Mortgage Arrears Fall, Foreclosure Woes Persist By Joe Light The percentage of home owners falling behind on their mortgages in the first quarter fell to the lowest level since mid-2007, but some states continued to struggle to work through a large inventory of loans in foreclosure. At the end of the first quarter, about 5.54% of loans were at least one payment past due after adjusting for seasonal factors, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, an industry group. That was down from 5.68% in the fourth quarter and 6.11% in the first quarter of 2014. The mortgage market continued to…
Author: Ian McLean
Here’s a proposed release regarding upcoming efforts on Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act: “While relieved that the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act was extended retroactively at the end of 2014, I am not satisfied with the result and understand the industry needs and deserves greater certainty on the tax treatment of short sales transactions in the years ahead. Immediately in 2015, I began meeting with members of Congress to craft the best possible result for the residential real estate investing community. Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) has introduced legislation that would extend the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act through the end…
Here’s the final draft of our announcement on the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act release: Washington, DC Short Sale Tax Extension Protects Distressed Homeowners from $8.1 billion in “phantom income” taxation; Congressional action sets stage for passage of permanent break in 2015 to expand utilization of short sales. Today, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a package of tax extension measures that included the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, a measure that prevents the IRS from taxing distressed homeowners on “phantom income” forgiven when utilizing a short sale. The bill is retroactive through all of 2014 and saves distressed homeowners…
The efforts to extend the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act into 2015 have grown more complex since the November election. After the election, a group called American for Prosperity (operated by the Koch Brothers who fund Republican elections) began pushing for the House to back off the current Tax Extender deal (a package of tax breaks that includes the short sale tax provision). The Koch Brothers asked Speaker Boehner to make one provision that would benefit Koch Industries permanent and delay action on all the other provisions. Speaker Boehner seems prepared to back this strategy, but likely will back off…
After the elections, Congress will convene on November 12th at which time work on the Tax Extenders Package (a group of tax cuts that includes the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act) will begin. I confirmed the votes are in place to get the legislation passed before the end of the year. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has committed to put the bill up for a vote, and regardless of election results Reid will be running the Senate at least until the end of 2014. The only caveat that we warn subscribers to consider is that a member of the Senate…
