foreclosures

State Street's sub-prime mess

adamg — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:33:48 -0400

Stephen Rosenberg discusses lawsuits against State Street Corp. by pension funds that say the company improperly invested their money in risky real-estate funds - which could leave the company vulnerable to hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of damages if it loses:

... [I]t may well be that the administrators' fiduciary duties under those circumstances require them to then try to remedy their initial mistakes by suing to recover the losses, rather than compounding their own fiduciary breaches by simply absorbing the loss; that latter course of action would likely just make the administrators themselves targets for breach of fiduciary duty lawsuits based on their own mistakes in investing in the State Street funds. ...

Foreclosures: Another record-setting quarter

adamg — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:20:37 -0400

Mass. foreclosures up 38% in the first quarter of this year, compared to last year.

Another rally, another eviction blocked

adamg — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 22:27:05 -0400

Nothing like a little public outcry.

Most foreclosures ever

adamg — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:28:57 -0400

Boston Business Journal: The fourth quarter of 2007 saw the highest number of foreclosures in state history ...

Shame Them

Barbara Diamond — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 11:50:27 -0400

"I want to shame them," Grossack said of attorneys Mark Harmon and Jason Greenberg. "They're not doing anything illegal. But it's not halachically correct, and it's not helping the Jewish community."

Foreclosure: The gift that keeps on giving

adamg — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 11:50:17 -0400

Looks like all the sharks in the mortgage racket are now being joined by sharks in the foreclosure resale market:

In one instance, three friends made the winning bid of $130,000 on a house in Lee. The mortgage company delayed the closing, then sent a letter in February offering to return the deposit. Before the friends responded, the company put the house back on the market for $179,000, then quickly agreed to sell it to someone else.

Breaking noose: Case dismissed against Bank of America protester

adamg — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:41:40 -0400

Milan Kohut had been charged with peddling without a license when police objected to him standing outside a Financial District branch of the Bank of America with a pile of nooses and a sign reading "Nooses on sale."

On Friday, a Boston Municipal Court judge dismissed the charges, the Dig reports. Kohut had argued he was making a political comment about the mortgage crisis, not actually trying to sell downtown workers a way to hang themselves. He's now asking for his nooses back.

Two Globe stories that would have been more interesting if printed next to each other

adamg — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 14:36:16 -0400

Foreclosing costs
Owners aren't the only ones caught in the mortgage crisis. Renters, like this East Boston family of immigrants, are feeling the fallout, too.

New benchmark for luxury living
Mandarin Oriental's posh rentals are likely to fill quickly, even in slump.

'Virtual freefall' in Dorchester, Mattapan multifamily prices

adamg — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 21:53:50 -0500

Outside of the Red Line corridor, the prices of Dorchester housing units - especially multi-family properties - are crashing, the Dorchester Reporter reports. The mortgage crisis may not be the only reason:

... A less examined reason for the sinking market could be a decrease in fraud brought about by increased media and governmental focus on the sub-prime lending crisis. Several properties previously detailed in the Reporter appear to have been sold under curious circumstances. ...

Menino: Worst is yet to come on foreclosures

adamg — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:58:58 -0500

Chris Lovett reports on a meeting of the mayor's Foreclosure Intervention Team yesterday morning:

"We're not as bad as '93 and '94, but we never want to get there," said the mayor. "And all the predictions we get are the worst is yet to come."

Lovett also provides a map showing properties which not only have been foreclosed but for which the owning banks have been unable to find buyers.