mortgage

This might be it, applications for mortgages/refi's are dropping to correspond with slowed sales and seasonal adjustments. This may be the best chance to get in to refi - the interest rates will not hold at this level for long

Quoted: “The holiday effect [the decline in home buying activity during the November-December holiday season] is a few short weeks away while mortgage rates are moving higher and the window on the $8000 first time buyer incentive is quickly closing.”

Interesting analysis from the Royal Bank of Scotland that prices are stabilizing ahead of schedule. Recent reports have shown a consistent month to month trend of slowed pricing decreases. However, the US consumer confidence report for last month just came out and said that confidence dipped significantly more than analysts had anticipated. Spending, as this article suggests, may have been stable for the period examined, but it appears that there is still some instability ahead.

Quoted: The US economy and housing market in particular are recovering well ahead of the schedule previously anticipated by analysts and market observers, according to commentary by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) economists. RBS raised its near-term gross domestic product (GDP) forecasts “significantly” in response to positive economic data. Risks of a second economic dip are diminishing as post-Cash for Clunkers consumer spending remains stronger than analysts expected.

California still leads the way in housing fraud

Quoted: The Property Valuation Fraud Risk Index is up 25% from the previous quarter and up 46% from the year-ago quarter, indicating a shift toward fraudulent schemes involving short sales, real estate-owned inventories and refinancings by borrowers with equity impaired by falling property values

A part of our job as an industry professional is to understand and counsel clients on what the best course of action for their situation is. If the clients knew what was best all of the time, then we wouldn't be the pros.

Unfortunately, that's now the way the world works. 6 loans in 6 years with the same loan consultant...there is no excuse for that.

Quoted: The loan officer drew up papers for a $551,000 loan in 2001. The loan application listed Simonson's monthly income at $10,300. Simonson says she has no idea where that figure came from. Collins didn't return calls seeking comment about the wildly inflated income.

A revealing and "what the heck" account of what happened at WaMu overr time. It was one of my favorite banks to work with because they were so customer-centric, but over time, the loan products got crazy as they tried to compete with other banks, like Countrywide. Most of the bad loans were funneled through subsidiaries like Long Beach mortgage, but those loans really cost the company a lot.

Quoted: If Countrywide's unofficial motto was "Price any loan!", WaMu's response was "The power of yes." In ways large and small, the company made it clear that it wanted its loan consultants to make a lot more loans — especially the riskier but potentially more lucrative ones.

Smart for the gov;t to put restrictions on FHA loan availability, but if it's too stringent, people won't be able to get loans.

Quoted: To reduce its exposure to losses, the FHA won't insure a condo unit if 30 percent or more of the units in the project already have FHA-insured loans. This means that you could find a condo that you want to buy, but you can't get an FHA-insured loan because too many people in the building already have FHA loans. If you can't afford the larger down payment on a conventional mortgage, you could be out of luck

Fraud is so rife in the industry that it's even being uncovered in efforts that are aimed at trying to save the industry - and our economy. No surprise, but quite a shame.

Quoted: Specifically, the subcommittee will review the circumstances surrounding the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)’s more than 100,000 civil examinations of potential fraud related to the credit. The subcommittee will also consider opportunities to enhance the administration of the tax credit during the 2010 tax filing season. “I am pleased that more than one million taxpayers claimed the first-time homebuyer credit,” said subcommittee chairman Rep. John Lewis (D-GA). “However, I am concerned about recent reports that there have been fraudulent schemes involving the credit.”

Yah, that makes sense - I'd think the number would be even higher. The key to the statement is that Federally backed loans are in high use for sales with a loan-to-value of 96.5% to 100%. FHA loans, for example, require 3.5% down - not many other types of loans will allow a buyer to come in with such little money.

Quoted: Federally backed mortgages account for 59% of new home sales transactions with 96.5% to 100% loan-to-value (LTV) so far in 2009, according to the latest ...

Quoted: The United States Department of the Treasury is launching, with an official announcement expected next week, a new program to help ailing borrowers escape foreclosure.