Computer approves loan mods
First, there was "robosigning." Now, there is IntelliMods.
The name might sound like science fiction, but, in fact, IntelliMods is a new Web-based computer application that purports to help loan servicers decide whether to approve borrowers' requests for a loan modification.
IntelliMods is a product of CoreLogic, an corporation traded on the New York Stock Exchange and
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Tagged loan modification, loan mods, modify loan, Mortgages
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Feds prep strict mortgage definition
To get a mortgage with the lowest rate and fees, you'll have to make a 20 percent down payment if you're buying the house or have at least 25 percent equity if you're refinancing. And forget getting a good mortgage deal if you've been two months late on a credit card or car payment or
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Tagged 30 year fixed mortgage, Mortgages, Regulation
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Welcome to ‘housing purgatory’
I blinked twice at the figure: 638 days. That's the average time it takes from an initial missed mortgage payment for the bank to complete foreclosure proceedings and change the locks here in Florida, the Foreclosure State. Nearly two years of free rent. Then, of course, the boot.
We don't top the latest list of laggards
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Tagged Florida, foreclosures, Mortgages, real estate
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Bus tour touts homeownership
U.S. home sales and prices are on a downward slide.
Sales of existing homes dropped 9.6 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 4.88 million units, a pace that's slowed 2.8 percent compared with the 5.02 million level recorded a year earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors, or NAR.
An annual pace of
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Tagged home sales, homeownership, house prices, Mortgages
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Can you put down 20 percent?
Should homebuyers be required to make a down payment of at least 20 percent of a home's purchase price to qualify for a mortgage?
That's a question some Bankrate readers tackled when presented with the prospect of such a requirement on certain loans to be known as "qualified residential mortgages," or QRMs.
Here's what the readers had to
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Tagged down payment, mortgage, Mortgages, QRM, qualified residential mortgage
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The foreclosure that never was
You know the old saying, "A rising tide lifts all boats?" Well, apparently the reverse is also true, at least for some property owners who opted for a short sale to avoid foreclosure. Through no fault of their own, their credit report now includes a foreclosure that never was.
You've heard this litany before: When the
Are mortgages out of style?
Realty brokers are quick to observe that in today's housing markets, "Cash is king."
In fact, given the rise in the proportion of all-cash home purchases, it might be fair to say cash is not only king, but the whole royal family.
During the housing boom, buyers wanted no-money-down mortgages, which allowed them to buy homes with
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Tagged loan application, mortgage, Mortgages, zero down
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Low rates may linger — or not
Mortgage interest rates peaked about month ago and have been on a downward trend since then. This week, rates may flatten out as investors weigh the latest economic data and try to suss out whether the recovery is in fact faltering or picking up steam.
Here's a recap of the numbers:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported
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Tagged interest rate, loan rates, mortgage rates, Mortgages
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The down payment dilemma
Should homebuyers be required to make a down payment of at least 20 percent of a home's purchase price to qualify for a mortgage?
That's a hot topic in a current debate about the federal government's soon-to-be-issued official definition of a "qualified residential mortgage" or "QRM."
Once the definition and the risk-retention rule that requires it take
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Tagged house down payment, low down payment, Mortgages, qualified mortgage
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Housing still unaffordable
Home prices have dropped and mortgage rates are still low, yet housing costs continue to become more and more burdensome for many working households, according to "Housing Landscape 2011," a study from the Center for Housing Policy in Washington, D.C.
The report defines "working households" as those in which household members work at least 20 hours
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Tagged cheap rent, housing affordability, housing costs, Mortgages
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