Fannie, Freddie & Foreclosures: The untold truth.

Fannie, Freddie & Foreclosures: The untold truth.

The Reality you don’t hear from the news or congress

By: Bill Hitchcock

98.3% of all loans are current! Only 0.12% had foreclosure initiated. Of the foreclosures initiated almost half found an equitable solution through mitigation.

Foreclosures are not a national problem. They have been isolated in location and minute in numbers in comparison to the over-all lending picture. Unfortunately, It is systemic in that the consequences of foreclosures are trying to be absorbed and circulated throughout the entire country.

The “Research Institute for Housing America” sent out a press release on September 5 stating, “Only eight states had rates of foreclosure starts that were above the national average: Nevada, Florida, California, Arizona, Michigan, Rhode Island, Indiana, and Ohio. The remaining 42 states plus the District of Columbia were below the national average. “California and Florida alone accounted for 39 percent of all of the foreclosures started in the country during the second quarter and 73 percent of the increase in foreclosures between the first and second quarters.” Added Jay Brinkmann, Mortgage Bankers Associations Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Research and Economics.

Foreclosures are not a national problem. The “Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight’ just released a very revealing report titled, “Federal Housing Finance Agency Mortgage Metrics Report Disclosure and Analysis of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Mortgage Loan Data for Full-Year 2007 and First Quarter 2008” The report focuses on the delinquencies, loss mitigation actions, and foreclosure data reported by more than 3,000 approved servicers.

Here are some of the highlights from that report

Total Loans, Debt Load & FICO Score: As of March 31, 2008, a total of 30.4 million first lien residential mortgages with total outstanding balances of $4.4 trillion had been serviced for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The combined portfolios had a weighted average FICO score of 722 at origination. Delinquent Mortgages: As of March 31, 2008, 30.1 million of the total loans serviced (98.83 percent) were current or less than 60 days delinquent. The proportion of 60-plus-days delinquent mortgages in the total portfolios was 1.17 percent. A mere 0.12 percent of mortgages in the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae mortgage portfolios had foreclosure initiated.

*Of all the loans that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae service 98.3% were current or less than 60 days delinquent and only 0.12% had foreclosure initiated.

Loss Mitigation: Loss Mitigation actions attempt to work out an equitable solution to avoid foreclosure. Solutions include (but not necessarily limited to) forbearance plans, short sales, assumptions, payment plans, loan modifications, and charge-offs in lieu of foreclosure.

Prime loans in foreclosure: 47.1 percent in 2007 to 44.1 percent in the first quarter of 2008 went into loss mitigation proceedings. 92.4 percent of 2007 loss mitigation actions and 90.3 percent of loss mitigation actions in the first quarter of 2008 allowed prime borrowers to avoid foreclosure and retain the property.

Nonprime loans in foreclosure: The loss mitigation performance ratio for nonprime mortgages increased from 59.6 percent in 2007 to 60.1 percent during the first quarter of 2008. 96.4 percent of 2007 loss mitigation actions and 96.6 percent of loss mitigation actions during the first quarter of 2008 allowed nonprime borrowers to avoid foreclosure and retain the property.

Up to 60% of the folks who were in foreclosure, as high as 96% of them were able to come to an equitable conclusion and avoid foreclosure.

 Foreclosures have been concentrated in a few geographic areas, the actual number of foreclosures is infinitesimally small in comparison to all loans serviced by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and a significant number of the foreclosures initiated were resolved through mitigation.

All information was derived from the Research Institute for Housing America and the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.ro Bill Hitchcock owns a real estate brokerage firm in Morehead City, NC and is Executive Producer of the television program, “Crystal Coast Real Estate Television”.