The Senate today voted unanimously Wednesday night to extend the $8,000 tax credit for home buyers beyond its scheduled November 30, 2009 expiration date. The credit would be available until April 30, 2010. Under the new legislation the credit will also now apply to home buyers who are buying their second or subsequent home. The [...]
November 2, 2009
Pending Home Sales Up, Here’s Why!
Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) — The number of contracts to buy previously owned homes in the U.S. rose in September for an eighth straight month as Americans rushed to meet a deadline for a home-buyer tax credit.
The index of signed purchase agreements, or pending home sales, rose 6.1 percent after a 6.4 percent gain in August, [...]
October 27, 2009
Consumer Confidence at a 26 Year Low
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — A key measure of consumer confidence continued to slip in October, with consumers’ gauge of the current economic situation falling to a 26-year low, a research group said Tuesday.
The Conference Board, the New York-based research group said its Consumer Confidence Index fell to 47.7 in October from an upwardly revised 53.4 [...]
October 20, 2009
Mortgage Rates As Low As They’ll Get!
Federal Reserve Mortgage Backed Securities Purchase Program is Coming to an End
Homebuyers & Refinancers only have brief window to grab the sub-5-percent rates we’re seeing now. Michael Cauley, a broker with Mortgage Resource Plus Inc. in Birmingham, notes that even though the Fed’s $1.25 trillion Mortgage-Backed Securities buying spree isn’t ending until April, it [...]
October 15, 2009
Find out HERE if your Mortgage is Owned By Freddie or Fannie
There are amazing refinance opportunities at my fingertips for many clients who would otherwise not qualify for today’s great rates. This is part of the Economic Stimulus plan that is actually helping plenty of my clients to save money at a time when every penny counts. One major factor is to find out if Fannie [...]
October 14, 2009
Rates At Low, Gradual Increase Over Next Few Months
Detroit News – If you’ve been waiting to see how low mortgage rates can go, you can stop. This is it.
The latest surveys show the national average rate on 30-year mortgages stayed below 5 percent for the second or third week in a row, depending on which surveys you choose. While these ultra-low rates [...]
October 9, 2009
Mortgage Applications Rise as Rates Fall, But Clock is Ticking
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Mortgage applications surged last week as interest rates on home loans remained low, an industry group said Wednesday.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said its index of mortgage application volume rose 16.4% last week versus the previous week.
The surge in activity came as rates on 30-year fixed rate mortgages, the most widely used [...]
October 2, 2009
Surprise Unemployment Spike Dims Quick Recovery
The American economy lost 263,000 jobs in September and the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent, the government reported on Friday, dimming the prospect of any meaningful job growth by the end of the year.
The Labor Department’s monthly snapshot of unemployment dashed hopes that the pace of job losses would continue to slow as the [...]
September 28, 2009
Overview & Effect of Restrictive Appraisal Rules HVCC
Realtors and lenders say new appraisal rules, forced on the industry by State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, are slowing down the sales and mortgage process, hindering deals that used to sail through.
The new requirements hold appraisers to higher standards, and severely restrict contact between them and lenders to prevent fraud.
And appraisers aren’t taking chances, [...]
September 28, 2009
Helpful Home Buying/Selling Strategies In Current Market
(Money Magazine) — Home sales are rising. Builders are buying lots. And prices are no longer in free fall. After so much pain, there are signs of life in the housing market.
But the “recovery” is far from universal. In many cities cheaper homes are selling fast — but mid-range properties are still lingering, and high-end [...]
September 15, 2009
Refinancers Saving Combined $11,500,000,000!
Housingwire.com – US borrowers who refinanced in the first half of 2009 will receive $11.5bn in total mortgage payment savings over the next five years as a result of recent government reductions in mortgage rates, according to a study released by First American CoreLogic.
The study analyzed more than 2.2m residential mortgage refinances between October 2008 [...]
September 2, 2009
Housing Recovery?
NEW YORK (Fortune) — Is the housing bust over?
Shares of Toll Brothers (TOL), Hovnanian (HOV) and KB Home (KBH) and other builders have surged. The exchange-traded fund that tracks the group has nearly doubled since March.
Home starts have risen for five straight months, while sales of new homes recently hit their highest level since last [...]
August 31, 2009
New Home Sales Advance in July
Data suggesting that the economy is stabilizing continues to pile in this week, most recently in the housing market. New Home Sales advanced by 9.6% in July, beating expectations for a 5% increase and following up on a 9.1% advance in the prior month.
July marks the fourth consecutive monthly increase, pushing the annual pace of [...]
August 25, 2009
Record US Deficits for Next Decade. Sluggish Recovery.
WASHINGTON – The federal government faces exploding deficits and mounting debt over the next decade, White House and congressional budget officials projected Tuesday in competing but similar economic forecasts.
Both the White House Office of Management and Budget and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted the budget deficit this year would swell to nearly $1.6 trillion, [...]
August 20, 2009
4,000,000 Mortgages Are Now Delinquent, Foreclosures Up
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The number of Americans who have fallen at least 30 days behind on their home loan payments jumped 44% in the second quarter from a year ago, according to an industry report.
That puts delinquencies at a record 9.24% of mortgages, according to the National Delinquency Report from the Mortgage Bankers Association [...]
August 20, 2009
Homes More Affordable Now Than Last 2 Decades
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Homes continue to be more affordable than they have been in nearly two decades.
The typical American family, making the nation’s median income of $64,000 a year, could afford to buy 72.3% of all homes sold in the United States during the second quarter, according a quarterly report from the National Association [...]
August 11, 2009
Closure of Taylor Bean Sheds Light on Mortgage & Housing Mess
McLean, VA – August 7, 2009 – The National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) today expressed its concern over the loss of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker as a major channel for wholesale funding of loans. NAMB President Jim Pair, CMC, issued the following statement in response to this critical change in the market:
“Losing one of [...]
August 7, 2009
Half of All Mortgages Will Soon Be “Underwater”
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Nearly half the nation’s mortgage borrowers will soon owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, according to a new report.
A Deutsche Bank analysis of the battered housing and mortgage markets estimated that 25 million borrowers, representing 48% of all Americans with mortgage loans, will plunge underwater before home [...]
July 27, 2009
New Home Sales Increase Due to Lower Prices & Rates
Bloomberg- Purchases of new homes in the U.S. climbed 11 percent in June, the biggest gain in eight years, underscoring evidence that the deepest housing slump since the Great Depression is starting to stabilize.
Sales increased to a 384,000 annual pace, higher than any forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News and the most since November, [...]
July 24, 2009
Help Permanently Reverse HVCC Here! Stop Misguided Appraisal Code
Sign petition here
http://www.hvccpetition.com
Representatives Childers (D-MS) and Miller (R-CA) introduced legislation (H.R. 3044) requesting an 18 month moratorium on the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC). ThinkBigWorkSmall applauds the introduction of H.R. 3044 and would like to thank Representative Childers (D-MS) and Representative Miller (R-CA) for their continued efforts and leadership on this issue but it [...]
July 22, 2009
Wells Fargo Has Mortgage Related Problems Despite Record Earnings
Wells Fargo & Co., the biggest U.S. home lender, said bad loans jumped in the second quarter as the recession made it harder for borrowers to keep up with payments. The bank dropped as much as 7.6 percent in New York trading.
Assets no longer collecting interest climbed 45 percent to $18.3 billion as of June [...]
July 6, 2009
Find out HERE if your loan is owned by Fannie or Freddie
There are amazing refinance opportunities at my fingertips for many clients who would otherwise not qualify for today’s great rates. This is part of the Economic Stimulus plan that is actually helping plenty of my clients to save money at a time when every penny counts. One major factor is to find out if Fannie [...]
July 3, 2009
It’s Official: Stimulus Refi’s Now Allow 125% Financing!
WASHINGTON – U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today announced an expansion of the Obama Administration’s Home Affordable Refinance Program to include participation by borrowers who are current but up to 125 percent underwater on their mortgage. Under authorization provided by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, borrowers whose mortgages are currently owned or [...]
July 2, 2009
Housing Rebound Barely Continues, Complications Impede Recovery
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Home sales continued their modest upward swing in May, according to a closely watched industry report that rose for the fourth straight month for the first time in nearly 5 years.
The Pending Home Sales Index, reported Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), rose 0.1% during the month. The index [...]
June 22, 2009
Freddie Mac to Finally Allow Brokers to Offer Stimulus Refi’s
I’ve been busy helping people obtain sub 5% rates on Economic Stimulus Refi’s which have saved clients hundreds of dollars a month from their previous rate, sometimes without appraisals, and when no other opportunites existed in our tight Lending industry. But up until now Brokers have only been allowed to help clients whose loans are [...]
June 12, 2009
The Option ARM Problem Starting To Surface
June 11 (Bloomberg) — Shirley Breitmaier’s mortgage payment started out at $98 when she refinanced her three-bedroom home in Galt, California, in 2007. The 73-year-old widow may see it jump to $3,500 a month in two years.
Breitmaier took out a payment-option adjustable rate mortgage, a loan popular during the housing boom for its low minimum [...]
June 8, 2009
Even Geithner’s House Couldn’t Be Sold
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is struggling to unload his million-dollar manse located in a posh New York City suburb. And like so many other Americans, he’ll probably lose money on it when he does.
Geithner and his wife Carole put their 5-bedroom Tudor-style home in Larchmont, New York on the market for [...]
May 30, 2009
Federal DownPayment Assistance Using Stimulus Tax Credit Now Available
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — First-time homebuyers will now have access to quick cash to help them with their down payments.
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that first-time homebuyers using FHA-approved lenders can now get an advance on the $8,000 tax credit created by the stimulus package and apply it [...]
May 26, 2009
Housing Crisis Brings Home Values Down 32% Off Peak Levels!
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The home price slide accelerated during the first three months of 2009, according to a report issued Tuesday.
The S&P/Case-Shiller National Home Price index, a bellwether of real-estate market direction, plunged a record 19.1% during the quarter compared with the first three months of 2008. That followed an 18.2% drop last quarter.
The [...]
May 20, 2009
Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae Still Hurting, Tough Times Ahead
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, charged with helping lead the nation out of its housing crisis, are facing “critical” financial problems, federal regulators said Monday.
The companies suffer from severe financial, operational and compliance weaknesses, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said a report to Congress detailing its annual examinations of the firms. [...]
Paul Wickstrom