Posts tagged as:

mortgage

Mortgage Volume Rises to Six-Month High

by Raja TayebApril 28, 2010 Foreclosures

Mortgage applications to purchase homes increased 7.4 percent last week on a seasonally adjusted basis compared to the previous week. This was the highest level since October 2009, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly report.
On an unadjusted basis, purchase applications rose 8.5 percent compared with the previous week and were up 2.4 percent from [...]

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Home Sales Rise on Tax Credit, Favorable Market

by Raja TayebApril 23, 2010 Foreclosures

Buyers responding to the home buyer tax credit and favorable affordability conditions boosted existing-home sales in March, marking the beginning of an expected spring surge, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.
Existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops, rose 6.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.35 [...]

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Cost Between Renting and Owning Narrows

by John TayebApril 21, 2010 Housing Market News Update

The cost difference between buying and renting is as narrow as it has been since 1993, according to a study on homeownership by Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services for the Associated Press.
The study examined rent and home prices in 45 metropolitan areas and concluded that gap between a payment on a median-priced home [...]

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Number of Delinquent Mortgages Declines

by Raja TayebApril 19, 2010 Foreclosures

The number of delinquent mortgages declined 8.6 percent in March, says LPS Applied Analytics, which tracks the performance of loans for investors. Totals also declined in February.
The biggest decline was in loans more than 30 days past due, which are now at about the same level as they were in spring 2008.
“We’re not out of [...]

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Mortgage Rates Fall

by Raja TayebApril 17, 2010 Foreclosures

The first decline in five weeks drove mortgage interest back down to near historically low levels once again as the 30-year fixed rate averaged 5.07 percent for the week ended April 15, down from 5.21 percent a week ago.
Freddie Mac also reports:

• The 15-year fixed rate averaged 4.40 percent, down from 4.52 percent.
• [...]

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Affordable Housing Goals Didn’t Doom Fannie

by John TayebApril 15, 2010 Foreclosures

Federal affordable housing goals weren’t responsible for the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Assistant Treasury Secretary Michael Barr said Tuesday in a speech to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
“This claim simply is not supported by the facts,” Barr said.
Instead, Barr said management’s decision to lower standards in order to compete with Wall Street for [...]

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Loan Delinquency Rate Takes a Notable Dip

by Raja TayebApril 15, 2010 Foreclosures

The percentage of delinquent mortgages declined to 6.57 percent in the first quarter from 6.60 in the last quarter of 2009, according to Equifax and Moody’s Economy.com.
This is the first decline in the delinquency rate since the first quarter of 2006.
“It portends a peaking of the foreclosure crisis,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s.
Reasons [...]

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Bankers Say Writing Down Principal Is Risky

by Raja TayebApril 14, 2010 Foreclosures

Executives from Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and J.P. Morgan Chase argued before the House Financial Services Committee that reducing mortgage principal only makes sense for a few borrowers with high-risk loans. Otherwise, reducing principal will only lead to many other borrowers demanding the same treatment.
More than 11 million households are underwater, estimates First American [...]

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Builders Say Green Features Are Undervalued

by Raja TayebApril 11, 2010 Foreclosures

Home builders are complaining that the appraisers and lenders aren’t willing to recognize the value of green building features.
“What we’re finding is that the appraisal process, the lending process, the underwriting process for loans still hasn’t caught up with the market interest in green building,” says Kevin Morrow, senior program manager for the National Association [...]

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GMAC Links Pay to Application Quality

by Raja TayebApril 10, 2010 Foreclosures

GMAC Inc., a lender taken over by the U.S. government, is encouraging its loan officers to lend to qualified home owners instead of presenting applicants they know won’t qualify.
Their incentive pay will be tied to the goal, so loan officers who are successful identifying good prospects will earn more. About 150 loan officers are [...]

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