The housing market set an ignominious record in the third quarter. According to a study from the Mortgage Bankers Association, foreclosures on prime mortgages hit a new record high in the third quarter of 2010 as the U.S. economy continues to decelerate and housing prices continue to drop. The
...
11/19/2010
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has introduced a new housing program that is designed to “make American communities stronger and to build a safer nation”. The name of the program is The Good Neighbor Next Door Program (click link for details from HUD’s website), and it offe
...
11/19/2010
Today is Wednesday, and you know what that means: MBA Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey day! Don’t act like you’re not excited. Mortgage rates increased last week, and total mortgage applications fell off a cliff last week, dropping 14.4 percent (seasonally adjusted) from the week prior. Refi
...
11/17/2010
Just a quick update here: The Census Bureau and HUD released their monthly Residential Construction Report today. Housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 519,000 in October, which is an 11.7 percent drop from September’s pace of 588,000 housing starts. This is about 10 percen
...
11/17/2010
LTV or Loan-to-Value is the ratio between the total money borrowed on a mortgage loan and the total value of the home. It is an important risk factor lenders evaluate while considering applications for mortgage loans. The loan-to-value is calculated by dividing the purchase price of the house by
...
11/11/2010
It is no secret mortgage rates are at some of the lowest levels ever, creating opportunities for potential homebuyers to purchase houses and homeowners to refinance their existing mortgages with lower rates. Though low rates are attractive many borrowers may not be able to access the low rates be
...
11/04/2010
The newest credit scoring product, the FICO 8 Mortgage Score, is supposed to do a better job at predicting if homeowners will keep paying their mortgages. The latest credit score product, now available from all three major credit reporting agencies, offers mortgage lenders “more precise risk asse
...
10/29/2010
This morning, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) released its quarterly report to congress. The report is incredibly blunt and candid about the failures of TARP (which are myriad). Neil Barofsky, the inspector general, blasted TARP for being opaque, mi
...
10/26/2010
While the latest Case Shiller Housing Index shows a decline in house prices, one of the inventors of the index, Karl Case, is optimistic about the housing market’s future. With home prices depressed, this is a great time to purchase a home, he believes. Learn about purchasing a home. An increase
...
10/26/2010
The trend to smaller homes is here to stay, and McMansions will be out of style. That’s the prediction from the National Association of Home Builders outlined in a study released today. Tighter mortgage lending requirements is one factor driving home sizes down, the NAHB points out. Find mortgage
...
10/21/2010