More renters in the Phoenix area are finding notices of foreclosure auctions on their front doors.
The number of rental homes in the region falling into foreclosure is climbing. There are now about 6,025 houses  – classified as rentals on real estate documents – in foreclosure, reports Netvaluecentral Inc.
The figure has climbed by more than 200 in [...]

Home prices in metropolitan Phoenix have been slipping during the past month, prompting concern about a double dip in the region’s housing values.
So far, Phoenix-area home prices are still well above the low they hit in March 2009.
The average price-per-square-foot of metro Phoenix home sales fell to $89.38 this week, according to Mike Orr’s Cromford [...]

Apartment owners must compete with the landlords of the growing number of former foreclosure homes for rent in metropolitan Phoenix now.
The average apartment rent dipped to $721 during the second quarter, reports national multi-family research firm RealFacts. The region’s average apartment rent was $725 during the first quarter, and $766 last summer.
Most metro areas tracked [...]

The Phoenix-area housing market continues to settle. The impact of the federal homebuyer tax credit on sales and the loan-modification program on foreclosures is still difficult to fully determine.
Indicators from the region’s housing market are mixed. The number of foreclosures climbed, but the number of foreclosure homes resold by lenders didn’t. New-home sales sagged, but [...]

A dozen more former Phoenix real estate agents and loan officers have been indicted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for mortgage fraud schemes.
In two separate cases, loan officers, escrow and real estate agents and an appraiser have been charged with conspiracy, bank and wire fraud and money laundering.
 
Thomas Gregory Alexander, Paul Patrick Alexander and Bobbie [...]

Nationally, the U.S. Attorney’s office recently announced results of its mortgage fraud crackdown called Operation Stolen Dreams. The most recent indictments for the crackdown in metropolitan Phoenix inlcuded former loan officers involved in cash-back schemes that artificially inflated the area’s home values and led to the housing market’s crash.
On June 1st, a federal grand jury in Phoenix returned a 30-count [...]

A new video to help stop foreclosure scams has been released by the Arizona Attorney General.
The video can be seen  at www.azag.gov or http://www.youtube.com/user/AZAttorneyGeneral.
Money from the state’s settlement with Countrywide Financial Corp. last year funded the video.
“Many families in neighborhoods all across our state are in crisis. Thousands are at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure.  [...]

The number of new foreclosure filings against Phoenix-area homeowners fell in May to the lowest level since July 2008.
Last month, there were 6,471 pre-foreclosures, or notice of trustee sales, filed in the Valley, according to the Information Market. Foreclosures also dropped last month to 4,090, their lowest since November 2009.
Phoenix-based R.O.I. Properties, led by Beth [...]

A  lawsuit has been filed against a Scottsdale-based Discount Mortgage Relief and Mortgage Relief LLC by the Arizona Attorney General.
The lawsuit alleges the company engaged in deceptive loan modification services. Attorney General Terry Goddard’s office obtained a temporary restraining order against the firms that  prevents them from charging or receiving money for loan modifications.
A new Arizona [...]

The number of homeowners receiving help from lenders is increasing. However, many Phoenix-area homeowners are still frustrated and angry by the process.
Through April, 13,330 metro Phoenix homeowners had received loan modifications, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. That’s about 1,000 more permanent loan modifications in the area since March.
Another 24,496 homeowners are in trial loan [...]