HBA Newswatch
February 12, 2008
FEDS UNVEIL MORTGAGE PLAN ‘PROJECT LIFELINE’ WILL ALLOW SOME TO AVOID FORECLOSURE
By By MARCY GORDON, AP Business Writer
WASHINGTON — With mortgage defaults surging and politicians urging the industry to do more, six lenders agreed to widen their effort to help borrowers of all loans — not just subprime.
The plan, called Project Lifeline, is to be announced Tuesday by the Treasury Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a person familiar with the plan said Monday evening, confirming earlier news reports and speaking on condition of anonymity because it had not yet been made public.
The plan will allow seriously overdue homeowners to suspend foreclosures for 30 days while lenders try to work out more affordable loans are worked out.
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FORECLOSURES RISING AS SHARE OF SOLD HOMES IN HARD-HIT CITIES, HURTING PRICES
By Alan Zibel, Of The Associated Press
WASHINGTON --- A growing share of home sales are from foreclosures, especially in states hardest hit by the housing bust. In some parts of California lately, nearly 50 percent of home sales come from foreclosed houses.
The trend, which is putting additional downward pressure on home prices, is most notable there and in Nevada, Colorado, Tennessee and Michigan, but is also evident in Ohio, Georgia, Florida and Arizona, according to an Associated Press comparison of 2007 sales and foreclosure data. In Nevada, for example, 17.5 percent of home sales were from foreclosures, more than quadruple the number in 2006.
The growing proportion of foreclosure sales is both a symptom and cause of worsening conditions in the weakest housing markets, real estate experts say. Homeowners who aren't on a deadline to sell are yanking their properties off the market, and this means the remaining inventory is increasingly held by banks eager to unload foreclosed properties at fire-sale prices rather than carry the costs on their books.
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A LIGHTER PLAN FOR THE FLATS
PENGUIN INVESTMENTS PLEDGES NO INDUSTRIAL USES IF IT CAN BUY FORMER G.O. CARLSON MILL SITE
By R. JONATHAN TULEYA, Staff Writer
COATESVILLE — A developer’s promise not to use the 26-acre Flats property for industry drew applause at Monday night’s City Council meeting.
Robert McNeil, a Coatesville resident and president of Penguin Investments, has offered $2.3 million to the Coatesville Redevelopment Authority to buy the land north of Lincoln Highway and west of Route 82 formerly occupied by the G.O. Carlson mill.
Penguin Investments wants to use the site for a mix of residential, commercial and office buildings.
With his attorney, Joseph G. Riper, at the podium answering questions from council members about the company’s plans, McNeil interrupted from his seat in the front row.
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