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In related news:

New foreclosure wave to hit ‘everyday’ borrowers
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46957243/ns/business-real_estate/#.T37n3tl5g4g

updated 4/4/2012 5:45:59 PM ET

Half a decade into the deepest U.S. housing crisis since the 1930s, many Americans are hoping the crisis is finally nearing its end.

House sales are picking up across most of the country, the plunge in prices is slowing and attempts by lenders to claim back properties from struggling borrowers dropped by more than a third in 2011, hitting a four-year low.

But a painful part two of the slump looks set to unfold: Many more U.S. homeowners face the prospect of losing their homes this year as banks pick up the pace of foreclosures.

“We are right back where we were two years ago. I would put money on 2012 being a bigger year for foreclosures than 2010,” said Mark Seifert, executive director of Empowering & Strengthening Ohio’s People (ESOP), a counseling group with 10 offices in Ohio.

“Last year was an anomaly, and not in a good way,” he said.

In 2011, the “robo-signing” scandal, in which foreclosure documents were signed without properly reviewing individual cases, prompted banks to hold back on new foreclosures pending a settlement.

Five major banks eventually struck that settlement with 49 U.S. states in February. Signs are growing the pace of foreclosures is picking up again, something housing experts predict will again weigh on home prices before any sustained recovery can occur.

Next story to be reported in financial papers:

Borrowers that received modifications on their home loans 12-18 months ago are again delinquent. That begs the question: what do you do with those loans? Foreclose? Modify (again)? Cash for keys (turn them into renters)?

The can just gets kicked further down the road...

Other predictions, FWIW:

1. More and more seniors will turn to reverse mortgages when they realize they can't sell their homes due to a lack of qualified buyers.

2. The accumulation of student loan debt will strangle the single family industry. Who's going to be able to accumulate savings for a 20% downpayment when you're servicing a $100,000+ student loan? Add increased taxes to that, and you're looking at weak consumer spending to boot.

But a painful part two of the slump looks set to unfold: Many more U.S. homeowners face the prospect of losing their homes this year as banks pick up the pace of foreclosures.

Watch for a slowly increasing rate of foreclosures and short sales. The two years of unemployment have run out and there are a lot of people who are now taking jobs at a fraction of what they used to make.

I know several people who have held onto the house so far, but are planning to sell as soon as the market picks up even a little. The lower base income, no prospect of raises, and the high cost of commuting has made some of the collar counties less attractive than they once were. It won't be a crash like 2008, but every time it ticks up more sellers are going to come into the market and drive the prices back down again.

the moneylenders are not finished slaughtering the calf they fattened by creating a real estate bubble

housing prices are based upon what the moneylenders will loan on a given property.

To seize real property from phony funny money the fed just refuses to approve previous loan amounts on properties and the price of real estate drops just like that. As it makes the entire economy dive , the wolves descend and grab what they can, converting phony funny money into real property. Its a repeating cycle, first implemented in "the Great Depression"

House sales are picking up across most of the country, the plunge in prices is slowing and attempts by lenders to claim back properties from struggling borrowers dropped by more than a third in 2011, hitting a four-year low.

When you consider the intervention by the Obama administration, I believe it's now much harder to foreclose on homes when the loans aren't being paid off.

Where's the requisite damnation of evil banks in here...

Oops, didn’t go far enough. There it was...

“House sales are picking up across most of the country”

In my area those homes that are being sold don’t appear to be being bought by Americans, but rather by the foreigners imported to replace them.