Monday Morning Cup of Coffee is a quick look at the news coming across the HousingWire weekend desk, with more coverage to come on bigger issues.
The investor frenzy in real estate continues with Atlanta-based private equity firm Hibernian Pacific Holdings recently purchasing a portfolio of 45 single-family attached and detached homes in DeKalb County, Ga.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the company’s CEO and President Jason Joseph called it a “strategic step to grow a portfolio of assets in the residential market, because we are going to continue to see this type of asset in the community bank sector.”
The Chicago foreclosure epidemic continues with over 36,000 properties listed in some stage of foreclosure, writes the Chicago Tribune.
Not only is this a disaster for the area’s housing market, but it’s created another crisis—namely neighborhoods now riddle with additional criminal activity. The paper notes some area neighborhoods now look like war zones, with empty and damaged bungalows and flats abutting various streets.
Reverse mortgages are back in the headlines, but now it seems lenders are debating whether they want to move from a phone-origination model to one where they maintain reverse mortgage branches in the field, reports Reverse Mortgage Daily. Maverick Funding is an example of one such firm that is reportedly hiring more originators to work in the field.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is questioning whether government loan modification programs failed a segment of borrowers who were promised a chance at sustainable relief only to find it’s hard to achieve long term.
According to the paper, 1.6 million homeowners have saved their homes through government programs, but others are finding mods through the Home Affordable Modification Program and other initiatives as more temporary and not a cure all.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reported the closing of Central Arizona Bank in Scottsdale, Ariz., this past week.
All deposit accounts were moved to Western State Bank out of North Dakota. The former Arizona branch will open under the Western State Bank brand. No specifics were provided on the closing’s direct impact on the Deposit Insurance Fund.
kpanchuk@housingwire.com
