That Ain't Right: Detroit Contractor Indicted for Bid Rigging and Fraud at My Former, and Now HOPE VI, Project.

From Crain's Detroit Business story HERE: 

Federal officials allege Ferguson and co-defendants Michael Woodhouse, president of Ferguson-owned XCEL Construction Services Inc., and Calvin Hall, vice president of XCEL, collaborated in preparing and submitting a proposal for XCEL to obtain an $11.7 million contract to act as construction manager for the infrastructure installation phase of Garden View Estates.

After securing the contract in 2007, Ferguson allegedly steered the primary contract to award more than $9 million of demolition, earthwork and utilities work to Ferguson’s Enterprises. He is also accused of recruiting and directing two other Michigan business owners to submit false, inflated bids to ensure that Ferguson’s Enterprises’ bid was lowest for that subcontract.

Co-defendant Shakib Deria, 42, of Troy is charged along with Ferguson with conspiracy to violate the Bank Secrecy Act, by making 19 sequential withdrawals of $9,500 each in order to obtain $171,000 in cash from the bank account of another Ferguson company, A&F Environmental/Johnson Construction Services. Deria is a Ferguson's employee and the vice president of the joint-venture company.

Ferguson, a friend and ally of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, and Ferguson’s Enterprises are also accused of illegally dumping truckloads of excavated soil, construction debris and other materials from other construction projects at Garden View Estates. Federal officials also allegedly found two pistols in Ferguson’s office during a January 2009 search of his company.

Ferguson has a 2005 criminal conviction for assault with intent to do great bodily harm for pistol-whipping Kennedy Thomas, a former Ferguson’s Enterprises employee.

Project (Google map view) is where I lived for 9 years in 1950's-60's, and was funded as HOPE VI all the way back in 1996, 14 years ago. 

Wikipedia says project originally had 2,144 units, and HOPE VI plan was/is for 833 units.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

NSP1 Oregon August Report Shows Continued Spending, NO Increase Reported in Units or Households Served.

I previously posted HERE about NSP 1 spending and goal achievement as of the end of July.  In that post I said that the JULY report showed:

• 92% of funding had been "committed" and 43% had been "expended"
• 18% of the 471 unit goal had been achieved and only 22% of the 267 household beneficiary goal had been accomplished.
  

The end of August report is now out HERE, and it shows that:

• Funding "committed" had increased to 98.9%, while "expenditures" increased to 58.2%.
• There was NO reported increase in the unit or beneficiary served goal achievement.

I suspect this may be a reporting problem, with attention focused on getting money spent before upcoming deadlines.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

FHA "Bad Boy/Apple" Protections Not Fully Working Against Lender Staff and Execs.

While clearly FHA has become more aggressive in rooting out FHA fraud,  this Center for Public Integrity story from the WaPo HERE demonstrates that it has a way to go.

"....documents and interviews reveal that more than 34,000 home loans have been issued over the past two years by a dozen FHA-approved lenders that have employed people who were convicted of felonies, banned from the securities industry or previously worked for firms barred by the agency.

More than 3,000 of those loans, about 9 percent, were seriously delinquent or already a claim on the FHA insurance fund as of June 30. That's nearly triple the rate for all loans made by FHA lenders over the past two years...

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog

Housing Land Advocates Oct 7th Conference in Salem on Intersection of Transportation and AFFORDABLE Housing.

The Road Home: The Intersection of Transportation and Affordable Housing
 

Thursday, October 7, 2010. Willamette University College of Law, Salem.
 

Sponsored by Housing Land Advocates, AARP and Willamette University College of Law.

Agenda and registration information available HERE.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Rail-Volution Annual Meeting in Portland October 18-21.

Main page, including registration is HERE. 

Schedule is HERE; Brochure is HERE.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Portland Housing Bureau Posts HUD Grants Performance Report for Comment.

The Portland Housing Bureau has posted their annual CAPER (performance report) for public comment; it covers Portland, Gresham, and Multnomah County. 

Report details use of more than $18.8 million in HUD grants and program income. Comments are due NLT Sept 22 and a hearing will be held on Sept 15th.

PHB web page for this is HERE. Actual CAPER document is HERE. Lots of details about how much money was spent, by whom, and on what.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

MF GSE Loans in Oregon , CY 2008: 112 Projects, $744 Million.

As another "first ever", I have been able to construct a table showing multifamily loans acquired by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac in Oregon during CY 2008.  

Using some Excel formula magic, I was also able to add a place field, so the table I constructed HERE shows by county and city those Oregon GSE MF loans acquired during CY 2008. 

Unfortunately, to protect individual loan identity, the GSE MF database available does NOT have units by project, so totals are only available for the number of projects, and unpaid principle balance at acquisition. 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Fannie, Freddie and FHA Oregon CY 2008: $21.8 Billion+ In Single Family Loans to 101,000+ Families.

I have created the first ever Oregon county summary level table HERE that shows Fannie, Freddie AND FHA single family lending for CY 2008. This table includes ALL counties in Oregon, not just metro areas that are reported in HMDA.

I can say "first ever" with confidence because the data required to create the table was a real pain to acquire, combine and summarize. (As with past mega projects, I blame it on Sisu).

Since we (taxpayers) now own all three of these organizations I thought you might be interested to know that:

1. 101,640 Oregon families received a CY 2008 loan that was insured or acquired by these three federally owned organizations.
2. $21.8 billion in Oregon SF loans were insured or acquired by these three federally owned organizations in CY 2008.
3. Fannie and Freddie accounted for 82%/(83,397) of all Oregon SF loans insured or acquired by these three organizations in CY 2008, and FHA 18% (18,243).
4. The 5 counties in Oregon that are in the Portland metro area received 52% (52,963) of all loans insured or acquired in Oregon by these organizations in CY 2008.
5. When compared to the 695,349 mortgages outstanding in Oregon (see my prior post on underwater loans HERE), these 101,640 loans in ONE year would represent 15% of ALL mortgages outstanding in Oregon (actual percentage is likely somewhat less because some 2008 loans have already been taken out through pay off or foreclosure).

Comparison--OHCS SF Loans in CY 2008: 1,598 Loans, $282 Million (Many were FHA insured or acquired by Fannie/Freddie)

To put these numbers in context, during CY 2008, the OHCS Oregon SF bond program originated 1,598 /$282 million in single family loans, many of which were either insured by FHA or acquired by Fannie and Freddie. (OHCS SF loan volume since CY 2008 has also dramatically decreased while I expect future CY 2009 data will show increases for FHA, and perhaps Fannie and Freddie also).

I have much, much more data from the CY 2008 Fannie/Freddie SF database I created and will working with other groups to make snapshots of that data available in the future. 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Oregon Gets $5 Million For NSP3; No Guidance Yet.

HUD PR is HERE. Allocation table by state is HERE.

No policy guidance on use of NSP3, nor the data supporting the allocation is posted as of 10 AM PDT. Expect it will follow at some point.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

New GAO Report on Homebuyer Tax Credits; 38k+ Oregon Families Got $278+ Million.

Thanks to NLIHC tweet, GAO report is HERE. 

Report includes details on three different programs, with lots of state data and rankings. Three programs were:

1. The Housing Act version provided taxpayers a refundable tax credit, meaning it is paid even if there is no tax liability or if the credit exceeds any tax due, equal to 10 percent of the purchase price of a home, up to a maximum of $7,500. Taxpayers must repay the credit over 15 years beginning in the 2011 filing season.
2. The Recovery Act version provided taxpayers a refundable tax credit equal to 10 percent of the purchase price of a home, but increased the maximum credit to $8,000 with a waiver of the repayment provision for purchases in 2009. However, taxpayers are still required to repay the credit if the home is resold or ceases to be the primary residence of the taxpayer within 3 years. 
3. The Assistance Act version extended the time frame in which home buyers could claim the Recovery Act version of the credit from November 30, 2009, to April 30, 2010, and included several modifications, such as allowing certain long-term homeowners purchasing new homes to claim a tax credit up to $6,500.

Oddly, I did NOT find a state table that combined totals for all three acts, so I constructed one with my calculations HERE. (Legal sized to accommodate all the columns).

Table shows that

• There were 38,525 Oregon families who used one of the tax credit programs; the claims total was $278,672,100.
• The biggest single program was the Recovery Act first time home buyer program with 19,531 Oregon families claiming $145,667,245.

Total revenue losses to federal government through 2019 are estimated at $22 billion.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

California HFA Back in Market with New $1Billion+ FHA Product; Current Rate is 4%.

PR is HERE. Information for lenders is HERE. 

Current interest rates for this first time home buyer only program are HERE. As of this (Wed.) morning the rate was 4.00% (but, with overall mortgage market rates increasing lately, this rate could also be moving upward).

Appears that the most recent $1 billion+ offering statement for California SF bonds is HERE.

Down payment and closing cost assistance is also available through other CALHFA programs; details about these down payment and closing cost programs are HERE.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Hardest Hit NON PROFIT Issues RFP for Deschutes and Jackson County Loan Refinancing Pilot with Sept 15 Due Date.

Loan Refinancing pilot program RFP in Deschutes and Jackson counties was issued by Oregon's Hardest Hit Non Profit (Oregon Affordable Housing Assistance Corporation [OAHAC]) and not OHCS.

RFP, with Sept 15 due date, is HERE. Purpose explained in the RFP:

The Loan Refinancing Program has not received approval from the US Treasury yet pending additional details and refinement.The purpose of this Request for Proposal (“RFP”) is to gain a better understanding of the capabilities of potential partners, programmatic development assistance, and to identify a long term partner to provide the resources and expertise required to deliver a successful Loan Refinancing Assistance Program. OAHAC is soliciting proposals for the development and management of the Loan Refinancing Assistance Program. OAHAC seeks a partner that can demonstrate the capacity, knowledge, and ability to provide the resources for the life of the entire program. The partner will develop the program working closely within US Treasury guidelines from planning, purchasing, refinancing, and reselling qualified properties in Deschutes and Jackson counties.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

New Report-REO and Vacant Properties: Strategies for Neighborhood Stabilization.

Thanks to NLIHC for heads up on new report HERE from Federal Reserve Conference held last week on REO. 

Conference agenda HERE also has links to prepared remarks from several speakers, including HUD Secretary Donovan; in his remarks HERE he said that NSP 3 allocations will be made THIS week).

From Federal Reserve summary:

Report contains seventeen articles that examine a variety of neighborhood stabilization issues. The collection highlights both areas of need--such as for data, technology, and collaboration--and promising solutions from communities across the country. Examples include the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, land bank that holds vacant properties until they can be returned to productive use, and Boston Community Capital’s efforts to purchase foreclosed properties and sell them back to former owners or tenants using a licensed mortgage affiliate.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Oregon Has 17th Worst State Rank for Borrowers Underwater+Near Underwater Borrower Percentage, with 148,000+ Underwater/Near Underwater Homeowners.

Last weeks WSJ had a story related to the new FHA underwater refinancing program HERE. Included in that story was a link to a table HERE, showing state "underwater" borrowers as of June 30, 2010.

I have reconstructed that data and added ranks and pasted it below showing Oregon's "underwater" borrowers compared to the national average and to Idaho and Washington.

Some observations:

1. Oregon had 109,135 "underwater" borrowers AND another 38,046 "near underwater" borrowers.
2. Those 148,081 "underwater+near underwater" borrowers , represented 21.3% of all loans in the state.
3. Oregon 21.3% "underwater+near underwater" percentage of loans was still significantly better (24%) than the US average of 27.9%.
4. Oregon's 21.3% was also better than Idaho's 28.9%, but worse than Washington's 20.6%
5. Oregon had the 17th worst "underwater+near underwater" percentage among 44 states where data was available.
6. Idaho had the 7th worst underwater+near underwater percentage in the country and Washington the 20th.
7. Oregon homeowners retained $56+ billion in equity in their homes and nationally homeowners retained $3.8 TRILLION.

State	National	Idaho	Oregon	Washington
Mortgages	47,802,783	242,694	695,439	1,407,297
Negative Equity Mortgages	10,971,224	57,615	109,135	214,468
Near** Negative Equity Mortgages	2,356,100	12,538	38,946	76,383
Negative Equity Share PLUS Near Negative Equity Mortgages	13,327,324	70,153	148,081	290,851
Negative Equity Share	23.00%	23.70%	15.70%	15.20%
Near** Negative Equity Share	4.90%	5.20%	5.60%	5.40%
Negative Equity Share PLUS Near Negative Equity Share	27.90%	28.90%	21.30%	20.60%
Total Property Value	$12,707,027,160,944	$48,968,685,624	$180,105,676,362	$441,737,928,305
Mortgage Debt Outstanding	$8,875,764,627,185	$35,649,637,071	$123,683,325,688	$293,421,788,044
Net Homeowner Equity	$3,831,262,533,759	$13,319,048,553	$56,422,350,674	$148,316,140,261
Loan-to-Value Ratio	70%	73%	69%	66%
Rank Neg Equity Share %, Worst to Best		7	17	21
Rank Neg Equity Share %+ Near Neg Equity Share, Worst to Best		7	17	20

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Updated: Eligibility Excel Tool for New FHA Underwater Refinance Program Illustrates Challenges Facing Applicant.

Update:
Made link to prior blog post active/corrected two typos.
---------------

The administration is rolling out a new underwater borrower FHA refinance program. (My prior blog post is HERE). 

After reviewing the FHA mortgagee letter for this program it was clear that to be eligible for the program homeowners would have to pass a number of eligibility tests. 

To help clarify what those eligibility questions are, and what answers are required to be eligible for the new program I

have constructed an Excel worksheet HERE, which ONLY requires the user to select "Yes" or "No" answers to 12 questions, to determine IF they are ELIGIBLE for this new program . 

"Eligible" does not mean borrower is qualified and will GET loan, just that they have no immediate factors that would disqualify them from consideration. 

Note that an incorrect answer to ONE of the 13 questions will disqualify the homeowner from eligibility. I have set the default position for each answer to disqualify the borrower, to qualify the borrower each default answer needs to be changed to the opposite answer.  (I have password protected the sheet to prevent inadvertent entries).

I would encourage readers to share this Excel file with housing counselors and agencies as a tool that may help clarify the requirements of this new program and help homeowners understand why they may or may not be eligible for this program.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.