All Posts Tagged With: "insurance"
Why Obama Should Favor Mortgage Appraisals
President Obama inherited the worst financial crisis since Hoover and the Great Depression. It follows that getting the country back on track is no easy task and while his new housing plan includes much to support it also includes a provision to dump appraisals when they are most needed. Dump is really the right word. Fannie [...]
6Feb2012 | Peter G. Miller | 1 comment | Continued
Labor Day: Does America Need A Second Bill of Rights?
For large numbers of Americans the economic situation today is worse than at any time since the Great Depression. Unemployment is high and benefits are disappearing. Income is 5 percent less than in 1999. The traditional storehouses of wealth and financial security have eroded as home values have fallen and pension savings pay little more [...]
5Sep2011 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Why Home Insurance Rates Should Not Soar After Hurricane Irene
The good news regarding Hurricane Irene is that it did less damage than many forecasters initially suspected. The bad news is that it did a lot of damage, an estimated $12 billion to $13 billion. Given such huge losses should the money you pay for homeowner’s insurance go up? A firm “no” comes from Joanne [...]
1Sep2011 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
How The FHA Is Sinking Mortgage Borrowers
Millions of people have financed and refinanced with FHA mortgages, but what used to be a financial safe-haven is increasingly not-so-attractive. Higher costs and gotcha clauses are making the FHA less unique and more expensive every day. Don’t believe it? Let’s look at some facts: Lender Fees With most forms of mortgage financing lenders have [...]
23Jun2011 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Less FHA Mortgage Loan Demand Undermines American Home Prices
A small change in FHA guidelines has now hit the market and the result has been both immediate and devastating. “Purchase applications fell last week, driven primarily by a sharp decrease in government purchase applications as new, higher FHA premiums went into effect,” said Michael Fratantoni, the Mortgage Bankers Association Vice President of Research and [...]
2May2011 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Can Bi-Weekly Loans Stop Mortgage Foreclosures?
If you have a bi-weekly mortgage will your payments be more in line with your paycheck, thus lowering your costs and reducing the chance for foreclosure? Imagine that a household has two wage-earners who take in $100,000 per year. Lenders allow them to finance with monthly payments equal to 31 percent of their income or [...]
28Mar2011 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Up-Front Reverse Mortgage Fee Now Less Than An Oil Change
HUD is out with its newly-minted HECM Saver reverse mortgage and the program has one stunning feature: It requires virtually no FHA insurance premium up front. Reverse mortgages are often in the news, an unusual loan program intended for home owners age 62 and above. In essence, a reverse mortgage is a huge, negatively amortizing [...]
4Oct2010 | Peter G. Miller | 1 comment | Continued
How The VA Funding Fee Really Works
VA loans are built to minimize the financial impact on military members who qualify for the program. Credit and income requirements are generally more lenient than conventional loans and sellers are allowed to pay a sizable portion of closing costs and concessions. On top of that, the Veterans Administrations caps what veterans can pay in [...]
29Jun2010 | Chris Birk | 0 comments | Continued
Foreclosure Taxes
We usually think of foreclosures as the end product of not paying a mortgage. But in a somewhat weird way it’s also possible to be foreclosed for other reasons. For instance, in many communities the water company is actually a governmental agency. Don’t pay your water bill and there can be a lien against the [...]
5Mar2010 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
FHA Mortgage Basics
It all started in the 1930s when the government began insuring home mortgages. This was a big deal because it meant that homes could be purchased with little down and with loans that lasted more than five years — the norm at the time. Since the program began in 1934 the government has insured more [...]
9Dec2009 | Peter G. Miller | 1 comment | Continued
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