Mortgages

FHFA’s new program to help underwater homeowners

Better Life

Today the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced a new program designed to help even more underwater homeowners refinance their mortgages at today’s low rates. The plan hopefully will allow homeowners to lower their monthly mortgage payments, thus freeing up money to be spent in the broader economy and help the US from slipping back into [...]

24 October 2011 Read the full article →

Condo financing near-impossible to get

Buyer Help

A while back, I wrote a piece called Condo Re-Financing: Tricky to Impossible. Nowadays, that lending dilemma has grown — it’s next to impossible to get a new mortgage to purchase a condo, according to my favorite lenders Kevin Reiser and Jeannie Bolger. (need an ace loan officer? call me or text me and I’ll [...]

19 September 2011 Read the full article →

Mortgage rates lowest since 1971

Mortgages

Mortgage rates set new record lows this week, per a report by mortgage giant Freddie Mac (the Primary Mortgage Market Survey), hitting rates not seen since 1971. Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.12 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending September 8th, 2011. Despite the fact that it’s been 40 years [...]

8 September 2011 Read the full article →

Mortgage interest rates plunge on debt deal news

Mortgages

From one of my favorite loan officers, Gary Ogami at Pinnacle Peak Lending, Inc. comes the news that mortgage interest rates just hit year-long lows: …rates are now at the year’s lows, and are only slightly above the all-time lows we saw almost one year ago. The passage of a debt ceiling and deficit reduction [...]

2 August 2011 Read the full article →

Metro Phoenix: cheaper to buy than rent

First Time Buyers

Trulia regularly tracks the buy vs. rent equation and reports again that it’s cheaper to buy a home than to rent in metro Phoenix. See full story here: http://explore.trulia.com/datavis/rentvsbuy/Q2-2011/ Meanwhile, mortgage rates are in free-fall, according to an Inman.com interpretation of Freddie Mac’s rate survey… Rates on fixed-rate mortgages declined for a seventh week in [...]

3 June 2011 Read the full article →

How big ARE Fannie and Freddie?

Mortgages

Fannie Mae purchased $87.6 billion of mortgages in December and $855 billion in 2010. Fannie Mae accounts for 54% of the market share and Freddie Mac accounts for 26%. Source: Rob Chrisman, via his daily mortgage news email to industry insiders, dated Feb 8, 2011. Heather Barr is a Realtor and a happy workaholic. She [...]

9 February 2011 Read the full article →

What credit score do I need to get a mortgage?

Buyer Help

The minimum FICO credit score needed to qualify for a mortgage changes frequently. As of February 2011, the general answer is … buyers need a FICO credit score of about 640 to qualify for a home mortgage. BUT…  there are exceptions. Bottom line: if you have a score under 640 you might still qualify for [...]

8 February 2011 Read the full article →

Not paying your mortgage? Don’t worry, banks making money off you anyhow.

Investors

Clients always ask me, “WHY are banks so SLOW in agreeing to short sales??” There’s a ton of reasons; almost none of them make sense. But for about 2-3 years I’ve been adding this opinion to my list of reasons banks are slow to OK short sales. Mind you, this is my opinion. I have [...]

14 January 2011 Read the full article →

Mortgage fraudster found guilty (and rich)

In The News

From one of the more entertaining feeds in my Google Reader, CreditBloggers: A lawyer who helped a gang of mortgage scammers steal $23 million from banks pleaded guilty to seven felonies on Wednesday as part of the federal government’s larger crackdown on loan fraud. [He] faces a maximum of 210 years in prison for his [...]

13 January 2011 Read the full article →

Buy a home for 1% cash down

Buyer Help

Although most of the low-down and no-down payment purchase programs are long gone with the financial crash of 2008, we do have 1 lender who has 1 loan program that’s a 1% cash down payment program. Here’s an example of a recent client of mine who used this program. Home purchase price – $85,500 Seller [...]

7 January 2011 Read the full article →

Mortgage Rates Headed Toward 6%

Mortgages

Mortgage rates ended 2010 with a steep ascent but we have to keep the figures in perspective. Rates were higher then the year started versus when it ended. And, historically, we remain well below the average. That’s why mortgage rates should rise in 2011. Momentum is drawing rates up, and the market is moving towards [...]

5 January 2011 Read the full article →