Arizona now ranks fourth for mortgage fraud nationally. It’s the first time the state has cracked the top five for the problem, according to data released this week from the Mortgage Asset Research Institute.
Florida, New York and California (in that order) rank ahead of Arizona for 2009 mortgage fraud cases. The most prevalent type of [...]

Legislation to help with Arizona’s foreclosure problem passed the
state Senate today.
House Bill 2766, sponsored by Rep. Barbara McGuire, D-Kearny
(District 23), requires a landlord to allow a tenant at least 30
days to vacate a foreclosed property.
It’s the only piece of legislation form the House Democrats’
Foreclosure Rescue for Arizona package to move forward.
“This bill will help Arizona [...]

Valuing a home today in metropolitan Phoenix is difficult for many homeowners.
Foreclosures and short sales weigh heavily on comparable sales figures, the “comps,” in every neighborhood. How those below market sale prices affect a home’s value varies by neighborhood.
To help readers develop their own real-time estimates of a home’s value, I asked a group [...]

The average Arizona family must earn $17 an hour to afford decent housing and utilities in Arizona now.
The figure is considered "Arizona’s housing wage" and comes from the report Out of Reach 2010 published by the National Low Income Coalition and the Arizona Housing Alliance this week.
Arizona is the 18th most expensive state for housing [...]

Phoenix apartment rents are climbing as more units are leased.
New data from RealFacts shows the average rental rate in the Phoenix-area climbed 4.5 percent during the first quarter of this year.
The region’s new average rent is $725, up from $694 during the last quarter of 2009.
The apartment data tracking firm said Phoenix’s recent increase in [...]

Today, metro Phoenix’s planners, developers and government officials are gathering to talk housing and transportation. Two of the region’s biggest issues, after the economy.
The event is the Sustainable Transportation and Housing for Sustainable Communities summit in Tempe, where the Center for Neighborhood Technology will unveil its Transportation and Housing Affordability index for the Phoenix area.
Despite [...]

The Arizona Department of Housing has submitted its plan to spend $125 million in federal funds to slow foreclosures.
Arizona is one of five states divvying up $1.5 billion in foreclosure prevention funds. All state plans were due to the U.S. Treasury Department today. A few tweaks were made to the original plan, including more focus [...]

A Los Angeles real estate broker has pled guilty to filing false tax returns to claim almost $70,000 in fraudulent homebuyer tax credits.
Kashawn Monique Savery admitted at a hearing Monday to being involved in filing more than 200 false tax returns seeking more than $1.3 million in fraudulent claims for federal, first-time buyer credits, according [...]

The two Centerpoint condominium towers in downtown Tempe failed to sell at a foreclosure auction this morning.
The project, which has been stalled for the past two years, went back to the lender Peoria-based ML Holdings.
ML Holdings is the predecessor to hard-money lender Mortgages Ltd.
Tempe Land Co. was Centerpoint’s developer. It changed its bankruptcy [...]

The Arizona Department of Housing must have its plan to spend $125 million in federal funds to slow foreclosures to the U.S. Treasury Department by April 16th.
A public meeting was held to discuss the plan last Wednesday. There were many questions and some criticisms to the plan. The state’sHousing Dept. had to put the plan [...]