Archive for Peter G. Miller
Servicers “Fail” Mortgage Modification Expectations
With more than a million borrowers signed up for mortgage modification programs the overall result is that most are wildly unhappy with their loan servicers.
According to J.D. Power and Associates, mortgage servicers often fail to deliver on certain best practices during the loan modification process, “including providing and meeting a time frame for approval; not [...]
100 to 1 — Obama Mortgage Modification Plan Tops Bush
Just about every posting regarding the Obama mortgage modification program says it’s a dud. Those on the left say not enough has been done, those on the right say too many homeowners are washing out of the program. What’s too often left out is any sense of context.
The reality is that the Obama loan modification [...]
Bring Back The First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit
The news from the National Association of Realtors is fairly brutal and speaks for itself:
“Existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, dropped 27.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.83 million units in July from a downwardly revised 5.26 million in June, and are 25.5 percent below [...]
Regulators Offer “Reputation Risk” Advice To Reverse Mortgage Lenders
A gaggle of federal regulators are advising reverse mortgage lenders to avoid “reputation risk” by focusing “on the need to provide adequate information to consumers about reverse mortgage products; to provide qualified independent counseling to consumers considering these products; and to avoid potential conflicts of interest.”
Big deal. After all, reverse mortgage borrowers are already required [...]
Should The FHA Insure Luxury Condo Loans?
Last week Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) announced an effort to increase the size of FHA builder loan guarantees for new housing units in major cities. Now Bloomberg News is reporting that FHA loans are being used to finance the acquisition of luxury apartments in New York.
“The Federal Housing Administration agreed in March to insure mortgages [...]
July Foreclosure Numbers Show Continued Weakness
The latest foreclosure numbers show some improvement in the marketplace, but not enough to suggest the housing crisis is over.
RealtyTrac reports for July that foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 325,229 properties in July, a nearly 4 percent increase from the previous month but a nearly 10 [...]
FHA “Short Refinance” — Is This The Way To Reduce Foreclosures?
Imagine that you have a mortgage and want to refinance to get a lower rate but the debt is greater than the value of the home. Imagine also that if you can refinance you can avoid foreclosure.
The government is now trying to address this scenario, something which is common across the country, especially for those [...]
9Aug2010 | Peter G. Miller | 2 comments | Continued
FHA Insurance Premiums Set For Fall Revamp
Borrowers who get FHA financing after October 4th will be subject to a new insurance fee schedule — with some costs rising and some falling.
The FHA has two insurance premiums. There’s an up-front mortgage insurance premium (MIP) paid at closing (or added to the loan amount) which is now equal to 2.25 percent of the [...]
Why Foreclosure Prevention Is Not Enough
Fannie Mae has opened a new consumer education site which it says “outlines the choices available to homeowners who are struggling with their mortgage payments, and provides guidance on how they can contact and work with their mortgage company to find solutions.”
The site, Know Your Options.com, has the usual bells and whistles for a [...]
Foreclosures Rise In Most Metro Areas
Foreclosures continue to plague American cities. The latest data from RealtyTrac shows that shows 154 of the 206 U.S. metropolitan areas with a population of 200,000 or more posted year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity even while foreclosure activity decreased in nine of the 10 metros with the highest foreclosure rates.
Four states — Florida, California, Nevada and [...]
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