Mortgages & Lending

Low Interest Rates Make for Great Long Term Investments

by Ken Corsini | August 11, 2011

If you are one of the lucky ones who happen to be in the process of locking in an interest rate over the last week or two, you probably saw that rates are way down. In fact, rates on 15 year fixed mortgages as well as 5 year ARMs hit record lows last week. As [...]

5 comments Read the full article →

Housing

Banks Walking Away From Homes, Record Foreclosures and More: The Week in Housing

by Ryan Hinricher | January 17, 2011

What happens when banks walk away from homes? Will 2011 break 2010′s record year for foreclosures? We’ll answer these questions and get an update on mortgage application activity, interest rates, and some final thoughts on the week. 2010: Record-Setting Year for Foreclosures RealtyTrac released its Year-End 2010 US Foreclosure Market Report. The numbers paint a [...]

2 comments Read the full article →

Housing

Proceed with Caution, but Proceed

by Ryan Hinricher | May 3, 2010

I wanted to verbalize my thoughts on the market and why I believe people looking to invest in real estate should do so but proceed with caution. Last week I wrote an article about why I believe investors should use a blue-chip real estate strategy when investing in today’s market. The focus was on identifying [...]

4 comments Read the full article →

Mortgages & Lending

FHA 90-Day Flip Rule Suspended: Lenders Hesitant To Change

by Brian Brady | January 29, 2010

If you’re a real estate scavenger, who likes to buy foreclosure properties at a deep discount and “flip” them to retail home buyers, the FHA anti-flipping rule has always been a thorn in your side. Come Monday, February 1, 2010, HUD has agreed to suspend that prohibition for a period of 12 months. 123flip.com reports [...]

24 comments Read the full article →

Mortgages & Lending

Come New Year, The Ball May Drop, But Mortgage Rates May Rise

by Charles Feldman | December 17, 2009

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! But while many of you will have your eyes glued to your flat screens watching a 1080p image of a large, light encrusted ball drop at Times Square, others will be paying closer attention to mortgage rates which many think will go [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Mortgages & Lending

Will Interest Rates Start to Climb Soon? Time to Get Off the Fence

by Florence Foote | December 15, 2009

It is no secret that money has been exceptionally cheap this year, provided you can qualify for a loan. Rates this low have not been common for half a century. But, according to a recent article in the New York Times, today’s “super-low rates are not likely to last much longer.” You will be excused [...]

6 comments Read the full article →

Mortgages & Lending

Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Put the Noose Around Investors’ Necks with New Lending & Underwriting Policy Changes

by Jeff Brown | December 10, 2009

There comes a point at which reasonable folk take a step back, survey the latest nonsensical trend in lending, and conclude their own rational thought has been the problem all along. We don’t need a rehash of why we’re sittin’ in the economic rubble of a woefully failed economy. Allow me to sum it up [...]

17 comments Read the full article →

Commentary

Meet Your New Landlord: Uncle Sam (aka Fannie Mae)

by Florence Foote | December 1, 2009

Fannie Mae is a government sponsored private company, with its roots in the Great Depression. Unfortunately, mere government-sponsorship was not enough to keep the company afloat during the recent financial crisis, and the U.S. government had to go all in on its bad bet and seize the company to prevent its imminent demise. While the [...]

3 comments Read the full article →

Commentary

High End Real Estate: Will The Second Shoe Drop?

by Florence Foote | November 17, 2009

The lower end of the market was hit first — and hardest — by the real estate crash; understandably so. People who are just squeezing by are naturally quick to default after a job loss, have little resources to draw upon as a cushion, and are presumably less likely to care about the negative credit [...]

3 comments Read the full article →

Foreclosures

New Data: Housing Crisis Gets Worse; Many Modified Mortgages Still Delinquent!

by Charles Feldman | December 23, 2008

Housing Bailout Programs Flop! What programs there are–and there aren’t many–to bail out homeowners who are facing foreclosure are turning out to be total flops according to some new data reported by Reuters News Service. Apparently, “the rate of re-default on modified mortgages is rising and may worsen as the economy deteriorates,” Reuters quotes banking [...]

5 comments Read the full article →

Commentary

A Solution That Works

by Joshua Dorkin | October 8, 2008

Today, we’ve got an important guest post to share, written by Dan Gilbert, Chairman of Quicken Loans. Last week, President Bush signed into law the hotly debated financial rescue package called the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. While this legislation helps stabilize Wall Street and the banking system, it does nothing to address the [...]

26 comments Read the full article →

Housing

Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac: What Will The Feds Do?

by Charles Feldman | July 11, 2008

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, combined, own or back up some $5 trillion dollars of debt. That is about half of ALL the mortgages in the U.S. They have already lost some $11 BILLION since the current mortgage/credit crisis began, so it is easy to see why there is profound concern about their fiscal health–or [...]

4 comments Read the full article →

Credit

Turning the Real Estate Ship Around: Why It Hasn’t And How It Can

by Charles Feldman | May 21, 2008

Okay…so what’s wrong with this picture? In communities all across America the value of homes has dropped faster than the New Year’s Eve ball in Times Square. Lower prices should mean bargin prices. Bargin prices should mean people jumping back into the housing market. People jumping back into the housing market should help inflate the [...]

8 comments Read the full article →

Foreclosures

Foreclosures, Census Data, and Tough Times for Real Estate Agents

by Joshua Dorkin | October 3, 2006

It looks like pending foreclosures from adjustable rate mortgages are affecting lower income people more then the rich, explains Al Tompkins at Poynter Online. Tompkins looks at recent stories in the St. Petersburg Times (Florida) and Winston-Salem Journal (N.C.) which illustrate this quite clearly. Black homeownership is falling in Louisville, Kentucky according the the US [...]

0 comments Read the full article →