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want another chance at free mortgage money - (www.ochousingnews.com) … These so-called, “strategic defaulters,” some of them investors and
some owner-occupants, are coming back to the market, despite damaged credit,
and apparently the market is welcoming them back. A new survey of past clients
by YouWalkAway.com, a website that assists borrowers in the legal pitfalls of
strategic default, found that nearly 80 percent expressed a desire to buy a
home again within the next twelve months. Desire is not demand. They
may want back in, but most won’t have the credit score or the down payment
necessary to get back in. It’s poetic justice that delinquent mortgage squatters will
miss the recovery rally. It also cites data by Moody’s analytics,
showing that the number of eligible home buyers who have had a previous
foreclosure will be 1.5 million by the first quarter of 2014. Crashing home
prices and sketchy mortgage products caused millions of Americans to default on
their loans and eventually lose their homes. For some, it was a tragic fight to
the end to keep their single largest investment; for others it was a conscious
decision to walk away from their mortgage commitments, given the real fact that
they would likely not see home equity again for many years to come.
Monti Government Said to Consider Delaying Monte Paschi Bailout
- (www.bloomberg.com) Mario Monti’s caretaker
government is considering postponing a 3.9 billion-euro ($5.1 billion) bailout
for Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA,
leaving the final decision on the payout to the next government, two people
familiar with the discussions said. According to the decree approved by Monti’s
cabinet in December, the payment is set to be completed by March 1. Under the
government’s rescue plan, Monte Paschi will sell securities, dubbed “Monti”
bonds, to the government with a 9 percent coupon that may rise to as much as 15
percent. A decision whether to go ahead with the capital injection may be made
as soon as today, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified
because the talks are private. Government and Monte Paschi officials didn’t
answer several phone calls seeking comment. The stock fell as much as 4
percent in Milan trading.
Italy's political crisis deepens, Grillo refuses to support government
- (www.reuters.com) An Italian political crisis that has rattled the euro zone deepened on Wednesday when two party leaders
ruled out the most likely options to form a government and avoid a new
election. Populist leader Beppe Grillo slammed the door on overtures from
centre-left boss Pier Luigi Bersani with a stream of insults while Nichi
Vendola, Bersani's junior coalition partner, ruled out a government alliance
with the centre-right. These two options are currently seen as the only way to
avoid returning to the polls in short order after the February 24-25 election,
in which a huge protest vote against traditional politicians and austerity
policies plunged Italy into
deadlock.
JPMorgan to cut up to 17,000 jobs by end of 2014 - (www.reuters.com) JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) said on Tuesday that
it plans to cut 17,000 jobs by the end of 2014, representing about 6.6 percent
of the company's overall workforce, as the bank sheds staff that helped it deal
with bad home loans. The bank is optimistic that it can generate record income
this year and is planning to add 4,000 employees in commercial and investment
banking and credit cards to help it win business, bank executives said at an
investor conference. That hiring will be more than offset by job cuts in areas
like mortgage servicing and retail banking, where the bank is positioning for a
recovering housing market and new forms of branch banking. The net impact of
the additions and cuts will be 17,000 fewer employees on the bank's payrolls.
Analysis: Jumbo mortgages are back, but at far from 2007 levels
- (www.reuters.com) Home sales and prices are rising briskly in those neighborhoods where
the well-heeled like to plant their mailboxes: along Chicago's north shore, in
the San Francisco Bay area and in the haute Hamptons. Sales of properties worth
between $750,000 and $1 million are up 38.7 percent over a year ago; $1
million-plus property sales are up 25.7 percent, according to the National
Association of Realtors. The luxury real estate revival is being fueled, in
part, by another resurgence: so-called jumbo mortgages - those loans, typically
over $417,000, that are too big to qualify for purchase by federal agencies,
namely Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Jumbo loans
are returning to the mortgage market after almost disappearing entirely in the
wake of the credit crisis of 2008 and the real estate meltdown. Most lenders
stopped making new jumbo loans when the private secondary market dried up in
the credit crunch.
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