Rent for less in a boom market
Part of the fallout of the housing crisis means that rental demand is up – and so are prices. As home prices have been dropping and supply increasing, it's a cruel twist for renters who are blocked from getting a mortgage because of bad credit to see their monthly payments go up. It's also frustrating
Freddie’s dirty game
Have you ever wondered why, despite numerous government programs made to help struggling homeowners, there are still so many obstacles that prevent borrowers from refinancing their loans?
Here is one of many disturbing reasons: Freddie Mac, which owns or guarantees many U.S. mortgages, makes a ton of money by betting on homeowners who are stuck with
Buyers still in control
The fact that it's still a buyer's real-estate market is no surprise. Despite small fluctuations, mortgage rates are low and so are home prices. The problem is that few are buying.
A survey by the mortgage company Fannie Mae shows that while 71 percent of Americans think it's a good time to buy a home, only
Slow going on BofA short sales
Bank of America's cash-for-short-sales pilot program to help Florida homeowners stave off foreclosure has been something of a good news/bad news scenario since its debut last October.
Under the program, Bank of America offered $5,000 to $20,000 to homeowners who agree to sell their distressed property in a short sale rather than let it slip into
HAMP gets extension, expansion
You'll have more time to seek a mortgage modification under the Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP. And maybe your lender will be more likely to write down principal.
HAMP's expiration date has been extended one year, to the last day of 2013, the Treasury Department announced this afternoon. Treasury announced other changes, too:
• Treasury will
Is the Financial Crimes Unit too late?
More than three years after the U.S. housing market nearly collapsed as a result of reckless lending practices, the Justice Department says it plans to create a new Financial Crimes Unit to investigate mortgage abuses. Great timing, no?
President Barack Obama announced the plans for the new unit this week, as regulators worked on the final
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Tagged abuses, crime unit, Mortgages
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Chokeholds on a housing recovery
The housing crisis and resulting drop in home prices has cost $7 trillion in household wealth, according to a statement this month by the Federal Reserve. Despite recent upticks in sales, it's only projected to get worse unless the increasing supply of foreclosed properties is removed from the market and more homeowners are prevented from
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Tagged crash, foreclosed, Foreclosure, housing, MERS, Mortgages, recovery
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Refis and write-downs for some
A $25 billion settlement agreement between regulators and five major banks could bring some -- but not enough -- relief to struggling borrowers.
A draft of the settlement was completed this week but has not been approved yet. According to an Associated Press report, this is what the settlement could look like:
The settlement would provide $17
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Tagged Mortgages, principal write-down, settlement
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Capitology: Decoding the SOTU
We need interpreters to explain what our politicians really mean, like the Kremlinologists used to do whenever a Soviet leader delivered a speech (with or without shoe-pounding).
In last night's State of the Union speech, the president said:
(R)esponsible homeowners shouldn't have to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom to get some relief.