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Robert Fishel  Friday, 27th of January 2012 at 05:31:26 PM

Until recently, home ownership was no bargain compared to renting, according to Paul Diggle, a housing economist at Capital Economics.
Recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau and published statistics from Thomson Datastream indicate that rising rents and falling mortgages are tipping the scales towards home ownership. The median monthly mortgage payment has fallen to about the same as a median monthly rent check. Continue reading Mortgage Rate Update; Should you Rent or Buy a Home?
Dennis Norman  Thursday, 26th of January 2012 at 06:59:09 AM
Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau released new home sales data for December 2011 showing a decrease of 2.2 percent from the month before, and a decrease of 7.3 percent from a year ago. The seasonally-adjusted new home sales rate for December was 307,000 homes, down from an adjusted rate of 314,000 homes the month before. This is the first month new home sales have declined in four months and unfortunately ends the year with the lowest number of new homes sold since the Commerce Department began keeping track of sales in 1963. Continue reading New homes sales fall in December and make 2011 worst year on record
Dennis Norman  Thursday, 26th of January 2012 at 12:18:46 AM
Foreclosure Price 34 Percent Below Average Price of Non-Foreclosures
RealtyTrac, today released its third-quarter 2011 U.S. Foreclosure Sales Report, which shows that sales of homes that were in some stage of foreclosure or bank owned accounted for 20 percent of all U.S. residential sales in the third quarter of 2011, down from 22 percent of all sales in the second quarter and down from 30 percent of all sales in the third quarter of 2010.
To find foreclosures in your area click here. Continue reading One in five home sales is a foreclosure and only two-thirds the cost of a non-foreclosure home
News Desk  Tuesday, 24th of January 2012 at 11:32:01 PM
Based on what we’ve heard, the settlement between major banks and states’ Attorneys General (AGs), the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of Justice would represent an important step forward in addressing foreclosure abuses. The settlement would include key reforms to clean up unfair mortgage servicing practices. It would also provide an important template for ways banks can use principal reduction to reduce unnecessary foreclosures and put the country back on a path to economic recovery. Continue reading AG Settlement: Not Perfect, But Significant Reform of Mortgage Servicing
Dennis Norman  Monday, 23rd of January 2012 at 07:10:38 PM
Realtor.com, which claims to have more traffic on it’s website than any other real estate website in the world, released their report for December showing how 146 metro areas in the U.S. stack up in terms of popularity for home searches. Chicago was number 1 on the list again this month, followed by Detroit, MI, and Los-Angeles-Long Beach, CA. Continue reading Ten cities that receive the most online home searches
News Desk  Monday, 23rd of January 2012 at 02:33:23 PM
Dennis Norman  Friday, 20th of January 2012 at 11:15:21 AM
Today’s existing home sales report from the National Association of REALTORS® shows existing home sales in December were at at a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 4.61 million units which is an increase of 5.0 percent from the month before and an increase of 3.6 percent from a year ago. The actual number of homes sold in December was 350,000 which is 4.5 percent more than the month before and 1.4 percent more than December 2010 when there were 345,000 homes sold. Continue reading Home sales and prices increase in December; Inventory down to near-normal level
Dennis Norman  Thursday, 19th of January 2012 at 09:22:19 AM

The last couple of months I have said that, “unless something changes dramatically, 2011 will hit a new record low of new home starts. Unfortunately, nothing dramatic happened, and 2011 has ended with only 428,600 new home starts setting a new record low and significantly below the prior all-time low of 445,200 starts in 2009.
Continue reading New Home Starts in 2011 Set All-Time Record Low
News Desk  Thursday, 19th of January 2012 at 09:01:01 AM
Schemes Affected U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Mortgage Guarantee Program
Robert Fishel  Wednesday, 18th of January 2012 at 06:25:59 PM

What income is required to qualify for a mortgage? That largely depends on your monthly debt payments and the current interest rate. This calculator collects these important variables and determines your required income to qualify for your desired mortgage amount.(click here)
Mortgage interest rates have fallen this year to historical lows and with them so have the costs of home ownership. Regardless of a borrower’s loan amount, bargain-basement interest rates have brought a home buyer’s monthly mortgage payment down to levels never seen in history. Continue reading St. Louis Mortgage Rate Update; What income is required for a mortgage?
Dennis Norman  Tuesday, 17th of January 2012 at 12:07:47 PM
Mortgage delinquencies in December increased to 2.24 percent of all mortgages, a slight increase from the month before when delinquencies were at 2.22 percent but a decrease of over 25 percent from a year ago when the rate was 3.01 percent. The mortgage delinquency rate is something I pay close attention to because it is the “leading indicator” of foreclosures and foreclosures and REO’s are one of the major hurdles to a recovery in the housing market. Declining delinquency rates are our first clue that the housing market is headed to a recovery. Continue reading Mortgage Delinquences Increase in December but are Down over 25 percent from a year ago
Dennis Norman  Thursday, 12th of January 2012 at 02:42:07 PM
This morning, RealtyTrac released their 2011 year-end U.S. Foreclosure Market Report which shows that 2,698,967 foreclosure filings (default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions) we’re reported on 1,887,777 properties in the U.S. during the year, a decrease of 34 percent from the year before and marking the lowest level since 2007! Continue reading Foreclosure actions in 2011 hit lowest level since 2007!
Dennis Norman  Monday, 9th of January 2012 at 04:42:43 PM
A report released this morning by CoreLogic, one of the nations leading providers of property information shows that home prices in the U.S. fell in November 4.3 percent from the year before and declined by 1.4 percent from the month before marking the fourth consecutive monthly decline in home prices. Continue reading Home prices decline in November; fourth consecutive month of declines
News Desk  Saturday, 7th of January 2012 at 11:00:54 AM
Defendant Collected $1.6 Million from 1,100 Distressed Homeowners
Dennis Norman  Thursday, 5th of January 2012 at 12:34:24 PM
This morning, Freddie Mac released the results of it’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey revealing that the interest rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 3.91 percent, matching the all-time low! Makes me want to go out and borrow some money! At this time last year, the interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.77 percent.
Continue reading Mortgage interest rates fall to match all time low!
Robert Fishel  Wednesday, 4th of January 2012 at 04:02:31 PM

The National Association of Realtors’ research staff recently released its comprehensive annual report: Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers for 2011.
Market researcher, Paul C. Bishop, Ph. D., Vice President and Jessica Lautz, Manager of Consumer Survey Research state that they’ve identified “trends that have not been seen in the last 10 years,” which will affect the housing market as we enter 2012. Continue reading Mortgage Rate Update; Trends that will affect the housing market in 2012
News Desk  Friday, 30th of December 2011 at 02:10:18 PM
OKLAHOMA CITY—DEREK CHRISTOPHER SWANN, 39, of Norman, was sentenced yesterday to serve 40 months in federal prison for money laundering related to a failed Edmond commercial and residential development called “The Falls,” announced Sanford C. Coats, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma. Earlier this year, Giovanni Bryan Stinson, 38, of Edmond, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud, in connection with raising investor proceeds for The Falls based on false information. Continue reading Norman Man to Serve 40 Months in Prison and Pay $4.3 Million in Restitution in Connection with Edmond Condominium Project
Dennis Norman  Friday, 30th of December 2011 at 12:04:47 PM
Freddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS), showing average fixed mortgage rates finishing the year near their all-time historic lows. Thirty-year fixed rate mortgages averaged 3.95 percent and have been at or below 4.0 percent for the past nine consecutive weeks keeping homebuyer affordability at a near all-time high. Continue reading Mortgage Rates Finish 2011 Near Historic Lows
Dennis Norman  Friday, 30th of December 2011 at 11:08:52 AM
Ah the beauty and splendor of Hawaii! Living in paradise comes at a price though as Hawaii, by far, leads the nation in average loan amount on a home, coming at $677,299 according to a report just released by LendingTree.com. Coming in a rather distant second is Washington D.C. at $393,453, followed by New Jersey at $344,240 and New York at $340,124. At the other end of the spectrum, Mississippi has the lowest average home loan at $137,182. The national average is $222,261. Continue reading Hawaii homeowners have highest mortgage amounts in U.S.
Dennis Norman  Wednesday, 28th of December 2011 at 09:22:53 AM
While losing $700 Billion in value in U.S. homes in a year sounds horrible, the good news is, if we end this year around this number the total loss in home values for 2011 will be smaller than the prior four years! This information is from the newly released Zillow Real Estate Market Reports, which also predicts that nine metro areas will see gains in home values this year once the final numbers are in! With all this “good” news, we have to ask ourselves…is the worst of the real estate market crash over? I think the answer is yes, at least when it comes to the housing market. Continue reading Homeowners in U.S. to lose nearly $700 Billion in value during 2011; Is the worst of it over?
Dennis Norman  Tuesday, 27th of December 2011 at 11:08:50 AM
 Dennis Norman
This morning, the S&P/Case-Shiller Index report for October was released showing US home prices decreased from the month before as well as the year before. The 10-city and 20-city composites fell by 1.1 percent and 1.2 percent respectively and the home price indexes were down 3.0 percent and 3.4 percent respectively from the year before.
Continue reading Home Prices Fall In October; back to mid-2003 levels
Dennis Norman  Tuesday, 27th of December 2011 at 09:28:54 AM
FHA “anti-flipping” regulations prohibit lenders making an FHA loan on a home that the seller has owned for less than 90 days. However, in 2010 this regulation was waived temporarily through January 31, 2011 by FHA in an effort to help the housing market conditions. Subsequently, that waiver was extended through the end of 2011. Now, FHA has extended this waiver through the end of 2012. Continue reading FHA Extends Waiver of Anti-Flipping Regulations Through End of 2012
Robert Fishel  Thursday, 22nd of December 2011 at 04:39:24 PM

An extraordinary 18 percent of Realtors have experienced contract failures in the last few months according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). This is double the levels of a year earlier. One of the top reasons that cause these contract cancellations is credit issues. In many cases, understanding how the credit system works would help buyers avoid problems. Utilizing a mortgage banker early in the home buying process can help educate buyers about activities that improve their credit score, such as paying bills on time. They can also learn what actions to avoid, including taking on new sources of debt like buying a car or getting a new credit card before applying for a mortgage. Continue reading Credit Score FAQ’s
Dennis Norman  Wednesday, 21st of December 2011 at 03:59:32 PM

The last couple of months I have said that, “unless something changes dramatically, 2011 will hit a new record low of new home starts. Well, the actual numbers this year will still most likely be a record low, but at least the rate of new home starts for November has now inched above the record low New home starts in November were up 2.3 percent from the prior month with the seasonally adjusted annual rate inching its way up to 447,000 homes, just slightly above the all-time low of 445,200 new home starts in 2009. Continue reading New home construction in November inches up; Curent pace slightly ahead of record-low
News Desk  Monday, 19th of December 2011 at 07:19:31 PM
Dennis Norman  Monday, 19th of December 2011 at 07:09:06 PM

The U.S. mortgage loan delinquency rate was 8.15 percent of all home loans in November, up 2.7 percent from the month before and down 9.6 percent from a year ago, according to the “First-Look” report issued by Lender Processing Services, one of the countries largest loan servicers and aggregators of loan performance data. The foreclosure rate, on the other hand, was 4.16 percent in November, a 3.0 percent decrease from the month before and a 2.0 percent increase from a year ago. Continue reading Mortgage delinquencies increase in November; Foreclosures decline from month before
News Desk  Friday, 16th of December 2011 at 11:17:15 PM
Companies Agree to Cooperate in SEC Actions
Washington, D.C., Dec. 16, 2011 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged six former top executives of the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) with securities fraud, alleging they knew and approved of misleading statements claiming the companies had minimal holdings of higher-risk mortgage loans, including subprime loans. Continue reading SEC Charges Former Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Executives with Securities Fraud
News Desk  Friday, 16th of December 2011 at 10:50:02 PM
Washington, D.C., Dec. 15, 2011 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a father and son in Utah with securities fraud for selling purported investments in their real estate business that turned out to be nothing more than a wide-scale $220 million Ponzi scheme. Continue reading SEC Halts Father-Son Ponzi Scheme in Utah Involving Purported Real Estate Investments
Dennis Norman  Thursday, 15th of December 2011 at 11:18:27 AM
This morning Freddie Mac released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) which showed average 30-year fixed-rate mortgages matched an all time record low of 3.94 percent, and there was an all-time record low rate for 15-year fixed rate mortgages. Continue reading 30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgage Matches All-Time Record Low at 3.94 Percent
Dennis Norman  Thursday, 15th of December 2011 at 08:22:47 AM
The Mortgage Fraud Index from MortgageDaily.com has California at the top of the list for mortgage fraud activity during the third quarter of 2011.
The mortgage fraud index for third quarter was at 1173, down almost seven percent from the prior quarter when the index was at 1261, but up over 16 percent from a year ago when the index was at 1007.
Continue reading California Number 1 in Mortgage Fraud Ranking
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