Over the past year or so there have been dozens,if not hundreds,of stories questioning the manner in which lenders were handling the servicing of their loans,particularly those of underwater borrowers,as well as the foreclosure practices of many including “robo-signing”of foreclosure affidavits. Next came the lawsuits and now,this week,the [...]
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 | Much has been written (including by me) about the negative impact foreclosures and other distress sales have on home prices so this is no new issue. In fact,most readers have probably seen (or felt) the impact of this in their own neighborhood. The charts below which show the percentage of mortgages that were 90 [...] This past Friday Federal Reserve Board Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin spoke at the 2011 Midwinter Housing Finance Conference about the powerful impact the housing and mortgage markets have had on the nation’s economy recovery. Governor Raskin began by point out that,“speaking strictly in an economic sense,the recession that emerged in 2008 is over.”[...] Dennis Norman Speaking at the National Consumer Law Center’s Consumer Rights Litigation Conference in Boston,Federal Reserve Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin delivered some sobering news about the Fed Reserve’s expectations for the housing market. Raskin discussed how foreclosures on residential properties soared from about one million in 2006,the “peak of the boom”,to [...] Dennis Norman Reverse mortgages have become increasingly popular over the past few years with seniors that find themselves with a large amount of equity in their home,but short on cash,or struggling to pay for the upkeep of the home,property taxes,insurance or other living expenses. A reverse mortgage allows people in [...] 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 [...] 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 [...] 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 [...] 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. [...] 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 [...] 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 [...] 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 [...] 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 [...] | ||||
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