loan: Fannie Mae makes news with Alt-A adjustments - 08/09/08 08:38 PM
Fannie Mae, the giant player in the secondary mortgage market where it buys loans and either keeps them in its own books or packages them for resale, just announced a hefty second quarter loss of $2.3 billion. A loss was expected but this was much more than what experts had anticipated. … (18 comments)
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loan: More mortgage payments made on time - 10/22/07 10:29 PM
It's uplifting to find a wisp of good news here and there in the otherwise cluttered collection of bad news that you keep reading in the national media about the mortgage and real estate industries. Positive stories have lately had a really hard time finding headline space for themselves.
According to First … (0 comments)
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loan: Stated income mortgage issue still brewing in Nevada - 10/02/07 02:10 PM
The updated consumer protection law that was put in the books earlier in the year is effective as of today. One of its stipulations is that a stated income mortgage loan can be a crime in the state, as interpreted by some legal experts. And that has caused thick smoke to come … (65 comments)
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loan: Are real estate prices going up or down? - 09/14/07 01:36 PM
You would think that with the market as soft as it is in many sections of the nation prices would be heading south. And they are. At least that's what you keep reading in the media. And then two separate home price reports are released in the same week and all … (8 comments)
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loan: Subprime mortgage blame game continues - 09/01/07 04:43 PM
Hardly a day goes by without some media outlet calling together a panel of mortgage experts who then will go back and forth about who to blame for the current subprime challenge. It still appears to be one of the favorite topics in the world of business broadcasting. And could be … (10 comments)
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loan: From mortgage troubles to lawsuits - 08/20/07 10:14 PM
This development was entirely predictable. It'll eventually be a standard operating procedure when things like this go down. A few years ago a whole bunch of people were so excited about making money in residential real estate that they couldn't stand still. Then when the market turned sour, they froze on … (6 comments)
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loan: Real estate contract renegotiating pointers - 08/18/07 07:46 PM
Even though it's a buyer's market, purchasing a new home can easily bring from moderate to severe heart palpitations. No, this isn't about the lender you were going to use that could go under any day now. This is about the value of the property you are supposed to close on … (4 comments)
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loan: Subprime mortgage an innovation that will last - 08/15/07 04:38 PM
What is everybody talking about in the office today? Or in the gym between sets? Or out on the golf course riding in the cart? They are talking about the health of the mortgage industry. That's what they're doing. And how the subprime loan started it all and what it spawned … (6 comments)
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loan: Your FICO score may get a lift - 08/06/07 07:29 PM
Wouldn't that be nice? When you apply for, say, a mortgage loan to refinance, instead of having a FICO score of 690, you could jump all of a sudden to 725. That difference would help lower the interest rate you get and subsequently the long-term borrowing costs. And you don't have … (0 comments)
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loan: Home buyer incentives that work - 07/25/07 06:33 PM
The real estate market is rather tough out there today. Property is moving very slowly. In many areas a glut of houses await visits from buyers who are patiently going from one property to the next looking for the best deal. Can't blame them. I'd do it, too, if I were … (5 comments)
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loan: Home purchase ordeal - 07/17/07 08:47 PM
It's very exciting to go out in the car with the idea that you are going to look for a house to buy in the next several weeks. If it's your first one, then the heart beat is even faster, more profound. The emotional high can make your talk slur. And at the … (7 comments)
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loan: Mortgage leads are us - 07/11/07 06:07 PM
The traditional lead sources for mortgage lenders have been satisfied past customers, real estate agents, family and friends, newspaper ads, Yellow Pages and so forth. As long as you stay active, they'll work well. And then comes along the Internet and more and more people get into computers and, among other things, start … (7 comments)
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loan: Mortgage lending practices under scrutiny - 06/14/07 06:50 PM
The Federal Reserve Board, or what many just call the Fed, has the rule-making authority under HOEPA, Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act, to look into and amend national mortgage lending practices. It's a big responsibility and now it is conducting hearings on how to adjust some of the current procedures that … (6 comments)
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loan: Lenders to the rescue - 06/07/07 09:34 PM
The present housing downturn has plunged the subprime lending sector into a less than desirable situation. The soft market is hurting some borrowers who bought late in the boom days with exotic mortgage products and now can't make the payments when the loan rates a resetting. But it also is threatening several financial … (4 comments)
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loan: Mortgage foreclosure risk study - 06/06/07 01:29 PM
The discussion about subprime loans and foreclosures is going to stay with us for some time to come. I guess it makes good headline material. A research firm has just concluded a comprehensive study that estimates how many subprime loans are going to end up in foreclosure in the next several … (0 comments)
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loan: Subprime and Congress - 06/02/07 04:13 PM
Washington continues to work on finding a sensible solution to the subprime turmoil. It's taking a while because the situation really is tangled and the easy answers just aren't available. There are so many participants in the subprime market that to legislate smartly from here on out takes a deft hand. … (7 comments)
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loan: Subprime mortgage difficult to restructure - 05/18/07 01:55 PM
As the foreclosure numbers keep climbing for subprime mortgage holders, the lending industry is facing a major dilemma. Congress and others are almost daily making demands that it should work with delinquent borrowers and help them restructure their home loans. It surely would like to do that. It's usually in no one's best … (6 comments)
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loan: FICO primer VII - 05/17/07 03:06 PM
This is the seventh part on how FICO works. To be able to fully follow the flow of discussion it would be to your benefit to first read FICO primers I, II, III, IV, V and VI. This is the last segment of the FICO tutorial. Long journey, wasn't it.
If you're … (0 comments)
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loan: FICO primer VI - 05/15/07 04:56 PM
This is the sixth part on how FICO works. To be able to fully follow the flow of discussion it would be to your benefit to first read FICO primers I, II, III, IV and V. This is the next to last in the series, so there's hope.
It's now time to go … (0 comments)
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loan: Lender, foreclosure and auction - 05/09/07 06:16 PM
When a mortgage loan goes delinquent, the lender has a few choices. One is to restructure it which allows the homeowner to stay in the house. Another one is to auction it off at the judgment amount, or what some call the upset price, and clean out the books that way. Judgment … (9 comments)
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loan: FICO primer III - 05/08/07 12:33 PM
This is the third part on how FICO works. To be able to fully follow the flow of discussion, it would be to your benefit to first read FICO primer I and FICO primer II.
In this segment we're going to take a look at what is included in your credit report. Personal … (0 comments)
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loan: Nevada tops preforeclosure report. - 05/07/07 11:43 AM
The latest residential real estate statistics are in for the first quarter of 2007. It's important to specify here that these are preforeclosure and auction filings. What comes to the actual numbers, Nevada has around 10 filings per 1,000 households, with Colorado next at about 6. The national average right now is 2.4. Clark … (0 comments)
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loan: FICO primer II - 05/05/07 03:49 PM
This is the second part on how FICO works. To be able to fully follow the flow of this discussion, it would be to your benefit to first read FICO primer I.
There are three credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, that feed data to FICO. How do these companies get their information … (0 comments)
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loan: FICO primer I - 05/04/07 07:07 PM
FICO score has become an essential part of our financial profile and therefore it's important to understand what it is and how it works. When we apply for a mortgage loan, it's one of the major factors to be considered at decision time. FICO's influence reaches further than that, though. It's … (0 comments)
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loan: Subprime dilemma and "moral hazard" - 05/01/07 12:12 PM
That's an intriguing thought. Moral hazard. What is it? It's a term in economics and insurance that explains how people behave carelessly when they are safeguarded or insured in some way. Let's take an example from the real estate business. If companies make flood insurance available, people will feel it's now okay to … (10 comments)
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loan: A suitable mortgage. - 04/28/07 05:18 PM
Now that the subprime woes are generating fat headlines across the land, a debate is roiling around what to do about it. One idea that has received a fair deal of attention is the loan suitability requirement. Which means that lenders can only put borrowers in loans that are suitable for … (10 comments)
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loan: Las Vegas housing in the spotlight. - 04/25/07 11:40 AM
The annual Las Vegas Perspective took place yesterday. It's actually a report that discusses in detail economic, government, demographic, business and lifestyle issues in the valley. A thorough undertaking. It's put together by the Metropolitan Research Association, a nonprofit organization.
One of the main topics of the event was housing affordability. According … (0 comments)
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loan: Vegas housing stats mixed. - 04/20/07 12:11 PM
Let's start with the good news. The numbers are in for March and what we see is that the prices in Southern Nevada are holding up rather well. The median new home price is down 3.5% from March of last year, but for the first quarter it's up 4%, to $324,035. That's … (0 comments)
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loan: Subprime help on the way? - 04/17/07 05:26 PM
Looks like it. That's what Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac say they'll do. Help. These two large government-sponsored buyers of mortgage loans in the secondary market made that promise today in Congress. They are the ones that can be charmed a little easier than private financial institutions to make a difference. So, to start … (4 comments)
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loan: Mortgage buybacks the rage. - 04/16/07 12:44 PM
There was very little talk about mortgage buybacks before the year 2006. Why? The real estate market was doing quite well in those days. We all remember that. If a borrower fell on hard times, he could quickly unload the property and make a profit in the process, too. Even a shoddy loan … (2 comments)
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loan: First-time home buyer challenge. - 04/10/07 12:28 PM
It's tough out there for the first-time house buyer right now. The price levels in many areas have moved up far enough to put a crimp on their ability to own a property of their own. Las Vegas valley is one of them. Affordability is definitely an issue here.
That's just one … (2 comments)
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loan: New Century files for it. - 04/02/07 08:43 PM
What was widely expected, happened today. New Century files for bankruptcy. What does it mean? Since it was in the works for weeks, many in the larger market probably started planning for its likelihood and as a result factored it into their business plans. At least for now, very little is going to change. When originations began to … (2 comments)
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