Search Results
Journal Article
New ideas for old REOs: a disposition framework for marketing REOs for rental properties
The unprecedented accumulation of foreclosed properties in recent years has presented a challenge to communities, banks, and policymakers. This article outlines a potential disposition framework for government-sponsored and private enterprises to identify which foreclosed properties would be most appropriate for rental and which would remain most appropriate for homeownership. This disposition framework is then applied to the existing stock of foreclosed properties in Massachusetts, and the authors explore the possible utility of this analytic technique as a policy tool.
Discussion Paper
When does delinquency result in neglect?: mortgage delinquency and property maintenance
Studies of foreclosure externalities have overwhelmingly focused on the impact of forced sales on the value of nearby properties, typically finding modest evidence of foreclosure spillovers. However, many quality-of-life issues posed by foreclosures may not be reflected in nearby sale prices. This paper uses new data from Boston on constituent complaints and requests for public services made to City government departments, matched with loan-level data, to examine the timing of foreclosure externalities. I find evidence that property conditions suffer most while homes are bank owned, although ...
Discussion Paper
Understanding foreclosures in Massachusetts
Recent increases in foreclosure rates in New England and other parts of the United States are raising concerns. Distressful for individual borrowers and potentially destabilizing for their communities, the negative effects of foreclosures flow beyond the impact on housing markets and the financial consequences for creditors. Public officials, lenders, current and potential homeowners, community organizations, and other stakeholders are paying careful attention. ; In low- and moderate-income communities in New England, community leaders view current trends as especially worrisome. Among ...
Discussion Paper
The role of proximity in foreclosure externalities: evidence from condominiums
We explore several different explanations of the effect of foreclosures on neighboring properties using a dataset of transactions in Boston, for which we have rich data on the size and location of condominium associations. There is compelling evidence against a supply effect?nearby condo foreclosures in different associations, and even those within the same association but at different physical addresses, have little impact on condo sale prices. However, condos transact at average discounts of 2.4 percent when a foreclosure shares the same physical address. We view the results as indicating ...
Speech
Observations on housing, lending, and foreclosure prevention.
Presented by Eric S. Rosengren, President and Chief Executive Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, at the Citizens? Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA) 41st Annual Dinner and Meeting, Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, October 16, 2008
Discussion Paper
A profile of the mortgage crisis in a low-and-moderate-income community
This paper assesses the impact of the mortgage crisis on Chelsea, Massachusetts, a low-and-moderate-income community of 35,000 adjacent to Boston. After years of rapid growth, house prices started falling in 2005. According to our repeat-sales indices, by the end of 2009 prices had fallen by as much as 50 percent from their peak. Foreclosures have soared and lenders have repossessed or allowed short sales on more than 330 homes, resulting in a forced exit of at least one in 30 of the town's households. A large fraction of the foreclosed properties were two- or three-family homes, so the ...
Journal Article
Massachusetts’ efforts to address foreclosed properties
Massachusetts has been ahead of the curve in combating neighborhood deterioration as real-estate-owned (lender-owned) foreclosed properties increase. Affordable housing developers, community groups, municipal and state officials, and nonprofits have created a Foreclosed Property Task Force and an online database that is accessible by all the partners. The database is already improving decision making about where resources would have the most impact.
Journal Article
Tackling foreclosure
With foreclosure rates rising nationwide, public officials, financial institutions, and community organizations are launching prevention programs and educating housing counselors and attorneys on the issue.
Journal Article
Massachusetts mortgage summit issues recommendations
In April 2007, the Massachusetts Division of Banks reported on the recommendations of its mortgage summit. The summit brought together a wide range of stakeholders to develop concrete responses to the problem of rising foreclosures. This article describes the collaborative process used in the mortgage summit and the recommendations issued. These recommendations illustrate a number of possible remedies to limit foreclosures and their impact on consumers and communities.
Discussion Paper
Receivership : a coordinated strategy to stabilize troubled properties
With the impact of municipal debt burdens, coupled with the effects of declining real estate prices and the US financial crisis, municipalities are looking for novel and cost-effective approaches to address abandoned, blighted and/or foreclosed properties that threaten the quality of life of their communities. Receivership, the use of statutory power to seize buildings and place properties under control of a judicially supervised 'receiver', can be an effective tool to tackle the problem of troubled properties which repeatedly violate safety and sanitary codes. Despite its potential, ...