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Lender News, VA, FHA, Jumbo & Conforming Mortgage Rates, Lending Tips & Intelligent Financing Dialog between Home Loan Professionals & Consumers

October 1, 2009

Lower Mortgage Rates for VA and FHA Streamline

Category: FHA Mortgage,Mortgage News – admin – 3:41 pm

Applications for home mortgages dropped to a seasonally adjusted 2.8% for the week ending September 25, compared with the week before. The Mortgage Bankers Association announced yesterday that VA mortgage rates were better, as were FHA mortgage rates.  Many borrowers are excited for the low rate refinancing with FHA customers rushing to qualify for FHA streamline refinance loans that are seeing interest rates below 5% for the first time in a while. The average fifteen mortgage rates declined to 4.46% last week which is down significantly from last year when rates were at 5.78%.

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September 9, 2009

FHA Streamline

Category: FHA Mortgage,Published Articles – admin – 8:16 am

According to Bryan Dornan, “The best time for a streamline loan for refinancing your FHA mortgage is when you are saving a significant amount of money monthly without adding on additional years with the new mortgage terms.  Read the original article “When FHA Streamline Makes Sense for Mortgage Refinancing.”

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August 28, 2009

3 FHA Lenders Suspended

Category: FHA Mortgage,Financial News,Mortgage News – admin – 8:45 am

Three mortgage lenders approved to originate loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration were suspended by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development over “serious” violations.  HUD recently announced their Mortgagee Review Board had suspended Golden First Mortgage Corp. The Great Neck, N.Y., company allegedly neglected to notify HUD of an Office of Thrift Supervision investigation into the activities of its president or his involvement in an OTS civil money penalty.  Suspended FHA lenders are not allowed to sell new FHA-insured loans while HUD investigates their FHA lending practices, the statement said.

FHA mortgage rates remain low and the Federal Reserve has ensured FHA lenders and banks offering HUD loans his commitment to making affordable home financing available to Americans.  When shopping for a FHA lender, Lenders Nationwide recommends that consumers consider FHA mortgage companies that have a clean HUD record.

 

 

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August 10, 2009

Taylor Bean and Whitaker Closing Hurts Mortgage Brokers

Category: FHA Mortgage,Financial News,Mortgage Lender Discussion,Mortgage Lending Stories,Mortgage News – admin – 8:27 am


The impact on Taylor Bean and Whitaker shutting down wholesale will be significant for mortgage brokers across the country.  Many mortgage companies used TBW for all their FHA home loans and this will hurt them.  The loss of Taylor, Bean and Whitaker as a wholesale lender is a major blow to U.S. mortgage brokers who say it means home loan applicants who were in process at the wholesaler will need to purchase new appraisals and potentially sit through new waiting periods.

Taylor Bean disclosed Tuesday that it lost its FHA approval and that its Ginnie Mae servicing portfolio was seized. Then it surprised its customers Wednesday with a notice indicating it stopped originating, closing or funding any home loans. In a news release today, the National Association of Mortgage Brokers called the Ocala, Fla.-based lender “a major channel for wholesale mortgage funding.” 

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July 2, 2009

Mortgage Refinancing Gauge Drops

Category: FHA Mortgage,Financial News,Mortgage News,Mortgage Rate Report – admin – 1:50 pm

The Mortgage Bankers Association announced that the mortgage refinance gauge decreased to 1,482.2, the lowest reading since November, from 2,116.3 the previous week. The home purchase index fell to 267.7 last week from a two-month high of 280.3.  Unemployment, which touched a 26-year high in May, and rising borrowing costs discouraged homeowners from refinancing, while a growing number of home foreclosures sidelined potential buyers waiting for house prices to stop declining.

The share of home loan applicants seeking to refinance loans plunged to 46.4% of total applications last week from 54%.  The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loan fell to 5.34% from 5.44% the prior week. The rate reached 4.61% at the end of March, the lowest level since the group’s records began in 1990.  At the current thirty-year mortgage rate, monthly borrowing costs for each $100,000 of a loan would be $558, or about $62 less than the same week a year earlier, when the rate was 6.33%.  Many loan officers have voiced their concern that market needs to keep conforming and FHA mortgage rates low until the housing sector can recover.

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June 4, 2009

Home Refinancing with Home Affordable Refinance Program

Category: FHA Mortgage,Financial News,Mortgage Lender Discussion,Mortgage Lender Tips,Mortgage News,New Lending Products,Published Articles – admin – 5:15 pm

Do You Qualify for the hottest mortgage loan, HARP?

FHA refinance loans aren’t always attainable for self-employed borrowers looking for fixed rate refinancing, because HUD requires full income documentation.  Loan modification plans can be nearly impossible for borrowers in high cost regions like California, New York and Florida who have jumbo mortgage loans.  Mortgage relief is often easier said than done.


When the stimulus package passed, millions of homeowners felt they were dissed. While the new mortgage relief program focuses on homeowners in foreclosure, it offers nothing for the homeowner who is responsible and current with their home loan payment. To compensate for this oversight, the U.S. Department of Treasury recently launched the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). “HARP was created specifically to provide access to reduced-cost home refinancing for responsible homeowners with no equity in their home. Millions of Americans have lost their home equity due to the decline in home prices,” said Joe Engle, president of Loan Smart, Inc. in Thousand Oaks, California.

 

Presently, millions of homeowners find themselves in the unsettling predicament of having to sit on high mortgage interest rates that are not affordable or about to rest to a higher payment that will tip the budget negatively.  Most good borrowers are unable to refinance their homes and take advantage of historically low interest rates, because of the declining home values.  

Through the Home Affordable Refinance Program 4 to 5 million responsible homeowners will have the opportunity to refinance their homes, even if they owe more than 80% of their property’s value. “With low fixed rate mortgage refinancing, many families could see a reduction in their mortgage payments by thousands of dollars per year,” said Engle. Unfortunately, not everyone qualifies for Home Affordable Refinance Programs. This refinance program only benefits homeowners with home mortgages owned or guaranteed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which are Government Sponsored Enterprises. “At Loan Smart, we can assist homeowners with determining if they qualify for HARP by researching to find out if their loan is owned by either Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae,” commented Engle.   Engle points out that HARP will offer a huge advantage to homeowners with first and second mortgages. HARP will allow for refinancing of the first mortgage up to 105% of the current home value, with the second mortgage remaining in place.

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May 28, 2009

Loan Modification Leads Still Hot but Foreclosure Scams on the Rise

Category: FHA Mortgage,Financial News,Mortgage Lender Discussion,Mortgage News,predatory lending,State Home Financing Law Updates – admin – 9:52 am

Most mortgage industry insiders believe there is still a 12 to 18 month window of opportunity left for foreclosure prevention services like loan modification and loan workouts.  Loan modification leads are still hot in the mortgage marketing circles.  Foreclosure scams continue to run rampant and that makes consumers very weary. 

New measures are being implemented to take aim at what consumer groups say is a surge in fraud by entities offering to help struggling homeowners modify their home mortgage loans or avoid foreclosure.  “There are a lot of different scams going on right now,” said Martha Lucey, president of ByDesign Financial Solutions, a nonprofit credit-counseling agency. “Homeowners are struggling with affordability and many are desperate. When consumers are desperate, they’re willing to pay for unrealistic financial solutions.”

The most common allegations involve struggling homeowners who make up-front payments, often in the thousands of dollars, to firms that promise to work with their mortgage lender to renegotiate their mortgage and lower their monthly home loan payments. The mortgage loans are never changed and the money is gone.

A bill by state Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, would prohibit firms from charging advance fees for mortgage loan modification services. Supporters say the bill would prevent people in bad financial straits from becoming even worse off.

In addition, the legislation would require for-profit firms to tell potential customers that they could get free assistance from various nonprofit counseling agencies.   “The federal fix is going to take care of a lot of the problems we’re experiencing on the foreclosure side of things,” Calderon said. But people looking for help need to be protected, he said.

The California Association of Realtors opposes the bill. The organization objects to the measure’s blanket prohibition on advance fees.  Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore, said he is open to more foreclosure-related safeguards, up to a point.”  My view is that the federal government is getting pretty pro-active in cleaning up the lending industry,” he said. “There’s no reason to duplicate what’s happening at the federal level.”

Several other bills build on parts of SB 1137 dealing with rental tenants in foreclosed properties.  One measure would make the buyer of a rental property at a foreclosure sale responsible for returning the tenants’ security deposit.

According to Jim Miller, another bill would give renters up to a year to leave properties that revert to the lender after foreclosure. The renters would have to move if new owners want to move in.  “We think having a family there is much better for all parties involved,” said Ronald Coleman, legislative director of the low-income advocacy group Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known as ACORN. Vacant homes get run down and attract vandals, he said.

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March 17, 2009

Mortgage Rates Declining

Category: FHA Mortgage,Financial News,Mortgage News – admin – 12:47 pm

The Federal Reserve has positioned as a buyer in secondary mortgage markets that had seized up but are vital to enabling lenders to make new home loans.  Mortgage lenders sell many of their loans to institutional investors, and higher rates charged by these investors to hold pooled bad credit mortgages make it more difficult for loan officers and mortgage brokers to offer lower rates on new mortgage loans. Conventional and FHA mortgage rates were both slightly lower than the previous week. 

The gap has narrowed in just a few months between Treasuries and the mortgage rates that the agencies and mortgage lenders have to carry to make them attractive.  Read the original article > Mortgage Interest Rates Drop.

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February 26, 2009

Low Mortgage Rates Continue

Category: FHA Mortgage,Financial News,Mortgage News,Mortgage Rate Report – admin – 2:36 pm

Low mortgage interest rates continued this week amid mixed reports about the slowing economy, Freddie Mac’s chief economist said on Thursday.  According to Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft, “Both the core producer price and consumer price indexes ticked up in January, higher than the market consensus, while consumer confidence in February dropped to the lowest reading since records began in January 1967,” said, in a news release.  FHA mortgage rates remain low with 5.625% average on thirty year fixed rate home loans.

 

o    Low Rate FHA Home Loans

o    Mortgage Refinancing Tips

o    Renegotiating Lower Mortgage Rates

o    Home Equity lines of Credit

  

Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.07% for the week ending February 26, up from last week’s 5.04% average but still lower than their 6.24% average a year ago, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of conventional rates. Meanwhile, fifteen-year fixed-rate home loans averaged 4.68%, unchanged from last week and down from 5.72% a year ago.

 

5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 5.06% this week, up from 5.04% last week; the ARMs averaged 5.43% a year ago. 1-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 4.81% this week, up slightly from 4.80% last week; the ARMs averaged 5.11% a year ago.  To obtain current mortgage rates, the fixed interest mortgage loans and the 5-year ARM required payment of an average 0.7 point, while the 1-year ARM required an average 0.6 point. A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged as prepaid interest.

 

In the news release Nothaft said “Reductions in home prices and affordable mortgage rates have yet to spur housing demand.” You can see how new sale prices continued to decline home. “For instance, house prices declined by 8.7% for the twelve months ending in December 2008 and were down 10.9% from their highs set in April of 2007, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s purchase-only monthly home price index.

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February 10, 2009

Banking and Subprime Mortgage Crisis with Charlie Lyons

Category: FHA Mortgage,Financial News,Mortgage Lender Tips,Mortgage News,Mortgage Videos – admin – 12:49 am

Charlie Lyons elaborates further on the opportunity available for investors to purchase defaulted home mortgages and the roots of the foreclosure crisis.

The housing crisis came as a result of the subprime mortgage meltdown and subsequent banking crisis.  FHA mortgage lenders have been trying to help homeowner recover with FHA loan programs like FHASecure and Hope for Homeowners, but they have not been able to slow the loan delinquencies and sliding home values.

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February 3, 2009

Federal Reserve Interest Rate Cut Helps Mortgage Refinancing

Category: FHA Mortgage,Financial News,Mortgage Lender Tips,Mortgage News – admin – 2:51 am

Greg McBride from BankRate discusses the mortgage meltdown and Suzy Orman give their different points of view on the Federal Reserve’s rate cuts and how it helps the homeowners, consumers and mortgage lenders!  Mortgage interest rates remain low for conforming and FHA home loans.

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November 28, 2008

FHA Approves Home Equity Conversion Mortgages for Purchase Transactions

Category: FHA Mortgage – admin – 10:22 am

Seniors over the age of 62 years will be able to use FHA for reverse mortgage loans in conjunction with purchasing of a new house under newly revised guidelines issued by HUD.  As of January 1, seniors that want to downsize or can relocate using the proceeds from the sale of their home and an FHA Home Equity Conversion Mortgage to purchase a new residence. “Proceeds from sale of their former home can be combined with funds from reverse mortgages on the new home, allowing the home purchase to be made without any future responsibility of monthly mortgage payments,” said Peter Bell, president of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association. This new feature of the FHA loan program (HECM) also avoids the expense of taking out a regular mortgage on the new residence and then getting a home equity conversion mortgage.

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