Archive for March, 2010
Have Home Prices Finally Bottomed Out? 3/31/10
The latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices are out and they suggest that home prices may be — can we say this? — firming. There are two indexes, one tracks 10 cites and the other tracks 20 cities. S&P/Case Shiller says “the 10-City Composite is unchanged versus where it was a year ago, and the 20-City [...]
31Mar2010 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
ARMs & Out-Of-Whack Pricing
The government reports today that interest levels for fixed-rate 30-year loans reached 5.13 percent in February — up a touch from 5.06 percent in February 2009. What’s really amazing, however, is the interest level for adjustable-rate mortgages. In February a typical ARM was priced at 5.03 percent. You have to wonder: Why would any sentient [...]
30Mar2010 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Controversy Brews Over Latest Obama Mortgage Write-Off Plan
The newest effort by the federal government to shore up the flagging housing market is going to set off a fierce debate. The just-announced FHA Refinance Option is likely to keep a lot of homeowners out of foreclosure. This is important because until the “shadow” inventory of distressed and foreclosed homes is reduced in a [...]
29Mar2010 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Has The Obama Mortgage Modification Program Failed?
The Washington Independent — which tells us that it offers “national news in context” says that: “President Obama’s mortgage modification program, known as the Home Affordable Modification Program or HAMP, was supposed to be the fulfillment of Obama’s promise to take care of Main Street more than Wall Street. Yet, just over a year into [...]
25Mar2010 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
San Francisco Home Loan Bank Wants $19 billion Back From Wall Street
The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco is upset with a bunch of stockbrokers and is seeking to rescind the purchase of mortgage-backed securities worth $19.1 billion. If the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco can go back and seek to undo the purchase of mortgage-backed securities because of alleged “untrue or misleading [...]
23Mar2010 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
How Foreclosures, Bankruptcies & Healthcare Are Tied Together
Last week we wrote about bankruptcies and the reality that 2009 was a banner year for financial failure — 1.5 million bankruptcies, up 32 percent from 2008. Interestingly enough, as provisions of the newly-minted Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act go into effect we are likely to see both fewer bankruptcies and fewer foreclosures. Why? [...]
22Mar2010 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Bankruptcies Rise 32% in 2009, 1.5 Million Went To Court
Almost 1.5 million bankruptcies were recorded in 2009, a number up 32 percent from 2008 — and a number that was not supposed to happen. Huh? How come there were not supposed to be so many bankruptcies. Well, to put this as nicely as possible, the so-called Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of [...]
16Mar2010 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Mortgage Modifications: Bush Versus Obama
It’s beginning to look like the government’s efforts to modify troubled home loans is beginning to pay off. As of the end of February more than 170,000 borrowers had obtained permanent mortgage modifications while more than 1 million more under the Making Home Affordable program are involved in trial modifications that could result in better [...]
15Mar2010 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Mortgage Reform — Getting Back To Basics
Given the huge profits on Wall Street, we seem to have quickly forgotten that financial reform is necessary if we’re to prevent or less the next financial meltdown. Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-DE) is now proposing systemic financial reform. One part of that reform — a big part — would clearly involve changes in the way [...]
12Mar2010 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Foreclosure Filings Rise For 50th Straight Month
Tough weather in many states as well as loan modification programs are believed to have held down foreclosure filings in February, according to the latest report by RealtyTrac?, the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties. Even so, foreclosure filings for the month included 308,524 default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions nationwide — a total [...]
11Mar2010 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
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