Archive for August, 2009
Mortgage News: The Crime of the Century
In New York two stock brokers have been found guilty of securities bait-and-switch. The two men face decades of jail time for defrauding investors by selling securities which were described as being backed by federally-guaranteed student loans when in fact they were actually auction-rate securities, a more risky financial product. So, let’s review. It’s illegal [...]
19Aug2009 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Mortgage News: Deliquencies Up For 10th Straight Quarter
Mortgage loan delinquencies continue to increase, a suggestion of rising foreclosure rates ahead and continued home price declines. The “good” news — if you can call it that — is that the pace of delinquencies seems to be slowing. TransUnion.com reports that mortgage loan delinquencies increased for the tenth straight quarter, hitting an all-time national [...]
18Aug2009 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Mortgage News: One Less Lender, One More Headache
It’s hard to imagine that a bank with 346 branches would go belly up, but that’s what happened Friday when the Colonial Bank of Montgomery, Alabama, was closed by the State Banking Department. With the speed of light, or at least the speed of an online transfer, Colonial was then taken over by the Federal [...]
17Aug2009 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Foreclosures: Bankruptcies Rise 35%
The court system is reporting a massive rise in bankruptcies, a sure-fire indicator of foreclosure activity. In the 12-month period ending June 30, 2009, there were 1,306,315 bankruptcy cases filed, according to statistics released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. That’s a 35 percent increase compared to filings for the 12-month period ending [...]
14Aug2009 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Real Estate: Second Quarter Sales Rise, Prices Fall
Existing-home sales in the second quarter showed healthy gains from the first quarter in the vast majority of states, according to the latest survey by the National Association of Realtors. However, prices continued to fall in most markets. Total state existing-home sales, including single-family and condo, rose 3.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate [...]
12Aug2009 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Mortgages: 66,469 Loan Originators Now Registered
About a year ago something called the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry (NMLS) was established to list all mortgage loan originators. So far, the system includes 66,469 loan officers with more to be added shortly. What is the advantage of this program? Each loan officer gets a unique license number. If they lose their [...]
12Aug2009 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Mortgages: No Ethical Lapse On Capitol Hill
The Senate Ethics Committee has found that neither Sen. Thomas Dodd (D-CT) nor Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) broke any ethical standards on the basis of mortgages received from Countrywide. After going through 18,000 pages of documentation, the Committee concluded that the rates and terms received by the senators where generally available to the public — [...]
11Aug2009 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Mortgages: Can You Stop Line of Credit Freezes?
The Federal Reserve has published a new guide to home equity line of credit financing — and what you can do if your lender reduces or freezes your HELOC. To be polite, not a damn thing. The Board’s 5 Tips for Dealing with a Home Equity Line Freeze or Reduction first tells us the following: [...]
10Aug2009 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Mortgages & Foreclosures: Let’s Pick On Real Estate Investors
The way things are going Arizona is scheduled to have a new foreclosure law in place by the end of September. In basic terms, SB 1271 says lenders can seek a deficiency judgment if you did not live in a property for six months in a row before foreclosure. Translation: The legislation is aimed at [...]
7Aug2009 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Mortgages: Do Away With Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac?
The news is filled with stories regarding efforts to dump Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and replace them with, er, well, no one knows what. Good luck, folks. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now being blamed for following the instructions they received from the federal government. For example, in 2000 the minority loan purchase [...]
6Aug2009 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
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