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New Rules Announced to Protect Mortgage Borrowers

Dennis Norman

Over the past couple of years lawsuits have been filed against several lenders over “yield spread premiums” that were paid by the lenders to mortgage brokers originating loans on their behalf. These suits brought a lot of attention to a common practice in the mortgage industry which was to compensate the companies [...]

Fed Reserve: Housing Sales and Starts Have Flattened Out at Depressed Levels; Foreclosures Likely To Remain High

Dennis Norman

At the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on March 16th it was suggested that “economic activity expanded at a moderate pace in early 2010″. Unfortunately, when it came to the housing market, the news was not as good and it was noted that “housing activity remained flat and the nonresidential construction section weakened [...]

Feds pulling support of mortgage market- will interest rates increase?

Dennis Norman

The Federal Reserve announced it will stop purchasing mortgage-backed securities by the end of March.

In November, 2008, the Federal Reserve announced, in an effort to help the housing market, it would purchase mortgage-backed securities. Then, in March, 2009, the Fed increased the total amount of money they would invest in such securities to [...]

Real estate market showing signs of improvement according to Fed Reserve

 The Federal Reserve, in it’s most recent “Beige Book” said Residential real estate markets in most Districts remained weak, but many reported signs of improvement.

The report said that Minneapolis and San Francisco Districts cited large increases in home sales compared with 2008 levels, and other Districts reported rising sales in some sub-markets. Of the [...]

Fed Reserve proposes significant changes to provide new consumer protection for home-secured credit

Dennis Norman

Late last week the Federal Reserve Board proposed significant changes to Regulation Z (Truth in Lending) intended to improve the disclosures consumers receive in connection with home mortgages and home equity lines of credit.

These changes are just proposed at this point and are being offered for public comment for 120 days at which [...]

Fed Reserves 5 Tips for Shopping for a mortgage

Dennis Norman

Buying a home should be a dream come true not a nightmare of worry and stress.  A new Federal Reserve Board publication, “5 Tips for Shopping for a Mortgage,” will help consumers avoid potential pitfalls and make well-informed decisions when choosing a home loan.

Financing the purchase of a home is one of the [...]

After almost hitting 6% interest rates retreat

By: Dennis Norman

Yesterday, Bankrate, Inc. issued their weekly mortgage interest rate report showing that mortgage rates after rising to almost 6% have retreated in this past week with 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaging 5.76%, down from 5.95% last week, with an average of 0.43% in discount and origination fees.

The report shows 15-year fixed-rate mortgages were also lower this week at an average of [...]

Mortgage Interest Rates Increase Again this Week

By: Dennis Norman

 Today, Bankrate, Inc. issued their weekly mortgage interest rate report showing that mortgage rates jumped this week with 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaging 5.65%, up from 5.45% last week, with an average of 0.44% in discount and origination fees.

The report shows 15-year fixed-rate mortgages were also higher this week at an average of 5.06%, up from 4.86% last [...]

The Fed Slashes Interest Rates Today!

By: Dennis Norman

Today, as expected, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System slashed the discount rate (the interest rate the Federal Reserve charges on loans to commercial banks) from 1.25% to 1/2%.  This action will lower the prime rate charged by most banks to around 3.25% which will be the lowest prime rate has [...]