All Posts Tagged With: "lenders"
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 property, [...]
What are foreclosure brokers?
It used to be that foreclosures were rare events. About .5 percent of all home loans were foreclosed in a year, a figure which reached 4.58 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
The huge foreclosure surge has not happened everywhere — some areas have seen vastly more foreclosures than [...]
What Is Mortgage Flipping?
If you have a mortgage you have a debt, but what about the lender? To lenders that very same mortgage note is an asset, a security which can be bought, held or sold.
So — in the most innocent of circumstances — an investor might buy a mortgage note in the morning and selling it in [...]
FHA To Borrowers: Gimme More!
The FHA has announced higher mortgage insurance premiums,stiffer downpayment standards for those with weak credit and more oversight for FHA-approved lenders.
What’s going on here? A few things:
First, FHA reserves are falling. The insurance program needs more money. What happens when insurance programs need cash? They raise premiums. In the case of the FHA they want [...]
How To Read The HUD-1
Starting January 1st, 2010, all real estate transactions will be settled using a new HUD-1. The HUD-1 is a standardized form which allows real estate buyers and sellers to clearly understand the costs of their transaction.
The original HUD-1 was developed as a by-product of the Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act of 1974 — or, [...]
How To Read The New Good Faith Estimate Forms
Starting January 1, 2010 HUD will require lenders to use a new Good Faith Estimate form or GFE. This is important because whether you buy a mansion or a cottage, you want to know how much your mortgage is going to cost — not just the interest rate but all the fees and charges you’ll [...]
2Nov2009 | Peter G. Miller | 1 comment | Continued
Mortgages: No Jail Time For Lenders
Why have so few lenders gone to jail? In part because neither predatory lending or insider trading with commodities are federal crimes.
4Sep2009 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Since When Are Appraisal Conflicts Okay?
On RealTalk, a listserve with some 30,000+ agents and brokers, several relate that they have had bad experiences under the new Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) concept, something which only began May 1st.
Why is anyone amazed? Combine a new and different program with a huge number of interactions and there are certain to be [...]
The Mortgage Offer Is In The Mail
The nation’s lenders are churning out 38 million mortgage solicitations a month, ads sent to your home through the postal system according to Mintel Comperemedia.
While 38 million is a big number, the volume of direct mail solicitations has actually been going down for the past two years. In the first quarter of 2009, says Mintel, [...]
Can You Trust Your Lender?
There is something new in the marketplace, what is being called the Fair Market Collaborative. As someone who has been looking for fairness in the mortgage marketplace since the 1970s you can bet that I welcome any effort to create a level playing field for borrowers.
But will the new collaborative really change marketplace [...]