Quoted: The national delinquency rate on one-to-four-unit residential properties climbed to 9.64% of all loans at the end of Q309, according to a survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Including the rate of foreclosures, the US serious delinquency rate is at a record 14.4%

The number of people who can actually benefit from this, however, is pretty small.

Quoted: Thousands of borrowers on the verge of foreclosure will soon have the option of renting their homes from Fannie Mae, under a policy announced Thursday. The government-controlled company, through its new "Deed for Lease" program, will allow borrowers to transfer ownership to Fannie Mae and sign a one-year lease, with month-to-month extensions after that.

We always wonder where the foreclosed homeowners go. 10 percent of them end up homeless, according to one survey, but I think the real number is quite a bit higher.

Quoted: Only three years ago, foreclosure was rarely a factor in how people became homeless. But among the homeless people that social service agencies have helped over the last year, an average of 10 percent lost homes to foreclosure, according to “Foreclosure to Homelessness 2009,” a survey produced by the National Coalition for the Homeless and six other advocacy groups.

Quoted: The number of U.S. households caught up in the foreclosure crisis rose more than 5 percent from summer to fall as a federal effort to assist struggling borrowers was overwhelmed by a flood of defaults among people who lost their jobs.

A high number of loan modifications and other efforts aimed at helping banks and homeowners work on an acceptable alternative to foreclosure do not end up working out for long, many studies have shown.

Quoted: “There is as yet no data to confirm that foreclosure mediation programs anywhere have led to a substantial number of affordable and sustainable loan modifications,” according to the report

Quoted: Citigroup (C: 4.7976 -0.46%) kept 108,000 mortgages with a combined original value of $16bn from foreclosure in Q209, 29% more than in Q109, according to data just released by its servicing business.

Quoted: Home delinquencies and foreclosures increasingly spread to prime mortgages in Washington and nationwide in the second quarter, thanks to rising unemployment.

Nonetheless, delinquencies and foreclosures in Washington remained lower than nationally and substantially behind such troubled states as California and Arizona, according to data released by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The figures from the Mortgage Bankers Assn are a bit different than other figures that have been presented, since they count all homeowners who have been one or more months late. Other studies count distress from month 2 or 3 onwards.

Regardless, the problem in some states, like Florida and Michigan, are still pretty deep. Southern California, though, appears to be faring increasingly better as the market shows signs of bottoming out with more sales as well.

Quoted: Single-family mortgages set a new record delinquency rate of 13.16% in Q209, according to the quarterly survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The delinquency rate includes mortgages at least one payment past due or in foreclosure. The results were lead by Florida with 12% of mortgages somewhere in foreclosure, another 5% at least 90 days past due and a total 22.8% delinquent at least one payment delinquent or in foreclosure at the end of June. Nevada followed Florida with 21.3% at least one payment past due or in foreclosure.

As usual, we're late to the real estate market changes, but it's catching up. Seattle itself is seeing more distressed properties too, but not nearly as many as in surrounding cities where 30%+ of for-sale homes are distressed properties.

Quoted: In the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area, there were 3,476 foreclosure filings last month. That was up almost 5 percent from June of this year. Thursday's report came a day after a state study that showed a $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers appears to be drawing people back into Washington's housing market. The Washington Center for Real Estate Research at Washington State University reviewed second-quarter numbers on existing home sales, median home prices and affordability. Home sales increased 11.6 percent, at seasonally adjusted annual rates, from the first quarter, to 74,830 units. This was the first quarter-to-quarter improvement in more than two years, the real estate center said. While the sales rate is still 15.6 percent below a year ago, it was only half the year-to-year decline reported for the first quarter.