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61 Responses to “The Impact of Error From Securitization to Foreclosure”
Barry Ritholtz Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
And no, this is not about keeping deadbeats in their homes.
VennData Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:14 pm
“…Had we performed GM-like prepackaged bankruptcies…” while – slightly – speculative and can surely be argued …has one unarguably powerful benefit: future bond investors will not expect to be bailed out. And that, as the list of pluses and minuses are drawn, trumps them all.
chartist Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
I just saw a lawyer on CNBC bringing up one situation where fraud occurred: People got mortgages on the pretense that it was for their primary residence, hence getting a lower mortgage rate. But, it was obvious they were for investing or othewise not for their primary residence and hence should have been given a higher rate….and the buyers of those loans were not told this and therefore overpaid for the mortgages….Now that’s fraud and a big problem for somebody.
hammerandtong2001 Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Hold your horses…
I thought this whole mess was just some book-keeping technicality mumbo jumbo…
(har, har…)
Said this the other day: I’m happy to pay my mortgage on the first of the month to somebody (anybody!) — that is — if you can PROVE that I owe you the money. Until then, it’s escrowed.
.
dead hobo Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
Barry Ritholtz Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
And no, this is not about keeping deadbeats in their homes.
reply:
————-
Not even just a few? Mean bastard. These people aren’t deadbeats. They’re payment impaired.
Otherwise, best story to data anywhere on the problem.
DL Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
“Had we performed GM-like prepackaged bankruptcies, these issues would not exist”.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
So, throwing taxpayer money, and bondholder money at the UAW is a good thing?
DM RTA Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
We do not know exactly how many structured products contain errors of Notes or Assignments, but a rough estimate is “More than a few.”
I feel like this is a dumb question but how are the securitized issues receiving the expected cash flow if there are mistakes that amount to more than a few? If the assignments are not in place properly then how do the various servicers know where to send the monthly principle and interest payments? And wouldn’t errors be showing up with the MBS holders?
Mr.Sparkle Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
@chartist – Everyone likes to trot out their favorite anecdotes to make their case.
Maybe we’re just all too fixated on examining this issue through the “rule of law” lens. Perhaps we should be looking at this as an “unintended stimulus package.”
It seems that this is only going to be really resolved on a case-by-case basis that will take years to sort out. And considering the different set of legal standards in each state, this probably makes some sense. So in the meantime, there should be a bonanza for lawyers and “allied tradespeople” extracting fees from the banks and servicers. Call it a trickle-down stimulus even, since we all know where the TARP money went.
When uncovered in these cases, fraud should be punished severely. Let the DAs wanting to make names for themselves roll the little fish robosigners/filers on the bigger fish in the banks. Someone borrowed and falsified the intent? That’s probably not only fraud against the bank but it wouldn’t surprise me if there were some property tax fraud thrown in the mix. Bust them too. Punish them all. I suspect that the truly innocent parties in this whole fiasco are few and far between.
HEHEHE Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
“These are problems of the banks own making, and we should make sure that the costs of these do not fall to the taxpayers.”
Good luck with that;)
deanscamaro Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
I was wondering when you would put out a post such as this! Back long ago, in the clouds of time, I remember when you had a post or two about the problem of losing sight of ownership on mortgages as these securitization packages were sliced and diced and sold off to the highest bidder.
What comes around, goes around. Speed kills! Where were/are we to turn to stop things like this from happening…….the banksters???……our congressmen who were/are being paid off by the banksters???
Bend over, please, while you receive our latest delivery.
Mutant_Dog Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
@DM RTA, good question. IF the legality of any assignment to the MBS is in question, the cash-flow stream paid as a result of that assignment should be under review as well. Off-the-cuff, I’d say that, now the foreclosed parties have much more stringent legal representation, and discovery, in their current predicament, than is routine to a mortgage-payer. IOW, the MBS world has just now become aware, itself, of the potential problems in this regard.
cwf Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
To those few who have argued here, “the system is not perfect”, and that errors will happen when such a large number of loans/foreclosures are processed (the same argument several pro-bank analysts on CNBC have used), I ask this question:
Does US Law treat differently
a) A corp that does 1,000,000 transactions with 1,000 of them breaking the law (perjury, false docs, forgery, fraudulent representations, etc.)
vs
b) A corp that does 1,001 transactions with 1,000 of them breaking the law?
If so, banks should find out what the tolerable (by US Law) ratio of criminal transactions vs. proper transactions is, and try to maintain a level of criminal transactions just under that ratio. Easy money.
Arequipa01 Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
Speaking of solutions:
Howzabout a lil thing we like ta cawl “adverse possession”
“At the current stage, we really do not know how extensive the problems are.” (BR)
IMO regardless of the extent of the problems associated with errors in the foreclosure process and how resolving them will impact the resolution of the current crisis, if the Amherst report is to be believed, we’re still looking at the possibility of 20 percent of the 55 million existing mortgages going into default.
It seems to me that these two problems cannot be separated. Any resolution of the mortgage crisis is going to have to consider both issues. Having mechanisms in place to resolve both will be essential. Given the potential magnitude of the default problem some deference should probably be given to stopping the forest fire before it consumes the fire house and the local water supply. That may mean that the government will be forced to install a moratorium on any court action designed to resolve questions of ownership until the impact of a 20 percent foreclosure rate on the national economy can be brought under control.
I continue to fear, however, that our culture of self-serving denial will continue to prevent us is from accurately scoping this problem so we can get on with fixing it. What iceberg?
Arequipa01 Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
This is for all the deadbeats and you know who you are (Kenny L- I’m lookin at chu!):
Blues Comin’ Home Baby (Melvin Taylor- Chicago based axe swinger)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qpv7uPJgeSQ
obsvr-1 Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
@Speaking of solutions:
Howzabout a lil thing we like ta cawl “adverse possession”
Nice try, the statue of limitations varies by state, but it takes anywhere from 10 – 30 years to make an adverse possession claim – this is a dog that won’t hunt.
pintelho Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Maybe some previous astute commenter has already raised this concern..
Does anyone know how much of this affects the three stooges…you know Fannie, Freddie, and Ginnie?
That makes this a tax payer issue as well…
Bastardos!
S Brennan Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
Yes, the elites have decided, once again, as it always has been and will forevermore be…
Patricians: “It’s the Plebeians, it they would just fight and die in our imperial wars, pay for our tax cuts and shut up. I mean it’s not like we keep everything of theirs. We let them benefit a little from their labor don’t we…don’t we?”
Plebs: “We who are about to be crushed in your wars and brought to destitution in Patrician financial schemes salute you!”
“… Under normal circumstances, the reckless illegality we have seen from banks would have caused the US Attorney to become involved in the investigations. Instead, the nation’s chief law enforcement officer has a conflict of interest…”
” Under normal circumstances ” ? Really ? Like, When?
Long Story Short, AG “Bag” Holder, like the Line of AGs before him, Is a walking ‘Conflict of Interest’.
Sorry, but that ain’t what that ‘Office’ does..
Friday links: bullet bonds Abnormal Returns Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
Congress won’t let the too-big-to-fail banks to get torpedoed by foreclosure-gate. (NetNet also Big Picture)
Pocket QQ Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
The Impact of Error From Securitization
What impacts (if any?) does this have on all RE transactions past and present? Are forged documents in refi and sales? Are people being economically impacted because nobody can figure out who owns what?
bman Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
I am getting rather bored with homeowners referred to as deadbeats. How about we think up something creative, Pioneers for homeowners, Vultures or some similar carrion creatures for bankers.
The pontificating drolls who go on about “well if the homeowner had just respected his usurious mortgage agreement,” while the whole economy went to hell as a result of the same bankers running a gambling based con game on the rest of the world, are quite repulsive, and in the process shine a light on their level of ignorance, or their conflicts of interests.
mbelardes Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
I’m tearing through analyst opinions and they are not paying any respect to the legal implications of this in their belief that this isn’t a big deal.
Due process of law in the deprivation of real property is a big deal. Fraudulent Affidavits to the court to begin the foreclosure of a property is a big deal.
IF this was as widespread as I bet it is, the banks are going to get ripped from the bully pulpit to the balance sheet.
obsvr-1 Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
Why should the SEC settle a civil case and not go for jail time for one of the most corrupt CEO’s behind this mess ? !!!
Public May Be Deprived of Seeing Angelo Mozilo Tried in the ‘Flesh’
Does anyone know what the potential impact on title insurance companies is? Do they get stuck holding the bag here?
Jonke Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
Even the Swedes figured out 18 years ago that you shall not bail out banks or keep the toxic assetts in the mis-managed banks. Let the fundamental law be valid even in banking: too little equity = company gone from your ownership. Governements shall not own banks in a long term perspective, they shall create strong regulators that have the authority to ask tough questions and enforce regulation indpendent of how much money a bank or a banking organisation has donated or if a politician has worked their earlier. The bailed out bank shall be placed under public ownership in a special banking vehicle that seperates the good parts from the bad and does IPO’s on the good parts, place the bad parts in a toxic fund that is given minimum 5 years to dispose the assetts in an optimal way, both from a return perspective and market disruption perspective. The banking vehicle should be run by professionals and not politicains or left over managers from the failed banks.
It is many times better to let the property then evict on of the few who wants to live their and a bank is not suited for that but a toxic assett fund would be able to do that.
The American bank solution is a typical example that validates Barry’s statement that politics in the US today is not left-right it is individual vs corporation.
sahillyard Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
The Fed owns a good portion of the mortgage backed securities. Will they force the underwriters to take them back? This could get more interesting. Anybody know how well Maiden Lane is doing?
AGORACOM Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
I’ll second the motion that this is one of the best, clear articles on the subject.
Further, I repeat from my post yesterday that the Feds do not have a “waive to wand”. This bank cluster f*$k is beyond their reach. As Barry stated:
“This is going to be challenging to resolve, as the parties involved are sophisticated investors who will seek to enforce their warranties and contracts via the courts.”
Barry forgot to add in the fact that these parties are “highly motivated” (i.e. very pissed off) at being taken by the Wall Street machine and are salivating to take them for everything they have. On the one hand, you have investors like that little town in Norway that are all but broke thanks to buying these non-performing assets.
On the other hand, you have ARM homeowners that lost everything thanks to mortgage brokers selling Wall Street crack. To be clear, I have little sympathy for the NINJA homeowners – but that is not the point. They are a pissed off group and now they have some leverage.
The banks dodged the first bullet, they won’t dodge this one.
What is still up for debate is whether the costs will be fall to taxpayers. In my opinion, US taxpayers ultimately gave TARP a pass the first time (though they did put up a strong fight) based on fears of economic catastrophe. They won’t do it again.
Regards,
George … The Greek …. From Canada
Michael Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Barry,
I like the tone of this piece…. more a focus on the facts, less on emotion. Plus as I stated before in a comment, I tend to believe INCOMPETENCE is at the root of most, but not all, problems; rather than outright devious/fraudulent behavior.
On a high level, I think one can argue that our society has become too complex for the skill level of the average employee to handle, e.g. the skill level of the people putting together mortgages and now foreclosing on them. It may surprise you to learn that half the people are below average! :)
Regards,
Michael
Effective Demand Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
“Banks are sitting on millions of foreclosed properties. ”
I’d love to see you prove that assertion.. you can’t because it isn’t true!
There are many homes in the foreclosure process, the number of homes foreclosed on is a much smaller number. If the float is a million at any one point in time i’d be absolutely shocked, it certainly isn’t 2 million (millionS).
As for title insurance, the banks will either become self insuring or indemnify the title insurers for that specific flaw in title like BofA just did with a title insurer. It’s a minor issue that can be easily addressed.
I think you are at the point of extreme, zero hedge level exaggeration on point #6 which makes me suspicious of all your other points.
Mannwich Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
@Effective Demand: It’s not true? You can’t prove that either. Go to places like FL, Cali, NV and AZ and there’s likely more than a million there alone.
chartist Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Somewhere there’s a sniper with a dwindling 401K who just read Matt Taibibi in Rolling stone, practicing his nail a banker from North Jersey shot…… We’re headed for revolution…..Who will be the victim of the shot hear round Wall Street?
DeDude Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
“These people aren’t deadbeats. They’re payment impaired”
- or sick, or unemployed, or making a (nothing personal) business decision, or…..
until you actually talk with the individual parties involved it is not going to be possible to judge them – not that lack of specific knowledge would hold back most people. Nothing creates such a good warm feeling as condemning others as being bad immoral deadbeat people.
Effective Demand Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Mannwich,
I’ve been through this in California with many misinformed people. You look at the number of foreclosures taken in (its public record) vs the absorption rate and you can get the basic float.
There are a large number of homes in THE FORECLOSURE PROCESS but the number of homes FORECLOSED ON and held in inventory is relatively small.
Here is the data I have put together from public reports from Dataquick (the gold standard for RE data in CA):
I’d estimate the inventory “float” for California to be about 1 to 1.5 quarters worth of REO’s (60k -ish).
Ask yourself why would the bank take all the risk to have a home foreclosed on and not put it for sale. It makes no sense for them to do so.. and in fact they don’t do it.
I’ve never looked at it at a national level, I’ve got access to all the NAR data but I dont think they started reporting foreclosures as a % of sales until recently. California is a large enough sample size where I think you can get extrapolate and not be far off. Estimate 1 to 1.5 quarters worth of REO’s in inventory, round up and call it 2 quarters and you’re still only in the 500k home ballpark.
Last quarter was 288k REO’s for the US, BR’s assertion would mean they have approximately 7 quarters worth of REO inventory. NOBODY ANYWHERE is seeing that, it’s data pulled from the backside, a complete fabrication.
Effective Demand Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
This shows the second half of point #6 is a non-issue just as the previous post shows the first half of point #6 is over-exaggerated:
“We could make wild and unsubstantiated conclusions, but we prefer reason and logic.”
Funny stuff, that comment, given some of the histrionic proclamations made earlier this week.
kayem Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
Earlier BR wanted to know actual stories, and others have argued that the the number of actual homeowners harmed is small. I think the magnitude of the problem should not be measured by the number of actual harmed homeowners, because really, so few of the foreclosures have actual homeowners living in them. How many stories have we all seen about vacant or half-finished developments or ghost towns (most recent: Einhorn/St Joe). So, regardless of how many individuals were harmed (or were deadbeats), the number of properties potentially without clear title (and subsequent problems with resale value and property values) is staggering.
Local anecdote: I’ve been watching the mess from my home in south Florida since 2002. Valuations in my historic neighborhood have made a complete round trip from 200K to 425K and now, as the foreclosures occur, below 200K. The adjacent new development sold out (preconstruction in 2004 and 2005), and completed construction in 2006. That fall, I counted lockboxes on 29 of 41, and only 1 real-live homeowner living there. Most of the places sat vacant for years, and now about half have renters and asking prices have plummeted. I can tell from the county’s property search records that most “owners” mailing addresses are different than the property address and many were out of state. Harmed homeowners? None. Properties without clear title if the whole development was in some trust without assignments? 41. Impact on property values in my neighborhood? Ah, that’s the question.
You were saying? Turns out my estimates match up almost exactly with Barclays and I am sure their data is much better. Check out the spiffy chart, green line.
BR, I’d just remove #6 completely..
nofoulsontheplayground Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
The best solution I’ve heard is the “California Solution.”
I believe in California if you challenge the ownership of the deed you need to put up the equivalent of the value of the note.
This keeps the deadbeats from dragging out the process. There have been hardly any instances of challenges like we’re seeing in Florida in California because of this law.
It should be adopted nationally, and that would solve the problem.
ReadingFundamental Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
To whoever asked how anyone is collecting payments if the assignments were not done. Any time a loan is made it is set up day one on a loan servicing system. The originators made loans, and every now and then when they had a big enough “inventory” of them sold off pools of them for securitization. Some Wall Street firm would buy up a bunch of pools, pay lawyers to set up a REMIC and get it registered, and then sell bonds secured by those mortgages in the REMIC.
Now as soon as the originator sold the pool of loans it sent a “tape’ of the data – amount outstanding, interest rate, payment history, etc. to the new loan servicing company that would be handling the billing and collecting of payments for the REMIC.
When thousands of home loans are sold, the originators don’t want to pay people to sit and sign all those assignment documents and record mortgage assignments for them all at the courthouses, then the investment bankers putting together the REMIC don’t want to have to pay a bunch of people on behalf of the holding company (the mortgages go there until the REMIC has been created) to execute assignments of that stuff from the holding company into the REMIC, and pay to have all those mortgage assignments recorded.
In theory, a lawsuit against a borrower should not begin until someone has looked at ALL the loan documents – either originals or reliable copies, and the payment history, and signed an affidavit. All these entities were trading around data “tapes” instead of actual documents, so it appears that the folks hired at $12/hour (just a wild guess) didn’t ever look at any of this, they just signed.
I’ve signed a few affidavits in my time (for commercial transactions) and always went over them carefully. However, I ‘m an experienced financial services person with a B.A., and M.B.A., and a pretty long history of working with transaction and litigation attorneys.
dss Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
Record number of foreclosures in 2009
This morning RealtyTrac® released its year-end U.S. Foreclosure Market Reporttm for the year 2009.
The report shows a total of 3,957,643 foreclosure filings (default notices, RealtyTrac Foreclosure Rate for third quarter 2009scheduled foreclosure auctions and bank repossessions) on 2,824,674 U.S. properties in 2009, a 21 percent increase in total properties affected from 2008 and a whopping 120 percent increase in total properties affected from 2007. The report also shows that 2.21 percent of all U.S. housing units (one in 45) received at least one foreclosure filing during the year, up from 1.84 percent in 2008, 1.03 percent in 2007 and 0.58 percent in 2006.
——————–
Almost 4 million filings on 2.8 properties, in 2009. How many properties are in default and have not been served?
Darmah Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
Maybe not millions but you can search for an REO home among the 930,000 in the US according to RealtyTrac — http://www.realtytrac.com/states/bank-owned-props/index.html
Kris Dannon Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
The humble settings where the robo-signer challenge began…
The Huffington Post Investigative Fund website (the first I’ve heard of it) has a lengthy article on a new way that big banks are driving foreclosures. Apparently local governments do not have the resources to pursue property tax collection themselves so they bundle up past due liens and sell them off to investors that can then collect or foreclose. I hadn’t heard of this practice but the article makes it sound like it has been long standing. What it says is new in the arena is the activity of major banks and hedge funds that buy the debts and then tack on massive “legal fees.”
For example:
In May, the Investigative Fund reported how an unemployed former mental health counselor with four children named Vicki Valentine lost her home even though the mortgage had been paid in full. She had owed $362 on an overdue water bill when investors took over and added thousands of dollars in legal fees she couldn’t afford…
D.C. Attorney General Nickles criticizes Aeon Financial, LLC, a bank-financed investment group from Chicago that buys tax liens in some 10 states. Nickles asserts that Aeon has slammed homeowners, who sometimes owed just a few hundred dollars in back taxes, with $7,000 or more in legal fees.
This is in addition to upwards of 18% interest. When people can’t pay then the homes are taken to foreclosure. What is particularly egregious about this process is that everything is done through front companies that are sometimes not even registered in the country. Not even the governments know who they are dealing with:
Banks and hedge funds usually buy the liens through online auctions that permit them to bid in bulk, and they can use any name they want.
The giant Bank of America, for instance, has bid in Florida tax lien sales using colorful names such as Bennu, LLC, named after a mythical bird said to be the soul of the ancient Egyptian sun god. It also has bid as Osprey, LLC, and Ecru, LLC, named after the French word for a pale brown color…
Tax collectors in Florida don’t always know who they’re doing business with, either. Officials in Pinellas County want to know who exactly is behind a company called GL Funding Limited. Sales records show that GL Funding spent more than $10 million and dominated the tax sale in at least 10 Florida counties, most of them rural or smaller cities where interest rates tended to be much higher than in urban and resort areas.
GL Funding registered with several Florida tax collectors as a company with offices in the Cayman Islands. But other counties list a post office box in Philadelphia as its address. The person who registered GL Funding in Pinellas County’s tax sale provided Pinellas with a telephone number in Dallas, Tex. At that number, a man named Jess Weir declined to tell the Investigative Fund who is investing through the name GL Funding.
Said Sam McClelland, deputy tax collector in Pinellas County, Fla., where GL Funding acquired hundreds of liens earlier this year: “We’re still trying to sort this out.”
Yes, banks that are backed explicitly and implicitly by hundreds of billions of dollars from the government each year are tacking on thousands of dollars of fees and then foreclosing on people that owed a few hundred bucks…from the shadows. Ecru, indeed.
Well, that happened. Who invited the 2009 Chiefs to yesterday's game? As you can imagine, there are a lot of recaps and opinions on the game (and a missing handshake). Here's today's Kansas City Chiefs news.
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Well, that happened. Who invited the 2009 Chiefs to yesterday's game? As you can imagine, there are a lot of recaps and opinions on the game (and a missing handshake). Here's today's Kansas City Chiefs news.
Well, that happened. Who invited the 2009 Chiefs to yesterday's game? As you can imagine, there are a lot of recaps and opinions on the game (and a missing handshake). Here's today's Kansas City Chiefs news.
Stocks in China may face more declines today after large losses in mainland and US-traded China shares on Friday. Chinese media have been reporting that the government plans interest-rate increases to curb rising prices in the country.
Paul said during an interview with Fox News on Sunday, "I think ear markings are bad. There is some symbolism. Definitely the symbolism is bad. And, I think it encourages people to vote for large appropriations bills, because all of a ...
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The singer debuted her new bling at an in-store appearance Saturday.
When a company undertakes a search engine optimization program, whether it is performed in-house or outsourced to an SEO service, most of the attention (and rightly so) is focused on the company website. This is the one aspect where there is a feeling of control--once a website is released into the wild, the company will have to see how its site fares against all the other websites out there, whether the other sites are using ethical SEO tactics or not.
Apart from changes made to the company website, the assumption is often that the company and, if it is using one, its SEO service, has zero control over what appears in search engine results. However, this is not usually the case. Often, you or your SEO service can have a direct effect on search engine results by monitoring your competitors and reporting them to the major search engines when the SEO techniques used on their site fall outside what is popularly referred to as ethical SEO. (Please note that while I believe that the word "ethical" is tossed around too often, "ethical SEO" has become the standard phrase to describe white hat techniques, and so it is the phrase I use throughout the article.)
Primary Competitors
To start with, let's define competitors. Almost every company has at least a handful of other companies that it considers to be primary competitors--the ones that sell the same products and services, that are of similar size, and so on. It is important that the SEO efforts (or lack thereof) of these competitors, whether they are using ethical SEO techniques or not, be monitored on a routine basis. If they have not hired an SEO service of their own, or if they have not started doing SEO in-house at all, you will have peace of mind knowing that the use of this channel, for the moment, is yours. If your competitors begin an SEO campaign, with or without an outside SEO service, you can learn much about their sales and marketing tactics by evaluating the keyphrases that they target. And you can also investigate whether they are using ethical SEO practices in their campaign.
Your Online Competitors
It's important to keep in mind that it is unlikely that searchers are going to decide only between you and the primary competitors you have listed. They are going to consider any company that matches their particular needs and that shows up for their search term. This is why your criteria for a competitor online should broaden to encompass any company that offers products or services like yours that outranks you for any of your targeted keyphrases. If your in-house staff or your SEO service not only continually monitors your search engine positions but also analyzes the companies that appear above you in search results, you can often identify forward-looking competitors of which you were previously unaware--your primary competitors of tomorrow.
Violations
This brings us to the key issue of ethical SEO. Search engine optimization is still a very new concept to most companies. Even the most respected companies can make mistakes in this arena, either by choosing the wrong SEO service, or by trying to avoid hiring an SEO service altogether by bringing it in house with well-intentioned but unqualified people. For example, BMW's German site was recently removed temporarily from the Google index for using doorway pages--something that is not considered an ethical SEO practice. It stands to reason that your competitors are also not immune to violations.
Bad Firms
There are very notable examples of otherwise smart and established companies hiring an SEO service that put them in a worse situation than before they pursued SEO--by getting their site removed from major search engines for violating the engine's terms of service, for example. Not long ago, there was a well-publicized example where most of the clients of a Las Vegas SEO service were penalized. Almost all of the clients claimed that they were not informed that the firm was not practicing ethical SEO and that they were therefore at risk.
SEO firms are generally divided into two camps--those called "White Hats" (those that use ethical SEO practices and will never knowingly violate a search engine's terms of service) and those called "Black Hats" (those that do not use ethical SEO practices and that will attempt to unravel the latest algorithms and exploit any loopholes to achieve rankings at any cost). Neither approach is invalid--it is not against the law to violate the terms of service of a search engine. Moreover, black hat techniques can be quite effective. However, the tactics are risky, and anyone hiring an SEO service that wears a black hat and does not use ethical SEO practices should definitely be apprised of this risk up front.
Internal Resources
Firms are often tempted to avoid hiring an SEO service by performing SEO in-house, and the project almost always falls onto an already overburdened IT department. The problem with approaching SEO from a strictly technical mindset is that the strategies employed, such as the keyphrases targeted, will not necessarily be in line with the goals of the marketing and sales departments. In addition, an IT resource will usually approach SEO from a purely technical standpoint, without being aware of ethical SEO practices, and this can lead to trouble. Penalization is a very real possibility, and it is hard to get back onto an index once your site has been removed.
Monitoring
A thorough SEO service will monitor not only the handful of competitors that you deem crucial but also the sites that appear higher than you for any of your chosen search phrases. This may be somewhat controversial, especially to any SEO service or webmaster that uses tactics forbidden by the search engines' terms of service. However, many white hat SEO service firms consider it an obligation to their clients to routinely monitor the sites of any competitor found on the engines to be sure it is using ethical SEO techniques.
There is a reason that every major search engine has a form to report sites who do not use ethical SEO tactics and who violate the terms of service so that these sites can be subsequently penalized or removed. Spam filters cannot catch all violations without also removing a large number of good sites. Search engines rely on their users to help them to keep their indexes clean and free of sites not using ethical SEO tactics. There are many techniques to spam an engine--far too many to list. However, a good SEO service not only knows what all of these techniques are but knows how to identify them when it sees them so they can be reported to the engine accurately.
The End Result
Business is business, and your interests often run directly counter to that of your competitors. When you report a website that is not using ethical SEO, it is very likely that it will be removed. This means there is one less company that you need to worry about in the online arena, at least for the time being. If the site in question outranked yours, you also get the added benefit of seeing your rankings improve as the violating pages are removed--provided, of course, that you are using ethical SEO techniques and steering clear of violations yourself, or you may be reported by a competitor of yours or its SEO service!
The engine also benefits from users reporting violations. Engines do not like people trying to trick their indexes, since there might then be pages showing up for particular search terms that are not actually relevant to those terms. Clearly, search engines understand this benefit--if the engines thought they could weed out all the spam themselves, they would not provide a reporting system. Supporting such a system, after all, is not free. Real people employed by the engine have to visit the offending pages to confirm that they are not using ethical SEO tactics.
In the notable example cited earlier of the firm that got most of its clients penalized, the owner of the SEO service in question was quoted as saying, "Google can kiss my ass. This is the Wild Wild West." He may be right--maybe it is the Wild Wild West. But there are a whole bunch of new sheriffs in town--and they are wearing white hats.
Scott Buresh is the founder and CEO of Medium Blue, which was recently named the number one search engine optimization company in the world by PromotionWorld. Scott�s articles have appeared in numerous publications, including ZDNet, WebProNews, MarketingProfs, DarwinMag, SiteProNews, SEO Today, ISEDB.com, and Search Engine Guide. He was also a contributor to Building Your Business with Google For Dummies (Wiley, 2004). Medium Blue is an Atlanta search engine optimization company with local and national clients, including Boston Scientific, Cirronet, and OneSource. Visit MediumBlue.com to request a custom SEO guarantee based on your goals and your data.
This is both a strength and a weakness -- it works better with some types of feeds than others -- but overall it provides a pleasant way to catch up with the news over your breakfast. Tags: AlphonsoLabs, ipad, new york times, ...
Barry Ritholtz Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
And no, this is not about keeping deadbeats in their homes.
VennData Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:14 pm
“…Had we performed GM-like prepackaged bankruptcies…” while – slightly – speculative and can surely be argued …has one unarguably powerful benefit: future bond investors will not expect to be bailed out. And that, as the list of pluses and minuses are drawn, trumps them all.
chartist Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
I just saw a lawyer on CNBC bringing up one situation where fraud occurred: People got mortgages on the pretense that it was for their primary residence, hence getting a lower mortgage rate. But, it was obvious they were for investing or othewise not for their primary residence and hence should have been given a higher rate….and the buyers of those loans were not told this and therefore overpaid for the mortgages….Now that’s fraud and a big problem for somebody.
hammerandtong2001 Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Hold your horses…
I thought this whole mess was just some book-keeping technicality mumbo jumbo…
(har, har…)
Said this the other day: I’m happy to pay my mortgage on the first of the month to somebody (anybody!) — that is — if you can PROVE that I owe you the money. Until then, it’s escrowed.
.
dead hobo Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
Barry Ritholtz Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
And no, this is not about keeping deadbeats in their homes.
reply:
————-
Not even just a few? Mean bastard. These people aren’t deadbeats. They’re payment impaired.
Otherwise, best story to data anywhere on the problem.
DL Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
“Had we performed GM-like prepackaged bankruptcies, these issues would not exist”.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
So, throwing taxpayer money, and bondholder money at the UAW is a good thing?
DM RTA Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
We do not know exactly how many structured products contain errors of Notes or Assignments, but a rough estimate is “More than a few.”
I feel like this is a dumb question but how are the securitized issues receiving the expected cash flow if there are mistakes that amount to more than a few? If the assignments are not in place properly then how do the various servicers know where to send the monthly principle and interest payments? And wouldn’t errors be showing up with the MBS holders?
Mr.Sparkle Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
@chartist – Everyone likes to trot out their favorite anecdotes to make their case.
Maybe we’re just all too fixated on examining this issue through the “rule of law” lens. Perhaps we should be looking at this as an “unintended stimulus package.”
It seems that this is only going to be really resolved on a case-by-case basis that will take years to sort out. And considering the different set of legal standards in each state, this probably makes some sense. So in the meantime, there should be a bonanza for lawyers and “allied tradespeople” extracting fees from the banks and servicers. Call it a trickle-down stimulus even, since we all know where the TARP money went.
When uncovered in these cases, fraud should be punished severely. Let the DAs wanting to make names for themselves roll the little fish robosigners/filers on the bigger fish in the banks. Someone borrowed and falsified the intent? That’s probably not only fraud against the bank but it wouldn’t surprise me if there were some property tax fraud thrown in the mix. Bust them too. Punish them all. I suspect that the truly innocent parties in this whole fiasco are few and far between.
HEHEHE Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
“These are problems of the banks own making, and we should make sure that the costs of these do not fall to the taxpayers.”
Good luck with that;)
deanscamaro Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
I was wondering when you would put out a post such as this! Back long ago, in the clouds of time, I remember when you had a post or two about the problem of losing sight of ownership on mortgages as these securitization packages were sliced and diced and sold off to the highest bidder.
What comes around, goes around. Speed kills! Where were/are we to turn to stop things like this from happening…….the banksters???……our congressmen who were/are being paid off by the banksters???
Bend over, please, while you receive our latest delivery.
Mutant_Dog Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
@DM RTA, good question. IF the legality of any assignment to the MBS is in question, the cash-flow stream paid as a result of that assignment should be under review as well. Off-the-cuff, I’d say that, now the foreclosed parties have much more stringent legal representation, and discovery, in their current predicament, than is routine to a mortgage-payer. IOW, the MBS world has just now become aware, itself, of the potential problems in this regard.
cwf Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
To those few who have argued here, “the system is not perfect”, and that errors will happen when such a large number of loans/foreclosures are processed (the same argument several pro-bank analysts on CNBC have used), I ask this question:
Does US Law treat differently
a) A corp that does 1,000,000 transactions with 1,000 of them breaking the law (perjury, false docs, forgery, fraudulent representations, etc.)
vs
b) A corp that does 1,001 transactions with 1,000 of them breaking the law?
If so, banks should find out what the tolerable (by US Law) ratio of criminal transactions vs. proper transactions is, and try to maintain a level of criminal transactions just under that ratio. Easy money.
Arequipa01 Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
Speaking of solutions:
Howzabout a lil thing we like ta cawl “adverse possession”
Hit it boys:
http://www.expertlaw.com/library/real_estate/adverse_possession.html
alnval Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
“At the current stage, we really do not know how extensive the problems are.” (BR)
IMO regardless of the extent of the problems associated with errors in the foreclosure process and how resolving them will impact the resolution of the current crisis, if the Amherst report is to be believed, we’re still looking at the possibility of 20 percent of the 55 million existing mortgages going into default.
It seems to me that these two problems cannot be separated. Any resolution of the mortgage crisis is going to have to consider both issues. Having mechanisms in place to resolve both will be essential. Given the potential magnitude of the default problem some deference should probably be given to stopping the forest fire before it consumes the fire house and the local water supply. That may mean that the government will be forced to install a moratorium on any court action designed to resolve questions of ownership until the impact of a 20 percent foreclosure rate on the national economy can be brought under control.
I continue to fear, however, that our culture of self-serving denial will continue to prevent us is from accurately scoping this problem so we can get on with fixing it. What iceberg?
Arequipa01 Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
This is for all the deadbeats and you know who you are (Kenny L- I’m lookin at chu!):
Blues Comin’ Home Baby (Melvin Taylor- Chicago based axe swinger)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qpv7uPJgeSQ
obsvr-1 Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
@Speaking of solutions:
Howzabout a lil thing we like ta cawl “adverse possession”
Hit it boys:
http://www.expertlaw.com/library/real_estate/adverse_possession.html
— Reply
Nice try, the statue of limitations varies by state, but it takes anywhere from 10 – 30 years to make an adverse possession claim – this is a dog that won’t hunt.
pintelho Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Maybe some previous astute commenter has already raised this concern..
Does anyone know how much of this affects the three stooges…you know Fannie, Freddie, and Ginnie?
That makes this a tax payer issue as well…
Bastardos!
S Brennan Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
Yes, the elites have decided, once again, as it always has been and will forevermore be…
Patricians: “It’s the Plebeians, it they would just fight and die in our imperial wars, pay for our tax cuts and shut up. I mean it’s not like we keep everything of theirs. We let them benefit a little from their labor don’t we…don’t we?”
Plebs: “We who are about to be crushed in your wars and brought to destitution in Patrician financial schemes salute you!”
Details here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39674290/ns/business-real_estate/
Mark E Hoffer Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
“… Under normal circumstances, the reckless illegality we have seen from banks would have caused the US Attorney to become involved in the investigations. Instead, the nation’s chief law enforcement officer has a conflict of interest…”
” Under normal circumstances ” ? Really ? Like, When?
Long Story Short, AG “Bag” Holder, like the Line of AGs before him, Is a walking ‘Conflict of Interest’.
Sorry, but that ain’t what that ‘Office’ does..
Friday links: bullet bonds Abnormal Returns Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
Congress won’t let the too-big-to-fail banks to get torpedoed by foreclosure-gate. (NetNet also Big Picture)
Pocket QQ Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
The Impact of Error From Securitization
What impacts (if any?) does this have on all RE transactions past and present? Are forged documents in refi and sales? Are people being economically impacted because nobody can figure out who owns what?
bman Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
I am getting rather bored with homeowners referred to as deadbeats. How about we think up something creative, Pioneers for homeowners, Vultures or some similar carrion creatures for bankers.
The pontificating drolls who go on about “well if the homeowner had just respected his usurious mortgage agreement,” while the whole economy went to hell as a result of the same bankers running a gambling based con game on the rest of the world, are quite repulsive, and in the process shine a light on their level of ignorance, or their conflicts of interests.
mbelardes Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
I’m tearing through analyst opinions and they are not paying any respect to the legal implications of this in their belief that this isn’t a big deal.
Due process of law in the deprivation of real property is a big deal. Fraudulent Affidavits to the court to begin the foreclosure of a property is a big deal.
IF this was as widespread as I bet it is, the banks are going to get ripped from the bully pulpit to the balance sheet.
obsvr-1 Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
Why should the SEC settle a civil case and not go for jail time for one of the most corrupt CEO’s behind this mess ? !!!
Public May Be Deprived of Seeing Angelo Mozilo Tried in the ‘Flesh’
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/10/public_will_probably_be_depriv.html
Freestate Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Does anyone know what the potential impact on title insurance companies is? Do they get stuck holding the bag here?
Jonke Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
Even the Swedes figured out 18 years ago that you shall not bail out banks or keep the toxic assetts in the mis-managed banks. Let the fundamental law be valid even in banking: too little equity = company gone from your ownership. Governements shall not own banks in a long term perspective, they shall create strong regulators that have the authority to ask tough questions and enforce regulation indpendent of how much money a bank or a banking organisation has donated or if a politician has worked their earlier. The bailed out bank shall be placed under public ownership in a special banking vehicle that seperates the good parts from the bad and does IPO’s on the good parts, place the bad parts in a toxic fund that is given minimum 5 years to dispose the assetts in an optimal way, both from a return perspective and market disruption perspective. The banking vehicle should be run by professionals and not politicains or left over managers from the failed banks.
It is many times better to let the property then evict on of the few who wants to live their and a bank is not suited for that but a toxic assett fund would be able to do that.
The American bank solution is a typical example that validates Barry’s statement that politics in the US today is not left-right it is individual vs corporation.
sahillyard Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
The Fed owns a good portion of the mortgage backed securities. Will they force the underwriters to take them back? This could get more interesting. Anybody know how well Maiden Lane is doing?
AGORACOM Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
I’ll second the motion that this is one of the best, clear articles on the subject.
Further, I repeat from my post yesterday that the Feds do not have a “waive to wand”. This bank cluster f*$k is beyond their reach. As Barry stated:
“This is going to be challenging to resolve, as the parties involved are sophisticated investors who will seek to enforce their warranties and contracts via the courts.”
Barry forgot to add in the fact that these parties are “highly motivated” (i.e. very pissed off) at being taken by the Wall Street machine and are salivating to take them for everything they have. On the one hand, you have investors like that little town in Norway that are all but broke thanks to buying these non-performing assets.
On the other hand, you have ARM homeowners that lost everything thanks to mortgage brokers selling Wall Street crack. To be clear, I have little sympathy for the NINJA homeowners – but that is not the point. They are a pissed off group and now they have some leverage.
The banks dodged the first bullet, they won’t dodge this one.
What is still up for debate is whether the costs will be fall to taxpayers. In my opinion, US taxpayers ultimately gave TARP a pass the first time (though they did put up a strong fight) based on fears of economic catastrophe. They won’t do it again.
Regards,
George … The Greek …. From Canada
Michael Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Barry,
I like the tone of this piece…. more a focus on the facts, less on emotion. Plus as I stated before in a comment, I tend to believe INCOMPETENCE is at the root of most, but not all, problems; rather than outright devious/fraudulent behavior.
On a high level, I think one can argue that our society has become too complex for the skill level of the average employee to handle, e.g. the skill level of the people putting together mortgages and now foreclosing on them. It may surprise you to learn that half the people are below average! :)
Regards,
Michael
Effective Demand Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
“Banks are sitting on millions of foreclosed properties. ”
I’d love to see you prove that assertion.. you can’t because it isn’t true!
There are many homes in the foreclosure process, the number of homes foreclosed on is a much smaller number. If the float is a million at any one point in time i’d be absolutely shocked, it certainly isn’t 2 million (millionS).
As for title insurance, the banks will either become self insuring or indemnify the title insurers for that specific flaw in title like BofA just did with a title insurer. It’s a minor issue that can be easily addressed.
I think you are at the point of extreme, zero hedge level exaggeration on point #6 which makes me suspicious of all your other points.
Mannwich Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
@Effective Demand: It’s not true? You can’t prove that either. Go to places like FL, Cali, NV and AZ and there’s likely more than a million there alone.
chartist Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Somewhere there’s a sniper with a dwindling 401K who just read Matt Taibibi in Rolling stone, practicing his nail a banker from North Jersey shot…… We’re headed for revolution…..Who will be the victim of the shot hear round Wall Street?
DeDude Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
“These people aren’t deadbeats. They’re payment impaired”
- or sick, or unemployed, or making a (nothing personal) business decision, or…..
until you actually talk with the individual parties involved it is not going to be possible to judge them – not that lack of specific knowledge would hold back most people. Nothing creates such a good warm feeling as condemning others as being bad immoral deadbeat people.
Effective Demand Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Mannwich,
I’ve been through this in California with many misinformed people. You look at the number of foreclosures taken in (its public record) vs the absorption rate and you can get the basic float.
There are a large number of homes in THE FORECLOSURE PROCESS but the number of homes FORECLOSED ON and held in inventory is relatively small.
Here is the data I have put together from public reports from Dataquick (the gold standard for RE data in CA):
http://effectivedemand.blogspot.com/2010/08/california-shadow-inventory-report-q2.html
I’d estimate the inventory “float” for California to be about 1 to 1.5 quarters worth of REO’s (60k -ish).
Ask yourself why would the bank take all the risk to have a home foreclosed on and not put it for sale. It makes no sense for them to do so.. and in fact they don’t do it.
I’ve never looked at it at a national level, I’ve got access to all the NAR data but I dont think they started reporting foreclosures as a % of sales until recently. California is a large enough sample size where I think you can get extrapolate and not be far off. Estimate 1 to 1.5 quarters worth of REO’s in inventory, round up and call it 2 quarters and you’re still only in the 500k home ballpark.
The data doesn’t support BR’s assertion :
http://www.realtytrac.com/content/foreclosure-market-report/q3-2010-and-september-2010-foreclosure-reports-6108
Last quarter was 288k REO’s for the US, BR’s assertion would mean they have approximately 7 quarters worth of REO inventory. NOBODY ANYWHERE is seeing that, it’s data pulled from the backside, a complete fabrication.
Effective Demand Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
This shows the second half of point #6 is a non-issue just as the previous post shows the first half of point #6 is over-exaggerated:
http://www.americanbanker.com/news/bank-of-america-fidelity-national-1027074-1.html
Title insurance won’t be an issue going forward.
Andy T Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 3:23 pm
“We could make wild and unsubstantiated conclusions, but we prefer reason and logic.”
Funny stuff, that comment, given some of the histrionic proclamations made earlier this week.
kayem Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
Earlier BR wanted to know actual stories, and others have argued that the the number of actual homeowners harmed is small. I think the magnitude of the problem should not be measured by the number of actual harmed homeowners, because really, so few of the foreclosures have actual homeowners living in them. How many stories have we all seen about vacant or half-finished developments or ghost towns (most recent: Einhorn/St Joe). So, regardless of how many individuals were harmed (or were deadbeats), the number of properties potentially without clear title (and subsequent problems with resale value and property values) is staggering.
Local anecdote: I’ve been watching the mess from my home in south Florida since 2002. Valuations in my historic neighborhood have made a complete round trip from 200K to 425K and now, as the foreclosures occur, below 200K. The adjacent new development sold out (preconstruction in 2004 and 2005), and completed construction in 2006. That fall, I counted lockboxes on 29 of 41, and only 1 real-live homeowner living there. Most of the places sat vacant for years, and now about half have renters and asking prices have plummeted. I can tell from the county’s property search records that most “owners” mailing addresses are different than the property address and many were out of state. Harmed homeowners? None. Properties without clear title if the whole development was in some trust without assignments? 41. Impact on property values in my neighborhood? Ah, that’s the question.
Housing recovery? Bueller? Bueller? Anyone?
Effective Demand Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 4:18 pm
Mannwich:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703832204575210423113145954.html
You were saying? Turns out my estimates match up almost exactly with Barclays and I am sure their data is much better. Check out the spiffy chart, green line.
BR, I’d just remove #6 completely..
nofoulsontheplayground Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
The best solution I’ve heard is the “California Solution.”
I believe in California if you challenge the ownership of the deed you need to put up the equivalent of the value of the note.
This keeps the deadbeats from dragging out the process. There have been hardly any instances of challenges like we’re seeing in Florida in California because of this law.
It should be adopted nationally, and that would solve the problem.
ReadingFundamental Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
To whoever asked how anyone is collecting payments if the assignments were not done. Any time a loan is made it is set up day one on a loan servicing system. The originators made loans, and every now and then when they had a big enough “inventory” of them sold off pools of them for securitization. Some Wall Street firm would buy up a bunch of pools, pay lawyers to set up a REMIC and get it registered, and then sell bonds secured by those mortgages in the REMIC.
Now as soon as the originator sold the pool of loans it sent a “tape’ of the data – amount outstanding, interest rate, payment history, etc. to the new loan servicing company that would be handling the billing and collecting of payments for the REMIC.
When thousands of home loans are sold, the originators don’t want to pay people to sit and sign all those assignment documents and record mortgage assignments for them all at the courthouses, then the investment bankers putting together the REMIC don’t want to have to pay a bunch of people on behalf of the holding company (the mortgages go there until the REMIC has been created) to execute assignments of that stuff from the holding company into the REMIC, and pay to have all those mortgage assignments recorded.
In theory, a lawsuit against a borrower should not begin until someone has looked at ALL the loan documents – either originals or reliable copies, and the payment history, and signed an affidavit. All these entities were trading around data “tapes” instead of actual documents, so it appears that the folks hired at $12/hour (just a wild guess) didn’t ever look at any of this, they just signed.
I’ve signed a few affidavits in my time (for commercial transactions) and always went over them carefully. However, I ‘m an experienced financial services person with a B.A., and M.B.A., and a pretty long history of working with transaction and litigation attorneys.
dss Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
Record number of foreclosures in 2009
This morning RealtyTrac® released its year-end U.S. Foreclosure Market Reporttm for the year 2009.
The report shows a total of 3,957,643 foreclosure filings (default notices, RealtyTrac Foreclosure Rate for third quarter 2009scheduled foreclosure auctions and bank repossessions) on 2,824,674 U.S. properties in 2009, a 21 percent increase in total properties affected from 2008 and a whopping 120 percent increase in total properties affected from 2007. The report also shows that 2.21 percent of all U.S. housing units (one in 45) received at least one foreclosure filing during the year, up from 1.84 percent in 2008, 1.03 percent in 2007 and 0.58 percent in 2006.
——————–
Almost 4 million filings on 2.8 properties, in 2009. How many properties are in default and have not been served?
Darmah Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
Maybe not millions but you can search for an REO home among the 930,000 in the US according to RealtyTrac — http://www.realtytrac.com/states/bank-owned-props/index.html
Kris Dannon Says:
October 15th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
The humble settings where the robo-signer challenge began…
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/15/business/15maine.html
The Huffington Post Investigative Fund website (the first I’ve heard of it) has a lengthy article on a new way that big banks are driving foreclosures. Apparently local governments do not have the resources to pursue property tax collection themselves so they bundle up past due liens and sell them off to investors that can then collect or foreclose. I hadn’t heard of this practice but the article makes it sound like it has been long standing. What it says is new in the arena is the activity of major banks and hedge funds that buy the debts and then tack on massive “legal fees.”
For example:
This is in addition to upwards of 18% interest. When people can’t pay then the homes are taken to foreclosure. What is particularly egregious about this process is that everything is done through front companies that are sometimes not even registered in the country. Not even the governments know who they are dealing with:
Yes, banks that are backed explicitly and implicitly by hundreds of billions of dollars from the government each year are tacking on thousands of dollars of fees and then foreclosing on people that owed a few hundred bucks…from the shadows. Ecru, indeed.
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This is both a strength and a weakness -- it works better with some types of feeds than others -- but overall it provides a pleasant way to catch up with the news over your breakfast. Tags: AlphonsoLabs, ipad, new york times, ...
Lujiazui Breakfast: <b>News</b> And Views About China Stocks (Nov. 15 <b>...</b>
Stocks in China may face more declines today after large losses in mainland and US-traded China shares on Friday. Chinese media have been reporting that the government plans interest-rate increases to curb rising prices in the country.
Monday <b>News</b> Roundup - - The Offside - Liverpool Football Club Blog
Hodgson, aka The Manatee, as seen in this stock photo from 1937. A short international break.
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Probably Bad <b>News</b>: Juxtaposition FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and <b>...</b>
epic fail photos - Probably Bad News: Juxtaposition FAIL.
Sea Ice <b>News</b> #29 | Watts Up With That?
In sea ice news this week, Arctic sea ice continues its inexorable climb toward the summit, to be reached sometime in March 2011. At present the ice growth is tracking just below the rate of 2007, but it should also be pointed out that ...
Real Estate <b>News</b>: China Limits Foreign Investment - Developments - WSJ
Here is a look at real-estate news in the weekend's and Monday's WSJ:
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bench craft company rip off
UK chart: COD batters competition <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net
Read our news of UK chart: COD batters competition.
Lujiazui Breakfast: <b>News</b> And Views About China Stocks (Nov. 15 <b>...</b>
Stocks in China may face more declines today after large losses in mainland and US-traded China shares on Friday. Chinese media have been reporting that the government plans interest-rate increases to curb rising prices in the country.
Denver Broncos <b>News</b>: Horse Tracks - 11/15/10 - Mile High Report
Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .. Horse Tracks!
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Senator-Elect Rand Paul Pushes Earmark Ban - FoxNews.com
Paul said during an interview with Fox News on Sunday, "I think ear markings are bad. There is some symbolism. Definitely the symbolism is bad. And, I think it encourages people to vote for large appropriations bills, because all of a ...
Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 11/15 - Arrowhead Pride
Well, that happened. Who invited the 2009 Chiefs to yesterday's game? As you can imagine, there are a lot of recaps and opinions on the game (and a missing handshake). Here's today's Kansas City Chiefs news.
NBC Ad Urges Recording <b>News</b> - NYTimes.com
The anchor Brian Williams encourages people to record "Nightly News" if they cannot watch it at 6:30 pm.
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NBC Ad Urges Recording <b>News</b> - NYTimes.com
The anchor Brian Williams encourages people to record "Nightly News" if they cannot watch it at 6:30 pm.
Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 11/15 - Arrowhead Pride
Well, that happened. Who invited the 2009 Chiefs to yesterday's game? As you can imagine, there are a lot of recaps and opinions on the game (and a missing handshake). Here's today's Kansas City Chiefs news.
Real Estate <b>News</b>: China Limits Foreign Investment - Developments - WSJ
Here is a look at real-estate news in the weekend's and Monday's WSJ:
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<b>News</b> - PIC: See Jessica Simpson's Stunning Engagement Ring <b>...</b>
The singer debuted her new bling at an in-store appearance Saturday.
Debian Project <b>News</b> - October 18th, 2010
State of Debian 6.0 Squeeze , ask.debian.net, updated DebianEdu, new sloppy backports, Debian project membership.
Lujiazui Breakfast: <b>News</b> And Views About China Stocks (Nov. 15 <b>...</b>
Stocks in China may face more declines today after large losses in mainland and US-traded China shares on Friday. Chinese media have been reporting that the government plans interest-rate increases to curb rising prices in the country.
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Senator-Elect Rand Paul Pushes Earmark Ban - FoxNews.com
Paul said during an interview with Fox News on Sunday, "I think ear markings are bad. There is some symbolism. Definitely the symbolism is bad. And, I think it encourages people to vote for large appropriations bills, because all of a ...
<b>News</b> - Jessica Simpson, Eric Johnson Are Engaged! - Healthy <b>...</b>
The singer flashed a sizable ring during an in-store appearance on Saturday.
Probably Bad <b>News</b>: Juxtaposition FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and <b>...</b>
epic fail photos - Probably Bad News: Juxtaposition FAIL.
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Debian Project <b>News</b> - October 18th, 2010
State of Debian 6.0 Squeeze , ask.debian.net, updated DebianEdu, new sloppy backports, Debian project membership.
Kinect - OpenSource - amazing work created within a few <b>...</b>
November 14, 2010 | In News, c++, openFrameworks | View Comments. There have been a number of exciting developments in the last few days related to XBox Kinect. For those that may not be aware of what it is, it's a brand new interface ...
Probably Bad <b>News</b>: Juxtaposition FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and <b>...</b>
epic fail photos - Probably Bad News: Juxtaposition FAIL.
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Networked <b>news</b>: the digital future of regional journalism | Media <b>...</b>
US local and regional media are rebuilding using new business models, including that of Washington-based site TBD. By Kevin Anderson.
Pulse <b>News</b> Reader for iOS now free
This is both a strength and a weakness -- it works better with some types of feeds than others -- but overall it provides a pleasant way to catch up with the news over your breakfast. Tags: AlphonsoLabs, ipad, new york times, ...
<b>News</b> - PIC: See Jessica Simpson's Stunning Engagement Ring <b>...</b>
The singer debuted her new bling at an in-store appearance Saturday.
bench craft company rip off
Denver Broncos <b>News</b>: Horse Tracks - 11/15/10 - Mile High Report
Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .. Horse Tracks!
<b>News</b> - PIC: See Jessica Simpson's Stunning Engagement Ring <b>...</b>
The singer debuted her new bling at an in-store appearance Saturday.
Pulse <b>News</b> Reader for iOS now free
This is both a strength and a weakness -- it works better with some types of feeds than others -- but overall it provides a pleasant way to catch up with the news over your breakfast. Tags: AlphonsoLabs, ipad, new york times, ...
bench craft company rip off
Probably Bad <b>News</b>: Juxtaposition FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and <b>...</b>
epic fail photos - Probably Bad News: Juxtaposition FAIL.
Real Estate <b>News</b>: China Limits Foreign Investment - Developments - WSJ
Here is a look at real-estate news in the weekend's and Monday's WSJ:
<b>News</b> - PIC: See Jessica Simpson's Stunning Engagement Ring <b>...</b>
The singer debuted her new bling at an in-store appearance Saturday.
When a company undertakes a search engine optimization program, whether it is performed in-house or outsourced to an SEO service, most of the attention (and rightly so) is focused on the company website. This is the one aspect where there is a feeling of control--once a website is released into the wild, the company will have to see how its site fares against all the other websites out there, whether the other sites are using ethical SEO tactics or not.
Apart from changes made to the company website, the assumption is often that the company and, if it is using one, its SEO service, has zero control over what appears in search engine results. However, this is not usually the case. Often, you or your SEO service can have a direct effect on search engine results by monitoring your competitors and reporting them to the major search engines when the SEO techniques used on their site fall outside what is popularly referred to as ethical SEO. (Please note that while I believe that the word "ethical" is tossed around too often, "ethical SEO" has become the standard phrase to describe white hat techniques, and so it is the phrase I use throughout the article.)
Primary Competitors
To start with, let's define competitors. Almost every company has at least a handful of other companies that it considers to be primary competitors--the ones that sell the same products and services, that are of similar size, and so on. It is important that the SEO efforts (or lack thereof) of these competitors, whether they are using ethical SEO techniques or not, be monitored on a routine basis. If they have not hired an SEO service of their own, or if they have not started doing SEO in-house at all, you will have peace of mind knowing that the use of this channel, for the moment, is yours. If your competitors begin an SEO campaign, with or without an outside SEO service, you can learn much about their sales and marketing tactics by evaluating the keyphrases that they target. And you can also investigate whether they are using ethical SEO practices in their campaign.
Your Online Competitors
It's important to keep in mind that it is unlikely that searchers are going to decide only between you and the primary competitors you have listed. They are going to consider any company that matches their particular needs and that shows up for their search term. This is why your criteria for a competitor online should broaden to encompass any company that offers products or services like yours that outranks you for any of your targeted keyphrases. If your in-house staff or your SEO service not only continually monitors your search engine positions but also analyzes the companies that appear above you in search results, you can often identify forward-looking competitors of which you were previously unaware--your primary competitors of tomorrow.
Violations
This brings us to the key issue of ethical SEO. Search engine optimization is still a very new concept to most companies. Even the most respected companies can make mistakes in this arena, either by choosing the wrong SEO service, or by trying to avoid hiring an SEO service altogether by bringing it in house with well-intentioned but unqualified people. For example, BMW's German site was recently removed temporarily from the Google index for using doorway pages--something that is not considered an ethical SEO practice. It stands to reason that your competitors are also not immune to violations.
Bad Firms
There are very notable examples of otherwise smart and established companies hiring an SEO service that put them in a worse situation than before they pursued SEO--by getting their site removed from major search engines for violating the engine's terms of service, for example. Not long ago, there was a well-publicized example where most of the clients of a Las Vegas SEO service were penalized. Almost all of the clients claimed that they were not informed that the firm was not practicing ethical SEO and that they were therefore at risk.
SEO firms are generally divided into two camps--those called "White Hats" (those that use ethical SEO practices and will never knowingly violate a search engine's terms of service) and those called "Black Hats" (those that do not use ethical SEO practices and that will attempt to unravel the latest algorithms and exploit any loopholes to achieve rankings at any cost). Neither approach is invalid--it is not against the law to violate the terms of service of a search engine. Moreover, black hat techniques can be quite effective. However, the tactics are risky, and anyone hiring an SEO service that wears a black hat and does not use ethical SEO practices should definitely be apprised of this risk up front.
Internal Resources
Firms are often tempted to avoid hiring an SEO service by performing SEO in-house, and the project almost always falls onto an already overburdened IT department. The problem with approaching SEO from a strictly technical mindset is that the strategies employed, such as the keyphrases targeted, will not necessarily be in line with the goals of the marketing and sales departments. In addition, an IT resource will usually approach SEO from a purely technical standpoint, without being aware of ethical SEO practices, and this can lead to trouble. Penalization is a very real possibility, and it is hard to get back onto an index once your site has been removed.
Monitoring
A thorough SEO service will monitor not only the handful of competitors that you deem crucial but also the sites that appear higher than you for any of your chosen search phrases. This may be somewhat controversial, especially to any SEO service or webmaster that uses tactics forbidden by the search engines' terms of service. However, many white hat SEO service firms consider it an obligation to their clients to routinely monitor the sites of any competitor found on the engines to be sure it is using ethical SEO techniques.
There is a reason that every major search engine has a form to report sites who do not use ethical SEO tactics and who violate the terms of service so that these sites can be subsequently penalized or removed. Spam filters cannot catch all violations without also removing a large number of good sites. Search engines rely on their users to help them to keep their indexes clean and free of sites not using ethical SEO tactics. There are many techniques to spam an engine--far too many to list. However, a good SEO service not only knows what all of these techniques are but knows how to identify them when it sees them so they can be reported to the engine accurately.
The End Result
Business is business, and your interests often run directly counter to that of your competitors. When you report a website that is not using ethical SEO, it is very likely that it will be removed. This means there is one less company that you need to worry about in the online arena, at least for the time being. If the site in question outranked yours, you also get the added benefit of seeing your rankings improve as the violating pages are removed--provided, of course, that you are using ethical SEO techniques and steering clear of violations yourself, or you may be reported by a competitor of yours or its SEO service!
The engine also benefits from users reporting violations. Engines do not like people trying to trick their indexes, since there might then be pages showing up for particular search terms that are not actually relevant to those terms. Clearly, search engines understand this benefit--if the engines thought they could weed out all the spam themselves, they would not provide a reporting system. Supporting such a system, after all, is not free. Real people employed by the engine have to visit the offending pages to confirm that they are not using ethical SEO tactics.
In the notable example cited earlier of the firm that got most of its clients penalized, the owner of the SEO service in question was quoted as saying, "Google can kiss my ass. This is the Wild Wild West." He may be right--maybe it is the Wild Wild West. But there are a whole bunch of new sheriffs in town--and they are wearing white hats.
Scott Buresh is the founder and CEO of Medium Blue, which was recently named the number one search engine optimization company in the world by PromotionWorld. Scott�s articles have appeared in numerous publications, including ZDNet, WebProNews, MarketingProfs, DarwinMag, SiteProNews, SEO Today, ISEDB.com, and Search Engine Guide. He was also a contributor to Building Your Business with Google For Dummies (Wiley, 2004). Medium Blue is an Atlanta search engine optimization company with local and national clients, including Boston Scientific, Cirronet, and OneSource. Visit MediumBlue.com to request a custom SEO guarantee based on your goals and your data.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Scott_Buresh
Real Estate <b>News</b>: China Limits Foreign Investment - Developments - WSJ
Here is a look at real-estate news in the weekend's and Monday's WSJ:
Pulse <b>News</b> Reader for iOS now free
This is both a strength and a weakness -- it works better with some types of feeds than others -- but overall it provides a pleasant way to catch up with the news over your breakfast. Tags: AlphonsoLabs, ipad, new york times, ...
NBC Ad Urges Recording <b>News</b> - NYTimes.com
The anchor Brian Williams encourages people to record "Nightly News" if they cannot watch it at 6:30 pm.