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By Dennis Norman, on May 22nd, 2012
The mortgage delinquency rate (the percentage of home loans 30 or more days past due) increased in April 0.4 percent from the month before according to the latest “First Watch Report” from Lenders Processing Services (LPS). While this is a modest increase, it temporarily reverses the trend we have seen for the past 9 months of declining mortgage delinquency rates. The mortgage delinquency rate in April, at 7.12 percent of all loans, is down 10.6 percent from a year ago however. The foreclosure rate for April was 4.14 percent, the same as the month before as well as the year before so, at least the foreclosure rate is remaining flat and not increasing. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on May 12th, 2012 The collapse of the real estate market, along with a down economy has created a fertile environment for fraudsters to attempt to advantage of the many desperate homeowners that are out there. Their methods vary from foreclosure “rescue” schemes, mortgage assistance scams and other scams that generally offer to lower your payments or debt, prevent [...]
By Dennis Norman, on May 11th, 2012
More good news on the housing market! The national mortgage delinquency rate (borrowers that are 60 or more days past due) declined for the first 3 months of 2012, coming in at 5.78 percent according to a report issued by TransUnion. This is after increases in the delinquency rate in the prior 2 quarters and is the lowest rate since the 1st quarter of 2009. [...]
With interest rates at all time lows, it is worth the few minutes to do a mortgage check up and determine if a refinance would be beneficial to your situation. Since there are many reasons a homeowner may choose to refinance, we’ll take a look at the few most common reasons to consider a refinance. [...]
Whatever funds the borrower intends to use to close a transaction has to be sourced and seasoned. Providing proper asset documentation and the actual source of the funds is a critical element of the approval and closing process. There’s nothing worse in a real estate purchase than making it all the way through the hoops and hurdles of the approval process just to have a loan fall apart due to the borrower not using an acceptable source of funds in order to close. In other words, “Mattress Money” is no longer a legitimate source. [...]
Mortgage Insurance, also know as Private Mortgage Insurance, is required by lenders on conventional home loans if the borrower is financing more than 80% Loan-To-Value.
Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) allows borrowers to purchase a property by qualifying for conventional financing with a lower down payment. Private Mortgage Insurance protects your lender against non-payment should [...]
By Dennis Norman, on April 16th, 2012
FICO, a provider of analytics and decision management technology to the banking industry, today announced results from its latest quarterly survey of bank risk professionals which showed that almost half (46 percent) expect the volume of strategic defaults in 2012 to surpass 2011 levels as a result of more than 25 percent of U.S. homeowners owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. [...]
And then it happens. The underwriter runs a new credit report just before closing and it turns out the prospective borrower had run up a credit card balance, buys new furniture/appliances etc. and now the new debt kills the loan. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on April 9th, 2012
According to the LendingTree Monthly Mortgage Review, average mortgage rates inched up in March, with more borrowers than ever taking advantage of low Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan rates which averaged just 3.85 percent on a 30 year loan, almost 1/2 of one percent less than a conventional mortgage. However, according to the report, this may change soon as a result of the FHA adjusting its loan program guidelines and insurance premium structure which will cause the cost of a loan for future FHA borrowers to most likely increase. [...]
The primary indicator of value for residential real estate is comparable sales. The appraiser researches the market to gather information pertaining to sales, listings, pending sales that are similar to the subject property, and verfies this information is correct. The appraiser actually already has a good idea of the property’s value by the time they have scheduled an appointment to stop by the property. [...]
By Peter Wright, on March 5th, 2012 There are approximately 11-Million homeowners that are underwater, which represents about 23% of all outstanding mortgages. So, here comes another program to help the America Homeowner! Is it hype…or will it help?
Well, the new HARP program (Home Affordable Refinance Program) was released in
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By Kevin Pearia, on February 20th, 2012 For many military members, there is no greater joy than completely service and finally being able to lay some roots, and the first order of business for many is to purchase a home. However, in recent years, purchasing a home hasn’t been as easy as it once was. Conventional lenders have increased their lending requirements [...]
By Dennis Norman, on January 17th, 2012
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. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on October 24th, 2011
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced it eased the requirements as well as extended the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) to December 31, 2013 from the current expiration date for the program of June 30, 2012. According to FHFA, as of August 31, 2011, nearly 894,000 borrowers have been refinanced through HARP and they (FHFA) feel easing the requirements will make it possible for many additional borrowers to refinance as well. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on October 22nd, 2011
The “first-look” report from Lender Processing Services, one of the countries largest loan servicers and aggregators of loan performance data, shows mortgage delinquencies decreased 0.5 percent in September from the month before and decreased 12.7 percent from the year before. On the other hand, and perhaps part of the reason for the decline in the delinquency rate, the foreclosure rate increased in September by 1.7 percent from the prior month and was up 8.9 percent from the year before. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on October 19th, 2011
Mortgage delinquencies in September increased to 2.10 percent of all mortgages, a 2.9 percent increase from the month before when delinquencies were at 2.04 percent but a decrease of over 33 percent from a year ago when the rate was 3.14 percent. [...]
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.
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By Dennis Norman, on September 30th, 2011
Mark Fleming, Ph.D., Chief Economist for CoreLogic, in a presentation yesterday, said the housing market is not out of the woods yet as the potential of a double-dip in our economy increases and as 30 to 40 percent of economists feel there is a chance of another recession. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on September 28th, 2011
A report released today by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) shows that financial institutions filed 29,558 reports suspecting mortgage loan fraud activity during the 2nd quarter, an increase of 88 percent from the 2nd quarter of 2010 when there were 15,727 reports. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on September 22nd, 2011 Robo-signing is one of those terms I never heard until the news of improper foreclosure practices by some of the nation’s largest lenders started hitting the news in the past year and now the word has become synonymous with bad foreclosure practices. As a result, in April of this year the Office of the Comptroller [...]
By Dennis Norman, on September 21st, 2011
I keep saying that, until the foreclosure rate gets back down closer to a “normal” rate and the REO inventory is absorbed to the point where they are no longer putting such immense downward pressure on home prices, we are not going to see any sort of sustainable recovery in the housing market. It [...]
By Dennis Norman, on September 19th, 2011 Fannie Mae’s Economics & Mortgage Market Analysis Group says that we are not out of the woods yet and that the economy is “flirting with another economic downturn” now after more than two years since the worst recession since the World War II era. Fannie Mae Chief Economist, Doug Duncan, said “the weakening economic backdrop, [...]
By Dennis Norman, on September 15th, 2011 The top five mistakes consumers make when refinancing their home loan were revealed by LendingTree Network’s newly released “Monthly Lender Marketplace Survey”. According to the survey, the top 5 mistakes made by consumers refinancing their home loans are:
Over-estimating the value of the home: With home values dropping in today’s market, borrowers typically over-value their [...]
Mortgage interest rates have reached historically low levels. It’s truly amazing how much the average borrower’s purchasing power has increased! The following chart tells it all. Check out the chart showing the history of interest rates as well as the examples of the savings below:
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By Dennis Norman, on September 13th, 2011
A report released today by CoreLogic shows that 17.30 percent (99,792) of all St. Louis homeowners with a mortgage were in a negative equity position in the second quarter of 2011, up slightly from 17.10 percent the prior quarter. Negative equity is also referred to as being “underwater” or “upside down” and refers to [...]
On October 1, 2011, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will implement new single-family loan limits as specified by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA).
As a result, FHA will reduce loan limits in the highest cost metropolitan areas of the country, while limits would remain unchanged in most other parts of [...]
As mortgage rates have dropped this year, so have the costs of homeownership. At every given loan size, bargain-basement interest rates have brought monthly mortgage payments to levels never seen in history.
It’s a great time to buy a home. It’s an even better time to refinance.
This isn’t cheerleading. This is fact. As [...]
First-time home buyers receive a forgivable 3% cash assistance loan for down payment and closing costs.
Program Highlights:
3% Cash Assistance Loan (CAL) can be used for down payment and closing costs. CAL is forgivable after 5 years of occupancy. 30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgages & Competitive Rates. CAL can be used with FHA, [...]
By Dennis Norman, on August 19th, 2011 After all the bad press mortgage companies have received lately, this probably won’t come as a surprise, but according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2011 U.S. Primary Mortgage Servicer Satisfaction Study, homeowners satisfaction with their mortgage servicers has “declined notably from 2010.“
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Having been in the mortgage industry for a number of years, I have found a lot of my “issues” when it comes to underwriting was a result of missing something at time of application. The following is a quick rundown of items that should be collected at application:
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