Tag Archives: Mortgages
Home prices: up or down?
Hey, does anyone want to buy a house?
Anyone? Anyone?
No? Perhaps not.
Home sales haven’t exactly fallen off a cliff at an annualized pace of 5.36 million so far this year, according to the National Association of Realtors. But nor are houses flying of… Continue reading
Foreclosures even hit Habitat
How tough has the foreclosure crisis been?
So tough that even Habitat for Humanity, which builds homes for people in need, finds itself in the mindboggling situation of having to take them back — in many cases, for the first time in a chapter’s histo… Continue reading
Loan servicing in 16 colors
How home loan servicers should be compensated is a subject of intense debate in the mortgage industry today, as servicers have come under fire for their inaccessibility to homeowners and sloppy foreclosure-processing practices.
To fix the problems, the… Continue reading
Foreclosed owners speak out
If the national foreclosure crisis had an epicenter, it would have to be Las Vegas, since Nevada is more often than not at the top of any state-level list that involves foreclosure statistics.
Now, “The Face of Foreclosure: An Analysis of the Nevada Fo… Continue reading
Loan brokers’ pay targeted
New federal regulations, effective April 1, will impose some major changes in how lenders compensate mortgage brokers for their services in the loan origination process.
Here’s a summary:
Lenders won’t be allowed to pay any direct or indirect compensa… Continue reading
Fannie, Freddie to raise rates
Borrowers, get ready for higher interest rates on new conforming mortgages.
It’s no secret that rates have already risen as the outlook for the U.S. economy has brightened in recent weeks. But rates on some new home loans are also set to go up regardle… Continue reading
Are hybrids worth the risk?
The sharp rise in mortgage interest rates has presented a challenge for borrowers who want to buy a home or refinance an existing mortgage, but don’t like the slightly higher payment they now face.
One popular solution is a hybrid mortgage, which has a… Continue reading
Punch line to foreclosure-gate
When the banking bigs and the feds decided to turn the page and sweep “robogate” under the rug last December, it left me wanting. Not for anything as corny as justice or compassion, though both would go a long way in this foreclosure quagmire in which … Continue reading
First glance at Fannie-Freddie reform
The Obama administration wants to make mortgages more expensive and harder to get. In exchange, taxpayers would be less likely to bail out mortgage companies or delinquent homeowners. That’s the essence of the Treasury Department’s memo to Congress tit… Continue reading
Congressmen aim to kill HAMP
The debate over the success or failure of the federal government’s Home Affordable Mortgage Program, or HAMP, entered a new phase two weeks ago, when Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, introduced a bill that would all but eliminate the entire program.
The bill, … Continue reading