Sand Capital on fast track to acquire $1 billion in REO, distressed assets

A Scottsdale, Ariz.-based investment company has acquired more than $100 million in distressed debt and REO properties.

Sand Capital, a division of Sandor Development Co., said its goal is to acquire $1 billion of distressed assets before the commercial real estate markets stabilize.

Jay Stein, president and CEO of Sand Capital, told REO Insiderthe firm has been acquiring properties for more than two years and now has a presence in about 25 states — investing in all parts of the U.S. except the Northeast.

“The economic conditions present in the market for the last two years have created once-in-a-quarter-century opportunities for our company,” Stein said.

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Sand Capital on fast track to acquire $1 billion in REO, distressed assets

GSE foreclosures and short sales rising, despite loss mit efforts

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue an aggressive push to modify mortgages and refinance loans in their respective portfolios, boosting the volume of Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) workout plans.
But completed and initiated foreclosures and third-party sales are back on the rise in the second quarter of 2010 and short sale volume is up more than 150% from volume in 2Q09, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s second quarter government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) “Foreclosure Prevention & Refinance Report.”
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GSE foreclosures and short sales rising, despite loss mit efforts

Celebrating hard labor, one abandoned property at a time

by Kerry Curry

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune ran a Labor Day story that caught our eye about a fellow cutting the lawns of abandoned properties.
These aren’t ordinary lawns that a professional lawn-care firm can easily dispense with in 20 minutes.
No, Rob Ellis and his work partner, Mike Herbert, spent more than two hours cutting and clearing debris — and dodging rats, snakes and a wasp’s nest at an abandoned home recently, according to the Herald-Tribune — all for $20 pay from the city of North Port that will be split between the two men. After expenses, that’s about $4 per hour.
Ellis created his lawn care business after losing his job as a heavy equipment operator two years ago. He’s proud to have a steady job and an honest day’s work. But reading this story, you can’t help but feel for this guy and others like him: good workers seeing little reward as the economic malaise drags on.
The Sarasota metro area has been hard hit by the recession. Some 12% of its workers are unemployed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, much higher than the national average of 9.6% unemployment.

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Celebrating hard labor, one abandoned property at a time

South Florida’s Broward Co. bucks trend: Pending home sales up 17%

Pending home sales in Broward County, the county seat of Fort Lauderdale, rose 17% in August compared to August 2009, but were flat with July 2010 figures.
Sales rose from 6,705 to 7,845 when compared to the year-ago figure, according to the Miami Association of Realtors and the Southeast Florida Multiple Listing Service (SEFMLS).
The figure includes single-family homes and condominiums. Pending sales were up just 0.19% when compared to July figures. A sale is listed as pending when the contract has been signed but the transaction has not yet closed.
Contrary to national trends, which show home sales trending lower, the South Florida real estate market continues to strengthen, primarily due to the highest concentration in the U.S. of international buyers, the Miami association said in a news release.

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South Florida’s Broward Co. bucks trend: Pending home sales up 17%

Excessively delaying Fannie Mae foreclosures to cost servicers

Fannie Mae will now review the compensatory fees due to servicers in cases where the government sponsored entity feel servicers are unnecessarily delaying foreclosure.
In a letter sent to servicers, Fannie Mae said it plans to review compensation when it deems it applicable, stating that loans “must not be put on hold on a blanket basis.”
Fannie Mae is clear that servicers must not jump the gun either, but rather must follow the letter of the law as it pertains to the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) guidelines.

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Excessively delaying Fannie Mae foreclosures to cost servicers

Fannie REO VP: 70% of sales in 2009 went to key owner-occupants

Roughly 70% of the 123,000 Fannie Mae REO sales in 2009 went to owner-occupants, a group of buyers key to a housing recovery, according to Jay Ryan, Jr., Fannie Mae’s vice president for REO alternative disposition.
The government-sponsored enterprise’s (GSEs) First Look program, which gives owner-occupants and Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) grantees a 15-day head start on purchasing an REO before investors. In Las Vegas, it’s 30 days.
In a research paper for the Federal Reserve summit on neighborhood stabilization this week, Ryan wrote that the First Look program has been well received by homebuyers. He added that because the program was launched in the summer of 2009 there isn’t enough historical data to draw conclusions, but Fannie Mae will provide metrics in 2011.

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Fannie REO VP: 70% of sales in 2009 went to key owner-occupants

Private mortgage modifications more than triple HAMP in July

There were 120,351 permanent mortgage modifications done through proprietary programs in July, more than triple the 36,695 completed through the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) in the same month.
Servicers completed 1.13 million modifications through both private programs and HAMP so far in 2010, according to Hope Now, a private sector alliance of those servicers, investors, mortgage insurers and nonprofit counselors.
The amount of private modifications nearly matched the 120,811 reported in June. Originally, Hope Now reported 123,000 private modifications in June but has since adjusted the number with updated figures from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). A spokesperson for Hope Now said its numbers are extrapolations and are subject to change when the size of the market as reported by the MBA changes.

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Private mortgage modifications more than triple HAMP in July