Foreclosure

The Fox Hill Senior Condominium in Bethesda, which opened in 2008, is facing foreclosure by its lenders, according to Sunrise Senior Living, the McLean-based manager of the property. "Fox Hill is a one-of-a-kind luxury senior condominium community that has, like many excellent high-end condominium projects, fallen victim to an economic crisis where home sales have steeply declined," Sunrise Chief Executive Mark Ordan said in a statement Wednesday evening. Ordan said his company has no equity in the project.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed information provided by Evan Goitein, a foreclosure attorney, to Malloy Evans, Fannie Mae's Vice President for default management. Goitein, not Evans, made the point that most deficiency cases he sees involve smaller banks. This version has been corrected. Michel du Cille The Washington Post Jose Santos Benavides, 42, lives with daughter Gloria, 6, and the rest of his family in a Rockville apartment.

Within the next 31 days, 4.2 million homeowners who suffered abusive foreclosure tactics at the hands of some of the nation's largest banks will be notified of their compensation, banking regulators said Thursday. The Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued the final details of a sweeping $9.3 billion agreement with 13 mortgage servicers, including JPMorgan Chase, Citibank and Bank of America , under consent orders for fraudulent and flawed foreclosure...

LOS ANGELES — Lenders stepped up action last month against homeowners who had fallen behind on their mortgage payments, taking possession of more homes and initiating the foreclosure countdown clock on many others. Completed foreclosures jumped 11 percent nationally in May from the previous month, with monthly increases taking place in 33 states, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday. The monthly pick up reflects a rise in homes entering the foreclosure process...

You can't really say that credit scores don't matter. They do. So it's understandable that the hundreds of thousands of homeowners who finally realize they can no longer hold onto their homes worry about how turning in their keys to the house through various transactions with their lender will affect their credit scores. People can just let the home go to foreclosure, and this will affect their scores for seven years. Or they can do a deed in lieu of foreclosure. With a deed in lieu, you...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has a birthday gift for widow Jeanette Ogle — a gift that should cause any senior to think twice before signing up for a government-insured reverse mortgage. Later this month, on Ogle's 92nd birthday, her home in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., is scheduled for foreclosure — and it's not because she did something wrong. Instead, she is expected to lose her house because only her late husband's name was included on the reverse...

Where to find legal help with foreclosures: · Maryland Foreclosure Prevention Pro Bono Project: 877-462-7555. · Civil Justice Network in Baltimore (provides legal assistance for low- and moderate-income people in Maryland, Virginia and the District): 410-706-0174. · Legal Aid in Maryland and Virginia provides legal services to people who cannot afford attorneys. Maryland Legal Aid: 301-560-2100 or 888-215-5316. Virginia Legal Aid: 866-534-5243. · Neighborhood Legal Services Program in the District helps people who meet...

Q: I live in Maryland and recently became unemployed. I have enough money to pay my monthly first-mortgage payment with Bank A for two years, if I do not make my home-equity line-of-credit payments to Bank B. Can Bank B foreclose on my home if I am current on my first-mortgage payments? If Bank B cannot foreclose, what legal action can it take against me? A: I'm sorry you have become unemployed and wish you luck in finding a job soon. Unfortunately, you should know that either of your lenders has the right to...

The government's $25 billion settlement Thursday with banks over fraudulent foreclosure practices begins a long-promised reckoning with the financial industry over its role in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, officials said. The deal represents the largest industry settlement since an agreement with tobacco companies in 1998 and will force five of the nation's largest banks to overhaul their mortgage-servicing practices and reduce loan balances for many borrowers who...

The Oct. 8 photograph of the two young children lying on the floor , staring at the ceiling in an empty room, with the heading of "Young lives touched by foreclosure" put a new meaning to that word. The picture moved me to sadness and anger. With all the talk about taxing the wealthy and extending tax breaks to large corporations, it seems that the real needy are falling through the cracks. Perhaps this photo, shot by John Moore, should be sent to every member of Congress, the president and those who aspire to...

RICHMOND, Va. — Checks are going out this week to more than 22,500 Virginians participating in the national mortgage foreclosure settlement, Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli said Monday. Each recipient will receive $1,480, bringing Virginia's total for direct payouts to just over $33 million. Cuccinelli said more than 13,400 Virginia households also have received about $933 million in loan modifications, elimination of second liens and other forms of relief. The payments are intended to...

Prince George's County is holding its annual housing fair Saturday featuring a housing lottery, information for prospective homebuyers on financial literacy and home purchases, and more than 60 exhibitors. There also will be classes for teens on how to manage money. The fair also will offer a foreclosure prevention workshop, where residents can meet with banks and housing counselors, and receive a free consultation from an attorney. To pre-register for the free legal...

The foreclosure inventory has fallen to its lowest level in five years, and fewer borrowers are falling behind on their mortgage, according to Mortgage Bankers Association data released Thursday. The housing market recovery and the recent jump in home prices are helping resolve the backlog of troubled mortgages, said Michael Fratantoni, the association's vice president of research and economics. The percentage of delinquent loans — loans that are behind by at least one payment — decreased to a...

LEGAL Ex-Enron CEO may get reduced sentence Former Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling's prison sentence of more than 24 years for his role in the once-mighty energy giant's collapse could be trimmed by as many as 10 years if a federal judge approves an agreement reached Wednesday between prosecutors and defense attorneys. Under the agreement, Skilling's original sentence will be reduced to between 14 and 17 1 / 2 years. The agreement still must be...

Correction: This story is updated to reflect that the Federal Reserve became aware of a problem with the compensation checks on Tuesday, not Friday. Thousands of victims of foreclosure abuse got an unpleasant surprise in the mail last week: compensation checks for less money than they were owed. The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that about 96,000 homeowners who are entitled to a cut of a $3.6 billion settlement with mortgage servicers accused of faulty and fraudulent foreclosures received less than they were owed.

State and federal officials who recently completed a $25 billion settlement with five of the nation's largest banks over shoddy foreclosure practices have begun discussing how to apply some of the terms of that deal to a wider array of financial firms. The landmark agreement finalized in February in part forces the five major banks to overhaul flawed and fraudulent foreclosure practices that had become common in recent years. Those changes include forbidding "robo-signing" of documents and providing a single point of contact to homeowners,...

AUTOMOTIVE Air bag problem causes big recall Six automakers, including Toyota, Honda and Nissan, are recalling nearly 3.4 million older-model vehicles worldwide because of defective air bags that can send shrapnel flying into the passenger compartment. The recall mainly affects cars sold by Japanese automakers in North America, Europe and Japan. A small number of cars made by BMW and General Motors also are involved. The front passenger-side air bags were made by Japan's Takata...

Lawmakers lambasted regulators Thursday for providing poor oversight of consultants hired to review millions of troubled home loans as part of a multibillion-­dollar foreclosure agreement with the country's largest banks. "People want to know that their regulators are watching out for the American public, not the banks," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told regulators at the Senate banking committee hearing. "Without transparency, [we] cannot have any confidence in your oversight or that markets are functioning correctly.