News
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 [...]
HUD Scorecard: Home Prices Stabilizing
HUD has introduced a new public information report, a Monthly Housing Scorecard. This is an idea which makes a lot of sense, not only because of what it says but also because HUD includes data from both governmental agencies and the private sector in one place.
The News
To start, and given the events of the past [...]
This Mortgage Lender Is A Fake (Don’t Just Take Our Word For It)
You can’t help but wonder about the good folks at Esteemed Lending Services. They seem so sure, so certain, so familiar….
If you want a mortgage, Esteemed has one for you. Recent bankruptcy? No problem? A foreclosure last month? So what. Less income? They can work with you.
And help with short sales? Who could possibly do [...]
FTC Does Mortgage Loan Audits
Yesterday I criticized the Federal Trade Commission’s view of mortgage loan audits. The idea was not to defend fraudulent loan audit practices but to say that the FTC did not provide an alternative for borrowers who face what may be unjustified and overblown mortgage claims. I said the public should use licensed and experienced attornies [...]
8Jun2010 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
$624 Million Settlement Doesn’t Mean A Dime For Mortgage Borrowers
According to the State of New York it has now achieved a $624 million preliminary settlement from Countrywide Financial Corporation and its accounting firm, KPMG. The arrangement must be approved by a California judge, perhaps in September
It is alleged that “Countrywide, one of the country’s largest mortgage lenders, violated securities laws by making misstatements and [...]
Mortgage Originations Tumble In 2010 First Quarter
Mortgage originations continue to decline, falling 28% in the first quarter of 2010 when compared with a year earlier, according to MortgageDaily.com.
Among the biggest lenders, the site reported that “MetLife Inc’s 41% decline was the biggest of the lenders analyzed, moving it out of the top-10 club. Also losing its top-10 title was Flagstar Bank, [...]
Mortgages: The Hearing Washington Won’t Have
Yesterday was the big showdown on Capitol Hill, Goldman Sachs versus the universe. The universe won.
In testimony before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations various officials from Goldman Sachs responded to an assortment of allegations and outrage regarding their part in the sale of mortgage-backed securities.
In basic terms, the folks from Goldman explained that [...]
April 15th: The Right Way To Figure Taxes
With April 15 now upon us a question lingers: Isn’t there a better way to deal with this annual effort to find receipts, stubs and numbers that balance?
My interest in taxes is both economic and genetic. My late father was a CPA for more than 60 years and at age 90 or thereabouts was renowned [...]
Harris Poll: 27,000,000 Borrowers Think They’re Underwater
A new study from the Harris Poll suggests the extent of the current financial crisis and mortgage meltdown:
“Fully 24% of people with mortgages believe they owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth,” says Harris. “One in nine homeowners (11%) with mortgages report having ‘a great deal of difficulty’ in paying off their [...]
Mortgage Rates & The Hutaree
During the past few days nine people in Detroit have been arrested and charged with seditious conspiracy. The allegations are that they are part of the Hutaree, a Christian militia group which believes that the world will soon come to an end, that the government is somehow the enemy and that it’s necessary to kill [...]
1Apr2010 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
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