News & Commentary
Are More Foreclosures And New Construction Good For Home Prices?
A new study find that new construction and foreclosure activity are running neck-and-neck, with building permits and foreclosure both up 27 in the first quarter from a year ago. The new numbers from RealtyTrac suggest that housing markets in many are areas are returning. “Nationwide and in most markets it appears builders are planning to [...]
16May2013 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Will An Internet Sales Tax Save Shopping Malls?
You can think of it as the “shopping mall protection act” or maybe just a hint of marketplace fairness, legislation recently passed by the US Senate would require online retailers with revenues of more than $1 million to collect and pay sales taxes. This is something very new in the history of the Internet, a [...]
13May2013 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Why Mortgage Down Payments Should Be Smaller
Oh no, the down payment debate is back. The argument for the make ‘em higher crowd goes like this: During the mortgage meltdown many of the worse loans required only small down payments and some financing required none, therefore the cause of the foreclosure mess was the lack of higher down payments. There is a [...]
10May2013 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Foreclosure Activity Hits Six-Year Low
Foreclosure activity hit a six-year low in April according to RealtyTrac, but while home losses were down in general they actually rose in states where foreclosure actions must go through local courts. Maryland, for example, is the nation’s wealthiest state in terms of household income and yet foreclosure activity – default notices, scheduled auctions and bank [...]
9May2013 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
New Mortgage Rules Favor Borrowers — and Taxpayers
Mortgage borrowers are about to get more protections when financing real estate as a result of new rules for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, lenders can avoid virtually all liability by making what are called “qualified mortgages” or QMs. In basic terms, such loans include all fully-documented, [...]
7May2013 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
How VA Loans Succeed With Nothing Down
The VA loan program remains a thorn in the side of those clamoring for homebuyers to have more “skin in the game.” That’s because VA loans maintain the industry’s lowest foreclosure rate despite the fact that 9 in 10 buyers put $0 down. In fact, they’ve been the safest loan on the market for the [...]
6May2013 | Chris Birk | 0 comments | Continued
Rent Affordability Drops As Incomes Fall
While stock market values soar, executive bonuses rise and big corporations continue to shelter massive profits the fate of many renters continues to decline: a new study by the Center for Housing Policy shows that one-in-four tenants now spend at least half their income on rent. The big question raised by the report is just [...]
3May2013 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Did My Mortgage Lender Pull A Bait And Switch?
You shop diligently for your mortgage. You compare interest rate quotes and select the best one. But when you lock your mortgage rate, you’re suddenly told that you can’t get the rate you were promised – and the one you CAN get is much higher! Is your lender ripping you off? Probably not. Until a [...]
2May2013 | Gina Pogol | 0 comments | Continued
Par Pricing Mortgage Option Still Available
It seemed like a good idea at the time: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was thinking that maybe lenders should be required to offer mortgage borrowers a zero-zero financing option, but after lots of letters and comments it ultimately rejected a zero-zero requirement. What is a zero-zero mortgage option? And why would you like to [...]
1May2013 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Wealth Gap Creates More Foreclosures and Short Sales
The worst of the foreclosure crisis seems over, if you can accept the idea that today’s foreclosure levels are in any way acceptable. Many of the foreclosures and short sales seen today actually have their roots in the period between 2000 and 2008 when lending standards went out the window. Today, with the better underwriting [...]
30Apr2013 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
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