Bob's Blog

The economic slow-down is showing signs of impacting home prices once again following the healthy gains in the lead up to the end of the tax credit program. The sudden decline in prices have Agents and economists alike wondering if the tax credit program and others meant to stimulate the housing ...

At the spring meeting of the National Association of Real Estate Editors in Austin early in June the journalists were given many economic prognostications and the picture for housing recovery is mixed. Stan Humphries, the chief economist for Zillow.com, assured the attendees that the housing slum...

n a report released by Fitch Ratings the credit analysis company predicted that between 65% and 75% of loan modifications would redefault within 12 months. Fitch confirmed an observation that other analysts have made that because the mortgage loan modification does nothing to ease other debt obli...

One of the small benefits of a high unemployment rate is the continued low mortgage rate. The weak May employment statistics resulted in new low rates for the week ending June 10. The disappointing employment reports caused investors to buy U.S. Treasury notes in greater numbers, an activity that...

The predicted post-tax credit home buying slow-down seems to be coming to pass. The week ending June 4 mortgage applications fell by 12.2% according to the Mortgage Bankers Association weekly tally. That was the fifth consecutive week of declines for this index, a 35% decline over a four week per...

Despite the average 27% reduction in home values nationwide, new buyers are still finding homes unaffordable, according to a survey by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. The recent poll of over 2000 consumers found 49% of them believed it would never be possible to save enough money t...

The Senate approved an extension of the June 30 deadline to close home sales until September 30 in order to qualify for the Homebuyer Tax Credit. The tax credit will still be $8000 for first time buyers and $6500 for existing homeowners. The bill in which this amendment is contained, however, is ...

Fitch Ratings have noted a decline in Alt-A and Residential Subprime Mortgage-Backed Security delinquencies in May. Prime Mortgage-Backed Security delinquencies continued to increase. The Alt-A security delinquencies fell to 33.9% from 34.1% in April while the Subprime RMBS category declined from...

An analysis by Clayton Holdings, a loan servicer, (http://www.claytongroup.com/RMBS%20InFront%20Reports/InFront_May_2010.pdf), based on nine different servicing organizations found that the severity of loss is 13% greater for an REO than for a Short Sale. The study averaged Short Sale data from O...

The Veteran’s Administration revamped its loan modification regulations effective immediately. First, lenders must exhaust other options before utilizing the VA-HAMP program. These include traditional loss mitigation plans such as forbearance, loan restructuring and other actions available throug...