Mortgage Lending Likely to Fall 25% in 2012

October 12, 2011

Mortgage lending will likely fall 25% in 2012 to its lowest level since the late 1990s as the economic slump keeps demand low and as banks begin to run out of qualified borrowers to refinance.  The Mortgage Bankers Association predicted that home loan originations will fall to $900 billion in 2012 from an estimated $1.2 […]

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U.S. Gambles With Mortgage Retreat

October 11, 2011

Three years after virtually nationalizing the U.S. mortgage market, the government has embarked on a pullback to see whether private industry picks up the slack.  Some people in the housing industry worry that Washington’s move will cause fresh pain in many regions where demand has yet to recover amid the sluggish economy.   The limits in […]

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Rate of Home Ownership Falls

October 7, 2011

The home ownership rate in the U.S. fell in the past decade by the largest amount since the Great Depression.  Between 2000 and 2010, the ownership rate declined by 1.1 percentage points to 65.1% with declines in every region.  While the rate remains at the second highest level since data collection began in 1890, it […]

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Review of Foreclosure Mistakes Is Set

October 5, 2011

Millions of current and former homeowners will have a chance to get their foreclosure cases examined to determine whether they should be compensated for banks’ mistakes, under a wide-ranging review being planned by federal regulators.  The review process will be open to borrowers who were in some stage of foreclosure in 2009 or 2010.  4.5 […]

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House Is Gone But Debt Lives On

October 2, 2011

Forty-one states and the District of Columbia permit lenders to sue borrowers for mortgage debt still left after a foreclosure sale, also known as a deficiency judgment. The economics of today’s battered housing market mean that lenders are doing so more and more. Lenders still sue for loan shortfalls in only a small minority of […]

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Home Prices Rise . . . and Fall in July

September 28, 2011

U.S. home prices rose for a fourth consecutive month in July but remain down from last year, according to S& P Case-Shiller home-price indexes, as the housing market continues to struggle.  Home prices rose in July from June in 17 of the 20 major U.S. metropolitan markets led by 3.8% growth in Detroit.  However, with […]

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Mortgage Rates Unlikely To Go Much Lower

September 26, 2011

As of last week, the difference between the 10 year Treasury yield and Freddie Mac’s average 30 year fixed-rate mortgage has widened to more than two percentage points. That compares with a low of about 1.3 percentage-points as recently as April.  In other words, were the spread still as tight today as it was this […]

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Real Estate Forecast Calls For Pain

September 22, 2011

Economists, builders and mortgage analysts are predicting the weakened U.S. economy will depress housing prices for years.  Home prices are expected to drop 2.5% this year.  If the economists’ forecast is accurate, it means housing faces a lost decade in which home prices recover just a fraction of what was lost between 2005 and 2015, […]

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Estate Executors – Red Tape & Tedium

September 19, 2011

A long list of tasks comes with the chore of handling an estate after someone dies.  There can be legal repercussions if something goes wrong.  And it is not unusual for relationships to sour along the way.  Anyone who takes on the job has to be organized, with an appetite for red tape and tedium. […]

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Lenders Speed Up the Foreclosure Process

September 16, 2011

Default notices sent to delinquent U.S. homeowners surged 33 percent in August from the previous month, a sign that lenders are speeding up the foreclosure process after almost a year of delays.  The jump in default notices means repossessions probably will increase in coming months as more foreclosures are processed.  Default notices increased from July […]

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Storm Slows Property Sales

September 14, 2011

Property damage from Hurricane Irene is prompting banks and other mortgage lenders to demand fresh inspections of numerous homes currently being sold, potentially slamming the brakes on real-estate deals from North Carolina to New York City.  A Wells Fargo spokesman said the bank requires inspections for all unclosed loans secured by a property in federally declared […]

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Create a Plan to Pass On the Family Summer Home

September 8, 2011

If you’re enjoying that last summer outing to your vacation home this Labor Day weekend, it’s a good time to start thinking about creating a succession plan for the property.  A detailed plan will make the transfer of ownership easier and establish rules that will help prevent bitter family conflicts down the road. Wall Street […]

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