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Biltmore In The News
Paul Jackson The market for sub and non-performing mortgages is booming. (But you knew that, right?) What you may not know — yet — is just how diverse a crowd of investors are looking to stake a claim in varying sides of the market. Here at HW, we’ve covered some of the much larger funds jumping into the space looking to make a huge splash with billion-dollar commitments. But for every publicly traded hedge fund sensing a large-scale buying opportunity, there are others more content to pursue smaller deals and REO acquisitions that may deliver yields every bit as high. One well-known such player in this niche space is Rochelle Park, New Jersey-based Biltmore Capital Group, LLC, which has been buying up REO properties and distressed mortgage debt since 2005. The fund purchases up to $100 million in debt each year.
The foreclosure mess is casting a shadow over New York’s Hamptons this summer. One result: An 18,000-square-foot Bridgehampton home has been reduced from its $27 million asking price to “just” $19.5 million. The Bridgehampton mansion, which was built by Burns Development Corp., on more than 4 acres of land, played host to the 2006 Hamptons Designer Showhouse, an annual event where notable interior designers outfit a Hamptons home, showcasing trends in luxury home design to potential clients.
Alan Zibel "We're much easier to deal with than a bank," said Jacob Benaroya, managing partner of New Jersey-based Biltmore Capital Group, a hedge fund that's buying up to $100 million in mortgage debt per year. "We've bought (the loan) at enough of a discount that we can make special arrangements with the borrower."
The investor had offered to cut the value of the $410,000 loan by $50,000, but she still couldn't qualify for a new loan because the value of her property had plummeted by nearly $100,000. "If I could have just had it modified, I could have kept it," she said. "I didn't want to tarnish my credit report...It's just so sad."
They are buying them from Wall Street investment banks eager to rid themselves of bad assets. Merrill Lynch & Co., for example, said this week it would sell mortgage-linked investments once valued at $30.6 billion for just $6.7 billion to Lone Star Funds, a distressed-debt investor in Dallas.
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Question: I have two home loans totaling 100% financing. Both are variable rate, interest-only loans. The 80% loan is a 5-year ARM; the 20% loan is a home-equity loan in which the rate changes monthly. I have been in my $389,000 home since July 2004 and I am starting to have trouble making the payments, but I have not missed one yet.
Question: I have two home loans totaling 100% financing. Both are variable rate, interest-only loans. The 80% loan is a 5-year ARM; the 20% loan is a home-equity loan in which the rate changes monthly. I have been in my $389,000 home since July 2004 and I am starting to have trouble making the payments, but I have not missed one yet.
The investor had offered to cut the value of the $410,000 loan by $50,000, but she still couldn't qualify for a new loan because the value of her property had plummeted by nearly $100,000. "If I could have just had it modified, I could have kept it," she said. "I didn't want to tarnish my credit report...It's just so sad."
The biggest issue facing delinquent borrowers today may not be unaffordable mortgage payments but the self-inflicted wound of avoidance. As long as homeowners are ignoring the situation, it's impossible for them to restructure the debt or walk away with unscathed credit reports. Though borrowers are undoubtedly strained, the crumbling housing market has made it easier for those at risk of foreclosure to keep their homes. Values have declined, lending standards have tightened for new borrowers, and foreclosures are an expensive and time-consuming process for the lender as well.
CHICAGO (Dow Jones) -- More homeowners headed toward foreclosure in the first three months of 2008, as both the percentage of loans somewhere in the foreclosure process as well as the rate of foreclosure starts reached levels not seen since 1979, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported on Thursday. The percentage of loans in the foreclosure process at the end of the first quarter rose to 2.47% of all mortgages outstanding on one- to four-unit properties, up from 2.04% in the fourth quarter, according to the MBA's latest National Delinquency Survey. In the first quarter of 2007, 1.28% of loans were in the foreclosure process. |
