit consumers who have defaulted on their cards but up-to-date on their home loans dropped in the third quarter last year to 14.5 percent, compared to 18.1-percent level in the first months of 2008.

According to Ezra Becker, a top financial services executive at TransUnion, the mortgage industry meltdown that caused record bank foreclosures has redefined how homeowners are handling their finances and debt payments.

Gambling in Kansas comes with a twist—the state owns the casino and sets the rules, an unusual arrangement devised by the legislature.