Mortgage News

Tax Credit Extension? Don’t Bet the House On It
By Nick Timiraos
The Wall Street Journal
April 22, 2010

The National Association of Realtors touted Thursday’s report that existing home sales rose by 6.8% in March as proof that the home buyer tax credit has been a “resounding success.” Indeed, home resales, which came in at a 5.35 million annual rate, exceeded analysts’ consensus expectations of a 5.25 million annual sales rate.

But there was another message embedded in Thursday’s report: Don’t count on any further extension of the home buyer tax credit, which expires at the end of April.

Ahhh yes, more stupidity from the banks. Let's really prolong our foreclosures!

KimmyJ
Press on...
www.tagteampropertiesllc.com

Bank of America Considering a Nine-Month Mortgage Forbearance Plan for the Unemployed

Posted by Carole VanSickle on Wednesday, April 21st 2010

Bank of America is considering offering unemployed homeowners who cannot afford their mortgage payments a full nine months of forbearance while they search for a new job. If, during the nine months, the borrower is able to obtain employment, Bank of America pledges to structure a mortgage loan modification based on the borrower’s new income.

This article is found at: http://realestate.****/promo/renting-the-new-american-dream

The American dream of home ownership has turned out to be the American nightmare for those who could never really afford a home in the first place.

Many borrowers are now in deep trouble as home prices have plummeted and the payments on bubble-era adjustable rate mortgages have shot up. Foreclosures are still continuing at an alarming pace.

If the so-called Great Recession has taught us anything, it's that buying a house is not a divine right. It's a privilege to be earned only after you've saved up a nice chunk of cash for a down payment and are in a healthy enough financial position to keep making those monthly mortgage payments.

Mortgage Rates Reverse Course and Fall
By Amy Hoak
The Wall Stret Journal
April 16, 2010

Home-mortgage rates fell this week, returning to levels seen two weeks ago, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey of conforming rates, released on Thursday.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.07% for the week ended April 15, down from 5.21% last week. A year ago, the mortgage averaged 4.82%. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.40%, down from 4.52% last week and 4.48% a year ago.

The five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 4.08%, down from 4.25% last week and 4.88% a year ago. And the one-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 4.13%, down from 4.14% last week and 4.91% a year ago.

Second Mortgages Vex Borrowers
By James R. Hagerty
The Wall Street Journal
April 12, 2010

After losing her condo in San Diego to foreclosure last year, Charissa Kolich thought that at least she was free of mortgage bills.

But Wells Fargo & Co., which holds a home-equity loan made five years ago to Ms. Kolich, last month filed a lawsuit against her in the Superior Court of California, San Diego County, seeking to collect the nearly $72,000 it said she still owed on that second mortgage. "This was all kind of a shock," says Ms. Kolich, a food-service administrator recently diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer.

Views Conflict on Fannie Meltdown
By Nick Timiraos
The Wall Street Journal
April 09, 2010

A Congressional panel heard clashing views about what caused the failure of Fannie Mae on Friday, one that blamed the "impossible" balancing act of the company's competing missions, while a former regulator blamed management failures.

"I sought to balance the fine points of mission and business insofar as I could understand them," said ex-Fannie Chief Executive Daniel Mudd before a panel investigating the financial crisis. By September 2008, when the government took over Fannie and its smaller rival, Freddie Mac, as mounting losses threatened to wipe out thin capital reserves, "that was no longer possible...and I am sorry for that," he said.

Fed Exits Mortgages; Investors Should Enter Cautiously
By Eleanor Laise
The Wall Street Journal
April 3, 2010

The Federal Reserve has stepped back from the mortgage market. Does that mean small investors should step in?

Now that the central bank has halted its historic $1.25 trillion mortgage-purchasing program, launched 15 months ago to stabilize the housing market, one would expect prices in mortgage-backed securities to plunge, sending yields soaring.

That, in theory, would present a great buy-and-hold opportunity. But investors betting on that scenario might be disappointed.

30 days and counting: Homebuyer tax credit expires
By Les Christie
CNN Money
March 30, 2010

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Attention shoppers: You have barely a month left before the homebuyer tax credit expires. But depending on where you live, you might not want to rush out to buy.

First-time homebuyers may qualify for up to $8,000, while those who are trading up could get as much as $6,500. But either way, buyers have to ink sales contracts by the end of April and close before July 1 to see the refund.

And this is absolutely, positively your last chance to claim the credit. (Probably.) So don't wait, thinking the credit will be extended for a third time.

Mortgage Increases Blunted
By Nick Timiraos
The Wall Street Journal
March 29, 2010

The struggling housing market appears as if it will sustain less damage than expected this year from a spike in the monthly payments on hundreds of thousands of exotic adjustable-rate mortgages.

The number of such loans scheduled to adjust to higher payments this year has shrunk. Lower-than-expected interest rates, coupled with efforts to aggressively modify loans, are likely to mute payment shocks for some borrowers. Many others already have defaulted on their loans even before their payments adjusted upward.

Bank Launches Big Plan to Cut Mortgage Debt
By James R. Hagerty and Nick Timiraos
The Wall Street Journal
March 25, 2010

Under pressure by Massachusetts prosecutors, Bank of America Corp. said Wednesday it would reduce mortgage-loan balances as much as 30% for thousands of troubled borrowers, in what could presage a wider government effort to encourage banks to offer debt reduction to ease the mortgage crisis.