The Federal Reserve has posted a Dynamic Map of Non-prime Mortgage Conditions in the United States with monthly updates. The maps show information for each state and most counties and zip codes. Stats include:

loans per 1,000 housing units

loans in foreclosure per 1,000 housing units

loans real estate owned per 1,000 housing units

share of loans that are adjustable rate mortgages

share of loans for which payments are current

share of loans that are 90-plus days delinquent

I'm no economist. But I read today that Big Wall Street investment companies are borrowing 38.1 billion dollars a day from the newly created policy of permitting investment firms direct access to loans from the central bank. Yes 39.1 billion dollars a day! Seems enormous and more troubling when you consider that the daily amount borrowed has been going up steadily since the policy was first implemented.

    In times of trouble many people are too apt to quickly jump in to the arms of the first savior that comes along. Today, with millions of Americans in foreclosure trouble, it's all too easy to make the wrong choice under the pressures of either trying to save your home or delay the time it takes for your lender to foreclose. In fact the FBI says over the past two-years there has been a 71 percent increase in scams targeting citizens facing foreclosure.

    Financial leaders have always found creative ways to materialize money out of nothing. In fact, since the Nixon presidency our country has grown upon the creation of wealth from the hazy ether of the stock market rather than the production of useful goods. So nothing was new when lenders began creating irresistible loan packages for people who couldn't otherwise afford to own a home. No money down loans, 100% financing, closing costs rolled in to the loan itself, and multiple mortgages combined to bring housing to the very parties who were the least likely to be able to afford it.

    When examining the explanations of why lenders would make loans they know or had a good reason to believe would go bad, the last place you can expect to hear the real reason is from the lenders themselves. Which is why it's quite surprising (or maybe not so surprising) that the House Committee on Government and Oversight Reform

    I am constantly looking on the web for foreclosure information which may be available to distressed homeowners. Trying to see if there's actually any help that might be available to a homeowner in (or on the verge of) foreclosure. In doing this I searched youtube recently and did some other blog searches and what I found mostly was some simplified time lines on the foreclosure process. Not a lot more that that. The general time lines given were pretty much the same across the board. What I found is that the majority of blogs and videos are failing to recognize the effect of the volume of foreclosures in the United States on a lender's ability to foreclose. The effect of volume on what would otherwise be the typical time table for the initiation and completion of a foreclosure.

   There is a recent trend, fueled by the unscrupulous practices of lenders, in which homeowners are contesting their foreclosures. How and why is this done?

    In many cases the party who wrote your loan is no longer the party who is now alleging ownership. This fact provides the first method for contesting a loan in foreclosure. Simply put, homeowners are forcing the lender to provide proof that they actually own the loan. Since many loans are sold in mortgage “pools” "there is a tendency of many lenders to sell these pools without following formal legal requirements required for the sale of a mortgage and note.

The least honest of us is always willing to use someone else’s misfortune for their own gain. Many would argue that in a capitalist society that taking advantage of someone else’s financial misfortune is just “good capitalism”. And while we may not be able to say much about the savy investor who scoops up your home for pennies on the dollar, we can distinguish that person from the myriad of scam artists who would actually steal your home under some false pretense.

“Consumers who are at risk of losing their homes are in a vulnerable position,” said Lydia B. Parnes,

There are a lot of people out there that are in such dire financial
straits that when it comes to their home they might feel the best thing is to just walk away. After having been served with a foreclosure action from their lender (and having reached a stage of helplessness) often homeowners simply pack up and move out. In my opinion this is never the best idea. In fact it might be the worst idea.

To begin, by moving out you will find that your legal obligations do not end. You’re still liable for taxes - a debt you do not pay nor owe to the lender but rather pay to your local government.

    The news for lenders and banks just keeps getting worse. Foreclosures are up and that in and of itself is a multiple-edged sword. On the one hand banks are taking over homes that are continuing to lose value even after they have possession. The market is being flooded by a combination of fearful home owners looking to sell their homes before the value drops even more, and the retaking of homes by the lenders and banks themselves.

    Then there’s problem of selling them after they take possession. The larger the supply of vacant and “for sale” homes on the market, the longer lenders are stuck holding on to empty homes. Over time, these homes are turning dilapidated and in to a run down unsalable condition. In many cities there are thousands of boarded up homes sitting unoccupied. Many cities have begun suing local lenders and banks to force repairs on foreclosed homes.