The Street (Free subscription) | yesterday
Tom Sorell, chief investment officer for Guardian Life Insurance Co., says commercial mortgages are the next big economic threat to America's economy.
Market Watch (Free subscription) | yesterday
New research found that more than 25% of mortgage loan defaults are strategic -- that is, a quarter of homeowners who default on their mortgages are walking away from their homes even if they can afford to make their payments.
FelixSalmon.com (Free subscription) | 07/02/2009
Heidi Moore has 1,200 words on bank bonuses in The Big Money. But it being a holiday weekend and all, I know you can't be bothered to read the whole thing. So here's the shorter version: All those bonuses can't be coming from banking. But it turns out that the banks have been buying up billions of dollars of subprime mortgages, driving up their price. If they carry on doing that a bit longer, the market...
SeekingAlpha.com (Free subscription) | 07/02/2009
Marc Chandler submits: Freddie Mac (FRE) reports that mortgage rates fell in the US in the past week. The average 30-year fixed rate mortgage fell 10 bp to 5.32%. Fed officials may find some comfort in this development, but it is unlikely to silence its critics. In some ways the Fed is damned if they do and damned if they don't. Some pundits have been critical of the Fed for buying any long-term assets....
SeekingAlpha.com (Free subscription) | 07/02/2009
Sold At The Top submits: The Mortgage Bankers Association ((MBA)) publishes the results of a weekly applications survey that covers roughly 50 percent of all residential mortgage originations and tracks the average interest rate for 30 year and 15 year fixed rate mortgages, 1 year ARMs as well as application volume for both purchase and refinance applications. The purchase application index has been...
Market Watch (Free subscription) | 07/02/2009
Rates on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell this week, averaging 5.32%, a quarter of a percentage point lower than they averaged at their mid-June peak, Freddie Mac reported on Thursday.
Market Watch (Free subscription) | 07/02/2009
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Freddie Mac said Thursday the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage average fell from the previous week to 5.32% with an average 0.7 point for the week ending July 2. In the previous period, the average was 5.42%, and the year-ago average was 6.35%. "Lower mortgage rates are helping to support the housing market. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate peaked this year over...
SeekingAlpha.com (Free subscription) | 07/02/2009
This headline from FHFA yesterday. The full report is here . This is incredibly flawed policy. The Government mortgage Agencies have created a window whereby borrowers can automatically get upside down on a loan. This is reckless lending and should not be permitted. This is much worse than any lending standard that existed in the go-go sub prime era. There is a mountain of evidence from academia,...
SeekingAlpha.com (Free subscription) | 07/01/2009
Ockham Research submits: MFA Financial (MFA), formerly known as MFA Mortgage, is a REIT that invests in residential mortgage backed securities. If you are like me, when you hear that you think this stock must be in the dumps after the run horrible run in residential real estate over the last 2 years. However, in contrast to that reputation, MFA has raised its dividend payout by 14% over the last quarter,...
Market Watch (Free subscription) | 07/01/2009
BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Wednesday unveiled an expansion of the Home Affordable Refinance Program to include participation by borrowers who are current but up to 125% underwater on their mortgage. The previous maximum loan-to-value ratio for assistance had been 105%. Borrowers whose mortgages are currently owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and...
Market Watch (Free subscription) | 07/01/2009
President Obama has sent his request to Congress to create a new watchdog agency that will oversee consumer financial products like mortgages and credit cards, and a new law that tightens regulation of credit cards in particular is already in place, with some provisions kicking in as early as August. So you would think financial institutions might think about behaving themselves.
PR News Wire (Free subscription) | 07/01/2009
Major Change Opens Door to Refinance Relief for More Borrowers in Hard Hit MarketsMCLEAN, Va. /PRNewswire/ -- To help borrowers who have seen significant home price declines refinance their existing loans, the Obama Administration today announced the availability of loan-to-value (LTV) ratios up to 125 percent for Home Affordable Refinance mortgages, including Freddie Mac's Relief Refinance Mortgage(SM)....
Market Watch (Free subscription) | 07/01/2009
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- A public-private government program to take billions in so-called toxic mortgages and other assets off bank balance sheets is expected to be unveiled Thursday. Herbert Allison, the Treasury's point man for the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Fund, said in testimony to the Congressional Oversight Panel last week that the program will seek to have certain financial institutions...
SeekingAlpha.com (Free subscription) | 07/01/2009
Jeff Nielson submits: Yet another scandal was announced Monday regarding Citigroup (C). Last week, Citi announced it was temporarily suspending its mortgage securitization unit – after management “discovered” that it had never stopped buying and packaging fraudulent mortgages (i.e. mortgages lacking appraisal and/or income documentation). I suppose we should applaud management for...
Market Watch (Free subscription) | 07/01/2009
Lower interest rates fail to rouse homeowners to consider refinancing their mortgages, fresh data compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association show. The volume of mortgage applications filed in the week ended June 26 drops a seasonally adjusted 18.9% from the week before.
The 3 latest articles published by users on Mortgages :
paisano1 | 02/04/2009
By Guest Author Michael White We cannot start our recovery until we have completed our bankruptcy. Go ahead now and do the denial, anger, bargaining, and depression. Open the window and scream. Then put the fate of the world ahead of the obvious reasons we shouldn’t do this. Yes, we will reward a carnival of bad behavior and make people believe they can get away with it. Should we chose massive global
mitigationonline | 01/30/2009
The prospect of a can be daunting and painful, it is crucial to be made aware of your state’s laws and guidelines to best serve your interests, regardless of whether or not you wish to remain in your home. Following is a list of information for those who live in Colorado; other states can be researched on our website as well, http://www.mitigationonlineconsultants.com . Quick Reference guide for Colorado:...
pmorrisson | 01/28/2009
How refinancing can help stop a foreclosure Refinancing could help improve a bad credit rating if you handle the money wisely. Refinancing is attractive because it usually has a lower annual percentage rate (APR) than other forms of credit. Refinanci...
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