All Posts Tagged With: "loans"
What Are Private Mortgages?
We usually think of real estate financing in terms of loans from banks, mortgage brokers, mortgage banks, credit unions and insurance companies. In fact there’s another source of real estate financing, private mortgages.
Private mortgages can be alluring and in some cases financially dangerous. In the best case a private mortgage will provide a low rate [...]
What Paperwork Do You Need To Get A Mortgage?
One of the biggest problems with the government’s Making Home Affordable loan modification program is that a large number of borrowers are making their payments but do not provide required paperwork — and thus are unable to permanently refinance their mortgage with a new and lower rate. Because they did not provide required paperwork these [...]
1Feb2010 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
No Predatory Lending In 2008?
The FBI is out with its latest annual mortgage fraud tally and the news is fairly grim: Despite a reduction in loan originations, fraud filings from financial institutions increased 36 percent to 63,713 in fiscal 2008 compared to 46,717 filings a year earlier.
This is an unhappy statistic, but it does not tell the whole story. [...]
Bankruptcy Fables Your Lenders Love
Should bankruptcy judges have the right to modify home mortgages? Would that be fair? Or unfair?
It’s a political question, of course, and when the time came for the Senate to vote in April the count was 51-to-45 against a measure would give judges the right to change home loan terms and rates. For the moment [...]
4May2009 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
How Paper Mortgage Losses Turned Real
The question that keeps coming up is this: If only a small portion of all mortgages are failing how come the general financial impact has been so enormous?
To resolve this mystery, let’s go back to the 1970s when the mortgage-backed security — the MBS — was developed. The MBS was a financial device designed to [...]
15Dec2008 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
It’s Time To Raise Loan Disclosure Standards
It’s usually argued that full and fair disclosure is one of the best forms of consumer protection, but when it comes to mortgage loans there’s often much that borrowers don’t know — especially with today’s newer loan formats.
Now a study by the Government Accountability Office says new standards of consumer education should be required for [...]
22Sep2008 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Can You Profit From The Real Estate Meltdown?
Hardly a week goes by without the announcement that some major bank has just succeeded in raising billions of dollars in new capital from hedge funds or overseas investors. Given the huge sums being invested in U.S. banks you have to wonder what they’re doing with such new dollars. One good use might be to [...]
20Sep2008 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
What To Do About Predatory Loans
Predatory loans are the new horror of mortgage lending, a subject getting much attention in the media and with good reason.
In general terms predatory loans can be seen as financing which the borrower does not understand, cannot repay, or includes terms so onerous even loan sharks would be embarrassed. Such loans harm consumers, generate [...]
How Do I Qualifying For First-Time Buyer Programs?
There are a number of programs directed toward first-time purchasers. In general, there are three standards.
First, you must not have owned real estate within the past three years. (In effect, you can be a “first time” buyer more than once.) This standard can pose some difficulties in divorce situations where spouses once owned property jointly [...]
Tough Lender Rules Meant To Limit Refinancing Options
Imagine driving along the highway. You run over some glass and a tire goes flat. It’s no problem because there’s a spare in the trunk.
For the past several years real estate buyers have had a financial spare tire, a back-up system that was always there if times got tough. But now that spare tire [...]
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