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Dennis Norman Reverse mortgages have become increasingly popular over the past few years with seniors that find themselves with a large amount of equity in their home, but short on cash, or struggling to pay for the upkeep of the home, property taxes, insurance or other living expenses. A reverse mortgage allows people Continue reading… New Rule Proposed to Protect Seniors Obtaining Reverse Mortgages Dennis Norman A report published by Lender Processing Services (LPS) analyzing homeowner’s performance on their mortgages as of July 2010 shows that mortgage delinquencies continue to decline however are still at very high levels versus historical norms. At the same time however, foreclosure starts have increased to the fourth highest level on record. Continue reading… Foreclosures in July are 4th highest on record; delinquencies continue to decline Dennis Norman Interest rates dropped to new record lows this past week bring out existing homeowners to refinance their existing mortgages and even bringing out some homebuyers. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending August 27, 2010, the MBA Purchase Index (a measure of the Continue reading… Mortgage Interest Rates Hit New Lows This Week; Refinancing Hits 15 Month High
Dennis Norman The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced this week that it intends to make modifications to its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM), a reverse mortgage loan insured by the federal government, to make it more attractive and cost effective for older home owners seeking to tap their home equity. A HECM Continue reading… HUD Announces Plans to Make Reverse Mortgages More Affordable Dennis Norman Home mortgages are often sold or assigned, sometimes even right after the origination of the loan and, as a result, borrowers find themselves not knowing who their current lender is or how to contact their lender. This issue was addressed back in May 2009, as part of the Helping Families Save Their Continue reading… New Rules for Mortgage Transfers Dennis Norman Over the past couple of years lawsuits have been filed against several lenders over “yield spread premiums” that were paid by the lenders to mortgage brokers originating loans on their behalf. These suits brought a lot of attention to a common practice in the mortgage industry which was to compensate the companies (or Continue reading… New Rules Announced to Protect Mortgage Borrowers Dennis Norman For some time now I’ve been saying the precursor to the housing market recovering is for the mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates to fall from the present, near-record levels, down to closer to historical norms. The current mortgage loan delinquency report from TransUnion shows that, for the second consecutive quarter, things are headed Continue reading… Mortgage Delinquencies Fall for Second Consecutive Quarter Dennis Norman Record-low interest rates have brought out existing homeowners to refinance their existing mortgages at lower rates….however, the rates don’t seem to be having the same effect on home-buyers who still seem reluctant to pull the trigger and buy a home. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the Continue reading… Refi’s Shoot Up to Highest Level in Over a Year; Home Purchase Mortgage Applications Drop Dennis Norman For the fourth-consecutive week, there has been a little increase in consumers applying for a mortgage to buy a home. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending August 6, 2010, the MBA Purchase Index (a measure of the volume of Continue reading… 15 and 30 Year Mortgage Rats Hit All-Time Lows; Applications Increase slightly Ted Gayer, Co-Director of Economic Studies, Brookings Institute The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Department of Housing and Urban Development released June data for the Obama administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). HAMP is the foreclosure prevention program targeted at borrowers who are delinquent in their mortgage payment or facing imminent risk of Continue reading… The Latest Data on the Home Affordable Modification Program Dennis Norman For the third consecutive week, there has been a little increase in consumers applying for a mortgage to buy a home. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending July 30, 2010, the MBA Purchase Index (a measure of the volume of Continue reading… Home Purchase Mortgage Applications Increase Slightly for Third-Consecutive Week Dennis Norman A report published by Lender Processing Services (LPS) analyzing homeowner’s performance on their mortgages as of June 2010 shows some encouraging news; there are signs that the foreclosure and mortgage delinquency rates are stabilizing, albeit at very elevated levels. Tweet This Post Dennis Norman With mortgage rates near an all-time low one might expect a lot more people taking advantage and buying a home. However, even low interest rates have not been enough to fire up home-buyers although, for the second consecutive week, there has been a little increase in activity. Tweet This Fannie Mae Rolls out New Loan Quality Initiative (LQI) Program – Tightens underwriting requirements and aims to reduce borrower fraud. These rules could derail some closings for buyers who rack up purchases or even take out new store credit cards before their home sales have closed. Tweet This Post Dennis Norman Last week I said that in my real estate career I’ve not seen a time that lower interest rates didn’t spur some sort of activity in the market. Finally, it happened, at least a little. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending July Continue reading… Record-Low Interest Rates Spur Refinancing; Home Purchase Mortgage Applications Increase Slightly Dennis Norman Worst Street In America for Mortgage Fraud is In Orlando (actually they have 5 of the top 10 streets) According to the 2010 Mortgage Fraud Trends Report released by CoreLogic this week, fraud risk in the mortgage industry has declined by 25 percent since it peaked in the third quarter of 2007. Even though Continue reading… Mortgage Fraud Trend Down; Still $14 Billion in 2009 Losses Dennis Norman I’ve been in the real estate business for over 30 years now and hate to admit that I’m witnessing something now I’ve never seen before. Throughout my career I’ve seen the real estate market struggle at times usually at the hands of a recession, stagflation, high interest rates, high unemployment or some other Continue reading… Cheap Mortgage Interest Rates Not Bringing Out Home-buyers Dennis Norman Last month I wrote about a new policy implemented by Fannie Mae that would “lock-out” borrowers from getting a Fannie-Mae insured loan for 7 years if they did a “strategic default” or otherwise did not act in good faith and were foreclosed upon. In a nut shell, the borrower that Fannie Mae Continue reading… Fannie Mae Cracking Down on ‘Strategic Defaults’ Dennis Norman While near historic-low mortgage interest rates are causing homeowners to refinance their existing mortgages, it does not appear the rates are bringing out the home-buyers. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending July 2, 2010, the MBA Purchase Index (a measure of the Continue reading… Home Mortgage Purchase Applications Decrease; Rates Near Historic Lows Dennis Norman While there has been much discussion about the causes and effects of the Housing Boom as well as the Bust (including by yours truly in prior posts) I don’t think we need to refrain from continuing to examine this part of history that is affecting millions of people across the country. Perhaps we Continue reading… More On The Housing Boom and Bust; Cause and Effect Dennis Norman So, you have the money to pay on your ‘underwater’ mortgage, or to afford the reduced payment amount offered to you under the HAMP program, but think, rather than throw good money after bad you’ll just do like so many borrowers are doing and ‘walk-away‘? Well, if you have any plans to Continue reading… Fannie Mae’s New Rule Punishes Borrowers That ‘Walk-Away’ Dennis Norman After last weeks increase in loan applications from borrowers buying homes which broke a string of five consecutive weeks of decreases, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending June 18, 2010 decreased from the prior week. The MBA Purchase Index (a measure of the Continue reading… Home Mortgage Purchase Applications Drop Again Dennis Norman UPDATE June 21, 2010- I said I would update this post after the proposed rules were published on the Federal Register with info on how to submit a comment -If you would like to comment, see the comment instructions in the Federal Register (I highlighted them) by clicking here -end of update. June 4, Continue reading… Is The Government Going to Push Us Into Another Housing Bust? Dennis Norman Last week both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced relief for homeowners with a mortgage insured by either agency (which accounts for over 90 percent of the home loans in the U.S.) that either have drywall problems (the Chinese drywall issue) or are in the Gulf coast area and are affected by the Continue reading… Relief Available For Homeowners with Drywall Issues or Affected by Gulf Oil Spill Dennis Norman After five consecutive weeks of decreases, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending June 11, 2010 increased from the prior week. 7.3 percent. The report showed the MBA Purchase Index (a measure of the volume of loan applications related to a Continue reading… Home Mortgage Purchase Applications Increase; First Time in Six Weeks Dennis Norman Yesterday the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 5072, the FHA Reform Act of 2010 which is good news for home-buyers that may need to rely upon an FHA loan for a home purchase. The bill will still need to be passed by the Senate and then signed into law by the Continue reading… FHA Reform Bill Passed by House; Good News for Homebuyers Dennis Norman I hate to say it, but, as the legendary Willie Nelson song goes, “Turn out the lights. The party’s over” Back around November of last year I first wrote about the concern I had about the home-buyer tax credit program having the effect of a “sugar-rush” on the real estate market. I was afraid Continue reading… Home Mortgage Purchase Applicants Drop Again; Fifth Consecutive Week of Declines Dennis Norman According to data from NeighborWorks America, a national nonprofit organization created by Congress to provide community-based Continue reading… Loan Modification Scams On the Rise Dennis Norman Back in January I did a post about FHA’s decision to temporarily (until February 1, 2011 if not revoked earlier) waive their “anti-flipping” rule, thereby allowing homes to be resold with FHA-insured financing even if the sale took place within 90 days of the selling acquiring the property. There were, of course, Continue reading… FHA Looking For Input On Anti-Flipping Rule Waiver Conditions After the problems we have seen over the past couple of years in the real estate, mortgage and banking industries it is not surprising we have seen massive legislative changes brought about which make it more challenging for a home-buyer to obtain a mortgage, not to mention more work on the part of their real Continue reading… Mortgage Interest Rates Remain Low But Borrowers Face More Hurdles |
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