RealityTrac, an independent company that tracks foreclosures in 100 different major cities, released its numbers today and the outlook doesn’t look good.
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Home mortgage foreclosures are eating away at the nation’s heartland and the American Dream - but don’t expect Pamela Stalling to turn into Chicken Little.
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Seven months into the year, Gibson County sheriff sales on foreclosed properties are moving at a pace to set a new record.
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Across the metro area, job growth has been relatively stable. So have mortgage interest rates. Normally, that’s a formula for a solid real estate market.
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A federal grand jury has indicted a mortgage broker on wire fraud charges in connection with home loan applications he filed on behalf of a father and son for their purchases of 55 homes.
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The number of Indiana mortgage problems and the forest of foreclosure signs will continue to grow as a result of the lending industry’s blocking of common sense reforms in the Indiana General Assembly.
Despite reports of a slumping housing market nationwide, particularly in the Indianapolis area, Morgan County is still insulated from major swings in the industry, the Mooresville-Decatur Times reports.
The Indiana Secretary of State’s office is leveling allegations against a Terre Haute mortgage company, a Sullivan title company and several individuals.
There may be a housing market slump nationally.
But no one told buyers in Chesterton, Indiana.
“Residentially, we’re in a little bit of a slowdown, but I attribute that to build-out of subdivisions,” said Building Commissioner Mike Orlich.
Since Orlich took his position five years ago, three subdivisions on the town’s west side - Dogwood, Golfview and Westwood - have been built. Another, Abercrombie Woods, is nearly completed.
“But we’ve got some new subdivisions in the process of annexation east and west of town that will open it back up,” he said.
The housing market already appears to be on the upswing as Indiana mortgage demand remains strong.
Even as Northwest Indiana home sales fell short of 2005 records, last year was a strong one for the local market, with this year off to a good start as well.
One development, Village Green Townhomes at Coffee Creek will come before the Plan Commission next week for secondary approval for its first phase, which includes 100 condominium units.
Olson Farm LLC got the council’s approval last week to appear at its March 26 meeting to begin the public hearing process for annexation of 133 acres of the old Olson farm at East Porter Avenue and County Road 250E.
Orlich said the town’s location, proximity to major highways and even the Chicago housing market, as well as its small-town quaintness, are all presenting a draw for families.
“We’re a bedroom community, and we’ve got a good school corporation and low property taxes,” he said, noting that the combination has been drawing a lot of people from Chicago’s suburbs.
“A lot of them commute to Chicago,” Orlich said.
New subdivisions since 2000 include Abercrombie Woods, 144 lots; Dogwood Estate, 88 lots; Touch of Green, 23 lots; Rose Hill Estate, 73 lots; and Parkview Place-Griffin Lake Avenue, 22 lots.
Subdivisions approved in 1999, which continue to boost this segment of the Indiana housing market, include Golfview Estates, 105 lots; Villages Sand Creek IV, 20 lots; Village Sand Creek V, 26 lots; Pere Marquette, 23 lots; and Tamarack III, 44 lots.
Plan Commission member Sigmund Niepokoj said the town is “going to see some more building” as affordable home mortgage costs continue to lure buyers.
“The whole housing industry has been slowing, but it’s still going in Chesterton,” Niepokoj said. “It’s a good area to live in. When I moved here in 1966 the population was about 2,900. Now they say it’s nearly 15,000.”
SOURCE: Gary Post-Tribune
Two men who authorities said lined up properties or investors in a multi-million dollar mortgage-fraud scheme were sentenced to prison, the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel reports.
Putting a stop to a fraudulent scheme that affected many in the Indiana housing market, federal judges sentenced John Wagner, 46, to three years and a month in prison and Frankie Lamont Howard, 38, to two years.
Both pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Wagner and Howard obtained more than $4 million in fraudulent home loans on houses in low-income neighborhoods of Indianapolis.
Authorities said Wagner recruited investors for Romero Brice, the owner of the Indiana mortgage company, Promise Land Mortgage, with offices located in Indianapolis.
Brice obtained houses at fair market value and then used the investors to buy back the houses at three to four times the price, authorities said.
Brice was sentenced on Tuesday to seven years in prison.
Prosecutors said Brice obtained at least 83 loans between late 2000 and early 2002 based upon false documents, with Wagner involved in 53 of the mortgage loans valued at about $2.65 million.
After being apprehended, the full scope of the scam was uncovered and Howard was charged with 31 fraudulent transactions accounting for about $1.65 million.
The judges also ordered Wagner and Howard, both of Indianapolis, each to pay more than $1 million in restitution for their mortgage fraud.
SOURCE: Fort Wayne News-Sentinel