By Don | December 4, 2008
The Wall Street Journal reported that unnamed sources in the Treasury department are floating the idea of 4.5% mortgages that would be bought by Fannie, Freddie and the FHA to stimulate the housing market. These rates would not be available for refinances. But don’t hold your breath… Read the rest of this article »
By Don | November 25, 2008
In conjunction with the Fed’s announcement today to pump $800 billion more into our financial markets, interest rates dropped almost a full percentage point before pulling back. Finally, some good news for home buyers thinking about getting into the market!
By Don | November 20, 2008
The California Association of Realtors (CAR) recently published parameters for loan modificatons offered by various institutions. Every program is different, and obviously every homeowner situation is different. But lenders are now beginning to reach out aggressively to contact homeowners with troubled or potentially troubled loans. They are:
By Don | November 14, 2008
The FDIC today unveiled a plan (see the plan here) to help about 2.2 million troubled loans from entering foreclosure. Acknowledgeing the massive scale of the mortgage crisis, and the “extremely slow” pace of current soluntions, FDIC chair Sheila Bair is floating this massive plan as a solution, but it would appear the plan isn’t meeting with support from within the current Bush administration. However, the Democrats appear more willing to consider proposals such as this plan the FDIC is putting forth. Stay tuned…!
By Don | November 13, 2008
The following was copied from a California Association of Realtors email this morning:
FHFA ANNOUNCES “NEW” CONFORMING LOAN LIMITS
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) on Friday announced that the “new” conforming loan limit for 2009 will remain at $417,000 for most areas in the U.S., unchanged since 2006. Loan limits for high-cost areas, including California, are capped at $625,500, down from the previous $729,750 limit. Loan limits for many areas of the state do not reach this lower threshold and are dramatically reduced from 2008. Read the rest of this article »
By Don | November 13, 2008
Fannie and Freddie’s announced their loan mod program yesterday. To be eligible, a homeowner must:
The program is due to kick in December 15th.
By Don | November 11, 2008
Citigroup joined JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, FDIC (IndyMac) and Wells Fargo (after it completes its purchase of Wachovia), in unilaterally attempting to do loan mods for about 500,000 homeowners who are holding about $20 billion in mortgages. Read the rest of this article »
By Don | October 30, 2008
… of 1/2% doesn’t directly affect homeowners, or especially those of you thinking of buying a home and watching mortgage interest rates. As you know, when you go to Citi, Wells Fargo, B of A, etc, to get a loan, the money doesn’t come from them, it ultimately comes from investors who buy the pools of loans sold to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the like. The investors are the ones who determine your interest rate, because they determine what interest rate they are willing to accept for their perceived risk of their investment.
And right now, investors are demanding higher rates for their perception of risk. That’s why the credit markets are still jammed up. However, over the past week there are indications things are starting to loosen up, especially as lenders react to federal guarantees for loan modifications they might make to troubled homeowners. What’s this mean for buyers looking to buy this 4th quarter? Read the rest of this article »
By Don | October 10, 2008
With many mortgages tied to the LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) index, many of those payments will be going up. There are different indexes (ie, one month, 3 month, 6 month, etc), but the current one month LIBOR is at about 4.5% compared to just a bit over 4% one week ago.
What impact will all these re-sets have for the marketplace and foreclosures? Too early to tell, especially now that the Treasury has been tasked with buying back these “toxic” loans, and lenders will be under heavy political pressure from Washington to modify those loans into payments the homeowner can afford and sustain for the long haul.
By Don | September 22, 2008
To understand the truly complex and impossible unwinding of the “toxic” mortgage pools Washington and Wall Street are trying to accomplish, let’s look at one REO we’ve been following for months and will be coming on the market soon. It’s a beautiful, 3,000 square foot, dockside home in the 2 year old Seabridge development by D.R. Horton in Oxnard (off Wooley and Victoria). These homes originally sold for well north of a million bucks. This home had a mortgage of $1,000,000 with Countrywide. Read the rest of this article »