Option-Arm mortgages were some of the most dangerous loans made during the housing frenzy. Now, some of these speculative, risky buyers are being rewarded with principal reductions.

What are the prospects for curing these loans? Most bulls assume cure rates of 85% or better will mop up this mess. With less than a quarter of loans curing, foreclosure is the most likely outcome for shadow inventory even if cure rates continue to improve. Distressed inventory will be with us for a long time.

Over half of Californians with a mortgage spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs. By prudent standards this is spending too much on housing. Of course housing pundits would like you to believe that this is somehow okay and justified but the massive amount of people unable to pay their mortgages in the state tells you that many are unable to support their current home (aka they cannot afford their home).

When adjustable-rate mortgages are on the verge of adjusting, a common concern among homeowners is that their mortgage rates will adjust higher. Well, this year, because of the math of how ARMs adjust, homeowners in Oklahoma City and around the country are seeing that mortgage rates on ARMs can sometimes adjust lower, too. Adjusting conforming [...]

Many people seem to think the trouble has passed for the high end and that these properties somehow escaped the ravages of the bubble. Well, so far that has proven true because lenders are not foreclosing, owners are continuing to list at WTF prices, and very little is selling. Lenders are not going to give away these homes. They will have to foreclose and put these properties in the hands of owners who can afford them.