Tag Archives: Mortgages
VA loans may close in shutdown
If the government shuts down, lenders would still be able to process and close VA-backed mortgages, says Barbara Sheehan, assistant vice president of mortgage products for Navy Credit Union in Vienna, Va.
Sheehan says she doesn’t expect borrowers to en… Continue reading
IRS shutdown and closings
If the government shuts down the impact on mortgage loans will go beyond FHA.
Government officials and lenders say loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac won’t be affected by the shutdown because those agencies operate separately from the governmen… Continue reading
Shutdown will impact FHA loans
If you are scheduled to close on an FHA loan or are in the process of obtaining one you should hope for the best and brace for the worst.
If lawmakers can’t reach an agreement on budget issues before midnight on Friday government will shut down and s… Continue reading
Hope Now, mods and slippery definitions
When is permanent permanent? When is a reduction a reduction?
An estimated 87,000 homeowners got “permanent” loan modifications in February, a reduction from January’s 100,000 modifications, according to Hope Now, a consortium of mortgage servicers and… Continue reading
Should landlords prove credit?
Normally it’s the renter who needs to prove their creditworthiness to the landlord. But with the current state of the housing market, it may be time for the landlord to prove to the renter that their credit is not in the toilet. With so many homeowners… Continue reading
Millions still ‘hurting badly’
Economic data show a “very modest, but still painfully slow recovery” from the Great Recession, and one clear cause of that pain is the mortgage and foreclosure crisis, according to Harris Interactive, a polling firm based in New York, which suggested … Continue reading
Stricter mortgage rules will allow ARMs
You’ll be able to get an adjustable-rate mortgage at a relatively attractive rate, even after regulators impose stricter underwriting rules.
This week, the feds proposed tight underwriting standards for “qualified residential mortgages,” or QRMs. I’ll … Continue reading
Bond market on jobs report: Meh
Not much reaction so far this morning to the March employment report, which was released today and says the economy added a net 216,000 jobs in the third month. That’s a bit better than expected. The unemployment rate fell from 8.9 percent to 8.8 perce… Continue reading
Credit card before mortgage
Once upon a time, say, before the recent housing crisis, homeowners made every possible effort to make their monthly mortgage payment, even if that meant they couldn’t meet other financial obligations.
Now, however, there’s a new payment priority in wh… Continue reading