"I don't see how it can be cleared up in a short period of time," said Richard X. Bove, an analyst with Rochdale Securities. "The moratorium won't last that long but the problem will last at least four or five years, maybe a decade." In the short term, he said, "it could easily cost $1.5 billion per quarter."

Meanwhile, the foreclosure machinery in many states has ground to a halt... As a result, foreclosed homes will remain on the bank's books while racking up thousands of dollars a month in extra costs.
...
Inside the investment houses, several traders said nerves were frazzled further by worries that banks could face much bigger mortgage related losses, not from foreclosures, but because of questions about how the money was lent in the first place. If it turns out that mortgages were bundled together and sold improperly, more holders could sue the banks and force them to buy back tens of billions in mortgage-backed securities.

An alarming report on Bank of America, compiled by Branch Hill Capital, a San Francisco hedge fund, circulated widely on Wall Street on Thursday. Branch Hill suggested that the bank, the nation's largest, could be facing more than $70 billion in losses from mortgage securities that it may have to repurchase from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as private investors.