The FBI released it’s Mortgage Fraud Report for 2010 showing that mortgage fraud continued at elevated levels in 2010 and was consistent with levels seen in 2009. The top states for mortgage fraud activity in 2010 were Florida, California, Arizona, Nevada, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Georgia, New Jersey, and Maryland.
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Last week, The Washington Post published an article by Kenneth Harney which said “if you take mortgage interest tax deductions, the next 100 days could have significant financial implications for you, thanks to Congress’s new federal debt ceiling plan……the compromise legislation created an unusual mechanism — an evenly split, 12-member bipartisan supercommittee — that could call for major cutbacks on real estate write-offs by Thanksgiving.” The question is, would doing away with the mortgage interest deduction put the final nail in the coffin for the housing industry? Read on to hear two opposing opinions on the topic. Finally some good news for the St. Louis Real Estate Market! This morning RealtyTrac released their foreclosure activity report for the St. Louis metro area for July 2011 showing that foreclosure activity in the St. Louis metro area in July was down 8.77 percent from the month before and down a whopping 35.46 percent from a year ago! Credit Scores have and always be a hot topic in any economy. Recently, Jim Gallagher of the St. Louis Post Dispatch wrote an article regarding consumers that “fork over $1 billion a year to the credit agencies and credit monitoring services to obtain their credit scores.” But the scores they get probably aren’t the ones a lender will use to judge their credit worthiness. This morning, Trans Union released a report showing the national mortgage delinquency rate (the rate of borrowers 60 or more days past due) decreased for the sixth consecutive quarter, dropping to 5.82% at the end of the second quarter in 2011 which is a 5.98 percent from the prior quarter, the largest quarterly decrease in 2 years. A report by MortgageDaily.com shows that 20 percent fewer borrowers obtained a home loan in the second quarter of 2011 than in the first quarter. The report also shows that Wells Fargo again this quarter originated more home loans than any other lender in the U.S. Originations Rank Q2 2011 Q1 2011 Q2 2010 1 Wells Wells Wells 2 BofA BofA BofA 3 Chase Chase Chase 4 Ally Citi Ally 5 Citi PHH Citi Continue Reading → Over the past years, many of Americans pulled money out their homes through “cash-out” refis. Today, many of my clients are bringing cash into their refinance transactions. Money is flowing in the opposite direction. You might consider bringing cash to close your refinance to: 1. Lower your mortgage rate: If your LTV is close to the 80% Loan to Value (LTV) threshold, then bringing money to the table to push your LTV below 80% can get the borrower a better rate. One Additional Mortgage Payment a Year There’s a simple trick to significantly reduce the length of your mortgage and save you thousands of dollars. The trick is to make one extra mortgage payment a year and apply that payment toward your loan’s principal. A “first-look” report issued by Lender Processing Services, one of the countries largest loan servicers and aggregators of loan performance data, shows mortgage delinquencies increased 2.4 percent in June from the month before and decreased 14.7 percent from the year before. According to the report, the U.S. foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate declined 0.2 percent from the month before but increased 12.8 percent from the year before. Radarlogic, real estate data and analytics company that frequently disagrees with the National Association of REALTORS® view of the housing market, released their RPX Monthly Housing Market Report for May 2011 yesterday and in it had a scorecard showing how their rather bleak predictions they made at the end of 2010 for the 2011 housing market were holding up. Unfortunately, as you will see below, it seems many of their predictions have been accurate and the housing market is performing as poorly as they expected in many areas. Over the last few months, I have had a few inquiries from parents of college-bound children about investment properties. The combination of low home prices, low interest rates, and a large inventory of foreclosure and short-sale homes have made buying much more attractive for parents of college-bound children. KANSAS CITY, MO—Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a former real estate agent and a former loan officer are among five co-defendants who have pleaded guilty in federal court to their roles in an $11 million mortgage fraud scheme that involved upscale homes in Lee’s Summit, Blue Springs, Liberty, Parkville, and elsewhere. The home-buying process can be a little intimidating for not only first-time home-buyers but also repeat home-buyers. Here is a basic outline of the home-buying process as well as recommendations of how to approach each task which I hope will help you with this process: Get pre-qualified for a loan: talk with your mortgage banker. Determine your “mortgage goals.” What are your expectations? If everything falls into place, what mortgage payment “range” you would be comfortable with? Review your credit history and sources of income. How much money are you willing to commit to buying a home; do you have Continue Reading → Would you like to buy one of those foreclosure or REO bargains, but don’t have the cash to have the necessary work done? There’s a new rehab loan program in St. Louis that will help homeowners do just this! This program allows buyers to buy Bank Owned or Foreclosed Property (let’s call them “distressed homes”) and also borrow funds for the rehabilitation of these properties. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced last week, the launch of the Emergency Homeowner’s Loan Program (EHLP) to help homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure. This program is available in 27 states and is available to homeowners who have experienced a reduction in income due to: A recent survey conducted on behalf of Money Management International (MMI), the largest nonprofit credit counseling agency in the U.S., showed that the majority of Americans still view home ownership as the “American Dream“. The survey found that 81 percent of people still put a lot of value in owning a home however the number of people who rent has increased from 34 percent to 38 percent since December. Recently, I heard a radio commercial on the radio about “special” financing for certain veterans. The ad continues to imply this “special” loan is available for a limited time only. The good news is that the VA offers loans to members of the armed forces who have generally served for two years in peace time, or 90 days during conflict. Members of the National Guard or Reserves who have served for six years are eligible along with widows of veterans if the veteran died in a service-related incident. There are special circumstances for some veterans regarding eligibility. “FHA still could serve 95 percent of its historic targeted market even if the maximum FHA loan limits were reduced by nearly 50 percent.” Last week, George Washington University released a report, “FHA Assessment Report: The Role and Reform of the Federal Housing Administration in a Recovering U. S. Housing Market,” in which it revealed that the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) current loan limits are larger than necessary to serve its targeted market of first-time and low to moderate income borrowers. The study finds that the Obama Administration’s current proposal to reduce the higher end of FHA’s loan limits Continue Reading → Following last week’s somewhat encouraging Pending Home Sales report from the National Association of REALTORS which showed increased home sales activity, Radar Logic issued a much less encouraging report. Their report, titled “Don’t be Misled by Gains in Home Price Indices and Pending Homes Sales; Housing Recovery is Still a Long Way Off” pretty much says it all in the title. A report issued yesterday by Equifax reveals just how severe the impact of shadow inventory (homes that have been, or should be, foreclosed on but have not been put back on the market for sale yet) and REO’s (properties owned by lenders after acquiring through foreclosure) are on a housing market recovery. A report issued by Lender Processing Services, one of the countries largest loan servicers and aggregators of loan performance data, shows that while mortgage delinquencies continue to decline, lenders are taking longer to foreclose resulting in a drop in foreclosure sales. In fact, there are still significantly fewer foreclosure sales than there were before foreclosure moratoriums were put into place, and foreclosure sales are declining. Applying for a mortgage loan can be a nerve-wracking experience,” says Ruth E. Battle, Senior Vice President of Paramount Mortgage Co. “Even after completing all the paperwork and complying with document requests; the lender rejects the loan. Why does this happen?” Consumers should know their “no.” Battle says some of the “basic reasons loans are denied include insufficient income, poor credit, inadequate assets and low appraised value.” Over the last few years, rejection reasons have become much more complicated. The reason a consumer can be told “no” may have “more to do with the lender than the consumer.” Dennis Norman The St. Louis foreclosure rate in April was 1.66 percent, down slightly from 1.71 percent the prior month, but up almost 17 percent from a year ago, according to a report published by CoreLogic. The report shows that the St. Louis Mortgage Delinquency rate (Serious delinquency, 90+ days delinquent) decreased to 4.72 percent in April, down from 4.83 percent the month before and down 13.4 percent from a year ago. This week, in response to the House Appropriations committee voting to slash funding for the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and to subject the new agency to a “politically-charged” funding process, Mike Calhoun, President of the Center for Responsible Lending, made the following comment: “the House Appropriations Committee yesterday voted for a return to policies that allowed predatory financial products to plunder our economy. Clearly some lawmakers have forgotten the lesson of today’s financial crisis, which continues at great cost to taxpayers, shareholders, retirees and, of course, tens of millions of families who have needlessly lost their Continue Reading → In the past 18 months, massive legislative changes have affected the mortgage landscape. What does that mean for consumers? It means people seeking a mortgage can expect to do more paperwork when planning to purchase or refinance a home. Listed below is pertinent information regarding the new law changes. A “first-look” report issued by Lender Processing Services, one of the countries largest loan servicers and aggregators of loan performance data, shows mortgage delinquencies decreased 0.1 percent in May from the month before and down over 18 percent from the year before. Other good news in the report is the U.S. foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate declined 0.7 percent from the month before. Yes, but there are some considerations.. First of all, ask yourself how long do you plan on remaining in your current home? There are fees to consider that are incurred by refinancing. So if you only plan on being in your home a short time, you may not recoup the fees. To ensure you can make that decision properly, request information in writing that includes all costs and fees incurred in the buying, selling and refinance process. Ask questions if you don’t understand any item. The Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) was established as a result of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) of 2008. It’s purpose is to allow state and local governments to purchase and redevelop abandoned or foreclosed properties in areas in the greatest need of help. The NSP program is designed to help low, moderate, and middle income families purchase REHABBED foreclosed homes and stimulate the economy. This is a middle income housing program that has an income limit for buyers at 120% of the Area Median Income. It is important to note that NSP is not just for first-time-home Continue Reading → The results of a survey conducted in eight countries for Genworth Financial was released today and contains some interesting findings. The survey was conducted on existing home-owners as well as people that said they were potential first-time home-buyers in eight countries; U.S., U.K., Ireland, Italy, Australia, Mexico, Canada and India. First-time home buyers receive a forgivable 3% cash assistance loan for down payment and closing costs. Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC) provides a competitive interest rate on a safe 30-year fixed rate 1st mortgage. Your 3% advance loan is treated as a 2nd mortgage completely forgivable after five years of continuous occupancy. New, Constant Funding means MHDC will have the monies available for the borrowers regardless of bond issuance. For further information go to http://www.box.net/shared/v0piidunf7 or www.mhdc.com. |
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