There’s a
similar article in today’s UT. Though their number of subprime loans entering foreclosure in the first quarter is 3.23% not 2.43%. They both claim the data comes from the Mortgage Bankers Association, so I wonder why the difference. Maybe UT is including NODs while WP is not?

Anyway, the UT article includes this reference to those who are working things out with their lenders:

The national numbers benefited from a decrease in the defaults among loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration. The agency and the lenders it works with have been restructuring two out of every three loans in foreclosure, said Douglas Duncan, chief economist with the Mortgage Bankers Association. And it appears similar efforts to renegotiate mortgages to keep borrowers in their homes may also be holding down defaults overall.

“We are seeing more loan modifications and foreclosures and once loans go through either of those processes the loans go out of those databases,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com. But he cautioned “they might come back. The recidivism on those loans is very high.”

But I think Drunkle’s right. What can they be doing besides moving into 50 year mortgages with interest only for an extended period of time?

Besides, moon mining sounds like fun! It’s also a great way to lose weight, you instantly drop from 300 lbs down to 50! It’ll be harder to get to the Del Mar Fair, but once you do, you can eat all the deep fried twinkies you want!