Thursday, May 15, 2008

Look Out For Those Mortgage Arrangement Fees

Since the planetary recognition crunch swept across the United Kingdom last twelvemonth the cost of adoption have rocketed in all countries of the fiscal sector, particularly mortgages. We have got seen the involvement rates on mortgage rocket, and this is despite three recent alkali charge per unit cuts from the Depository Financial Institution of England between December 2007 and April 2008. However, whilst the alkali charge per unit have got got got been cut loaners have continued to tramp up mortgage related costs, which intends that many borrowers have not benefited from the alkali charge per unit cuts.

One of the major costs associated with mortgages is the agreement fee that is charged, and over recent calendar months loaners have hiked up these agreement fees, which in some lawsuits are double the amount that they were last year. Since last summertime some mortgage agreement fees have got gone up by around 96%, and all of this adds to the fiscal load faced by borrowers at an already financially disruptive time.

Whilst mortgage agreement fees can now be costly, borrowers are urged to retrieve that they make change from one supplier to another, and therefore it can really pay to compare different fees in order to happen the best deal. However, it is also of import to look at other facets of the mortgage, such as as the charge per unit of involvement charged and the refund time periods offered.

However, one major downside of these agreement fees is that many people cannot afford to pay them upfront, and this agency that they often have got to add them to the mortgage loan. The borrower will then be charged involvement on the agreement fee, and for those that be given to remortgage on a regular basis, and therefore have got to maintain adding the agreement fees to their mortgage, the involvement complaints can be phenomenal.

One industry functionary said: 'This is a existent catch-22 for consumers who are struggling to happen the finances to pay mortgage set-up costs. By allowing consumers to add fees onto the mortgage, it could be argued that suppliers are doing them a good turn. This is particularly true for first clip purchasers where it could intend the difference between getting on the place ladder or not.'

She also said: 'However, adding fees to a mortgage intends that you will be spreading the amount over many old age and paying involvement for the pleasance of doing so - this is an extremely expensive option and should always be seen as a last resort. If you can in any manner pull off to pay the fee upfront this volition always be your best option. Otherwise purchasers should do certain that they do regular overpayments to minimise the impact of high involvement costs - as they could stop up doubling the original cost of an agreement fee.'

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Monday, April 07, 2008

Mortgage Bankers Association struggles to pay its mortgage - BloggingStocks

Posted April 7th 2008 9:33AM by Filed under: , ,

The studies that the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is getting what it experiences is a natural trade on a mortgage for its American Capital headquarters. Boo hoo! The Master in Business is buying a edifice there for $100 million, but is paying a higher involvement charge per unit on its mortgage as its income diminutions and the leasing marketplace is slow departure it with no renters for the building.

This couldn't have got happened to a nicer association. After all, the Master in Business encouraged people to take out subprime mortgages -- many of which went bad. Despite the Fed's charge per unit cuts from 5.25% to 2.25% mortgage involvement rates are up thanks to bankers' fearfulness of lending. And the consequent economical lag is making it harder for the Master in Business to happen renters for its building.

Let's study the harm to the MBA. First, its rank have declined 17% inch the last twelvemonth and it foretells a 10% to 15% diminution in gross as a result. Bankers are making the Master in Business set up about 10% More of a down payment than it had planned and the deficiency of renters have moved its loaner to increase the funding costs slightly. Perhaps there's justice in the universe. If not, at least MBA's quandary is giving it a taste sensation of its ain medicine.

Peter George M. Cohan is President of . He also and edits .

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Friday, April 04, 2008

UK Mortgage Round-up - Week 14

Cheap two twelvemonth fixed charge per unit mortgage trades look to be coming to the end. These popular merchandises have got been at the top of consumers' listings for some years, but loaners are pulling these trades as they seek to protect their net income in the in progress recognition crunch.

Mortgage agents are gloomily forecasting a tax return to the years when place proprietors had only one pick - the criterion variable charge per unit of the lender, which be givens to be expensive.

Last hebdomad Cheltenham & Gloucester called an end to its lifespan tracker charge per unit of 6.23%, replacing it with a 6.53% deal. That would add £450 a twelvemonth to a mortgage of £150,000.

• NatWest became the first depository financial institution to increase refunds for existing customers. 15,000 countervail mortgage clients received letters from the depository financial institution saying that their involvement rates were going up from 6.2% to 6.45%. It is the first clip that existing borrowers have got got been hit by charge per unit increases; previously it have been new clients who have faced higher rates.

• Kent Reliance Bachelor of Science also set rates up for existing customers: from 7.34% to 7.59% on its criterion variable rate.

• RBS set its two-year tracker charge per unit up from 5.99% to 6.79% for new customers.

• First Direct is not taking on any more than new mortgage customers. Owned by HSBC, First Direct scrapped trades for new clients at a mere five hours notice. As a loaner expected to take around 5% of new mortgage concern this year, the move is unprecedented and shook the market. Now, others are expected to follow suit.

As bad news look to come up in every day, it looks that Banks are driving up their margins. Best offerings from Banks have got gone up by 0.25% on norm in this week. In March, nearly 3,000 mortgage trades disappeared from the market, leaving less than 5,000 now available. Blessing rates have got gone down but mortgage demand is still strong, and the Council for Mortgage Lenders anticipates around 2.8m families to come up up for remortgage in 2008. If people happen they cannot afford the new higher repayments, they will be left with small choice: sell up. Depository Financial Institution of England figs demo that the norm two twelvemonth fixed charge per unit have gone up from 4.96% to 6.09% inch just two years. If you can't acquire one of those deals, you could be left with an SVR of around 7.5%.

Banks claims that borrowers have got had it too good for too long. But borrowers don't do the rules; it's the banks. The Banks dug themselves a hole by offering cheap money and then chasing dodgy investings based on United States sub-prime borrowers. Was that the United Kingdom borrowers' fault?

Having dug the hole the Banks now look happy to bury their customers.

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Sunday, March 30, 2008

Refinancing Mortgage After Bankruptcy

Sometimes you may acquire yourself caught in a fiscal crunch. You may take a loan in a haste or acquire stuck with an inflexible or deceitful lender. Then you may not be able to refund your loan or you may acquire stuck with immense involvement rates (e.g. recognition card debt.) You may default on on your loan and travel bankrupt. At these times, it is best for you to travel in for a barred loan.

In a barred loan, you offer some plus as a security to the lender. If you neglect to refund the loan, the loaner will sell the plus and recognize the loan. Refinancing mortgage is compulsory whenever you use for a barred loan. Using this barred loan, you can pay off all your former loans. Since this loan is secured, the involvement charge per unit of these loans is very low as the hazard of the loaner is highly reduced. Thus, it will be easy for you to ran into the refund agenda of this new barred loan and you can acquire out of your fiscal crunch situation.

Should you travel in for refinancing?

This is a million dollar question. Most of the people acquire utterly confused as to whether they should refinance their loan or not. The simple yardstick to do a determination is to compare the involvement rates. If there is a immense decrease in the involvement rate, then you should travel in for it. However, if there is not such as a immense impact, then maybe it is better you make not refinance your mortgage. This is because those loans will only have got an harmful impact on your recognition worthiness.

What are the advantages of mortgage refinancing?

The first thing that haps after you choose for such as mortgage, is the autumn in involvement payments. Every month, your installment cut downs as involvement rates fall. Thus, you can easily ran into your loan obligations. Since your loan now looks not 'risky', the loaner will cut down not only the involvement charge per unit but also the mortgage term. This volition aid you acquire out of debt easily. Lowered monthly refunds will guarantee you have got some other hard cash every month. Financial independence is the most of import advantage mortgage refinancing will give you.

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Friday, March 21, 2008

Rates on 30-year mortgages drop below 6 percent for first time in five weeks

: Rates on 30-year mortgages dropped below 6 percentage this hebdomad for the first clip in more than than a month, reflecting aggressive attempts by the Federal Soldier Modesty to cut involvement rates to protect the economic system from a serious recession.

Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported Thursday that 30-year fixed charge per unit mortgages averaged 5.87 percentage this week. That was down from 6.13 percentage last hebdomad and marked the first clip that 30-year rates have got fallen below the 6 percentage degree since the hebdomad of Feb. 14.

Rates on 30-year mortgages dropped below the 6 percentage threshold in the 2nd hebdomad of January and stayed there for six consecutive hebdomads as the crisp economical lag stirred concerns about a possible recession.

In the past month, chemical bond marketplaces had grown worried about rising rising prices pressure levels that are coming at the same clip that the economic system is slowing. But the meltdown of Bear Stearns, the nation's 5th biggest investing bank, over the weekend prompted the Federal to travel aggressively to pump money into the fiscal system and cut down a cardinal loaning charge per unit by three-fourths of 1 percentage on Tuesday.

Analysts said all of these Federal attempts had helped to ease pressure level on involvement rates that had been generated by higher rising prices readings. And helping in that area, the authorities reported last hebdomad that consumer terms were unchanged in February, a important moderateness from the January readings, while retail gross sales drop by a larger-than-expected amount in February, reinforcing concerns about economical weakness. Today in Americas

"Slowing consumer disbursement and weak employment statuses are among the concerns behind the Fed's determination to take down the mark federal finances rate," said Frank Nothaft, main economic expert at Freddie Mac.

Other classes of mortgages also showed diminutions this week.

Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular pick for refinancing, drop to 5.27 percentage this week, down from 5.60 percentage last week.

For five-year adjustable-rate mortgages, rates dipped to 5.56 percent, compared with 5.58 percentage last week.

Rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages were the lone class to demo an increase, edging up to 5.15 percent, compared to 5.14 percentage last week.

The mortgage rates make not include add-on fees known as points. For 30-year and 15-year mortgages, the countrywide norm fee was 0.5 point. Five-year mortgages carried a 0.9 point norm fee while one-year mortgages had a 0.8 point average.

A twelvemonth ago, rates on 30-year mortgages stood at 6.16 percent, 15-year mortgage rates averaged 5.90 percent, five-year adjustable-rate mortgages were 5.91 percentage and one-year adjustable-rate mortgages were at 5.40 percent.

Housing have been agony through a terrible slack that have dragged down house terms in many parts of the country. The radioactive dust is hitting both householders and the economic system at large, raising concerns about a possible recession. The downswing is lodging is being worsened by a terrible recognition squeezing with loaners tightening criteria in the human face of soaring mortgage foreclosures.

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On the Net:

Freddie Mac:

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Saturday, March 08, 2008

A brutal week for credit markets

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Problems in the banking and recognition marketplaces intensified last week, spreading to sectors that had been weathering the storm.

The hebdomad started with Thornburg Mortgage, which specialises in high-quality elephantine loans, saying it couldn't ran into border phone calls from lenders.

By week's end, investors were dumping the securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, considered the bedrocks of the lodging market.

It all adds up to large jobs for the recognition sector that, left unsolved, could ensue in tremendous jobs for the economy. Many norm people have got got no thought how bad things have gotten.

Unlike the stock market, whose rotations can be tracked by popular marketplace indexes, the recognition marketplace is extremely complex and difficult to follow, even for experts and policymakers. So far, the Federal Soldier Reserve's involvement charge per unit cuts have got done small to reconstruct assurance in the recognition marketplaces or excite lending. That's partly because so much loaning now takes topographic point outside of the regulated banking industry, where fearfulness is rampant.

Here's a expression at some of this week's events:
Thornburg's bad news

On Monday, Thornburg said it had failed to ran into border phone calls from lenders.

Thornburg had been holding up better than some mortgage companies because it specialises in making high-quality, adjustable-rate elephantine loans (bigger than $417,000) to borrowers with good to first-class credit. Although default rates on these premier loans are very low, Thornburg also held some securities backed by Alt-A mortgages, which fall somewhere between premier and subprime.

On Thursday, Polecat Ratings set a broad swath of securities backed by Alt-A mortgage on reappraisal for possible downgrade.

Thornburg is structured as a existent estate investing trust and is known as a mortgage REIT. Like most mortgage REITs, Thornburg borrows against its mortgage assets to do or purchase more than loans.

When the value of collateral falls, loaners can inquire borrowers to set up more than hard cash or sell the plus held as collateral. That's known as a border call. As the value of Alt-A loans have got got been called into question, many holders have been dumping them onto the marketplace - sometimes as a consequence of border phone calls - causing their value to fall farther.

Thornburg have been getting border calls, and for a piece it had enough hard cash to ran into them. But on Monday, Thornburg said it had failed to ran into border phone calls it had received over the former three days. To ran into them, Thornburg would have got to sell assets or raise capital. That set off a mob in Thornburg's shares, which distribute to other mortgage REITs.

On Friday, Thornburg said marketplace statuses had caused "substantial uncertainty about the company's ability to travel on as a going concern."

Thornburg's sufferings also caused rates on elephantine loans to go even higher last week, states Keith Gumbinger, a frailty president with HSH Associates. Bernanke's comments

On Tuesday, Federal Soldier Modesty President Ben Bernanke, speaking to a grouping of community bankers, suggested that Banks see reducing loan balances for some householders who owe more than than their places are worth.

"In this environment, principal decreases that reconstruct some equity for the householder may be a relatively more than effectual agency of avoiding delinquency and foreclosure," he said.

While that may sound appealing to struggling homeowners, some people were shocked to hear the nation's top banking regulator propose that capital-starved Banks take losings that would further gnaw their capital. Bernanke's address came just a few years after he told United States Congress that more than banks, primarily littler ones, would fail. Ambac's disappointment

On Wednesday, Ambac Financial Group, the troubled chemical bond insurer, defeated marketplaces when it said it would raise desperately needed working capital by merchandising $1.5 billion in stock and equity units. Many were hoping Ambac would procure a larger bailout from planetary banks.

Although it managed to sell the stock on Friday, the other shares will thin the company's net income per share. Ambac's shares lost almost 20 percentage for the week.

Ambac is one of respective big companies that started out insuring relatively safe state and local municipal chemical bonds but ventured off into guaranteeing mortgage and other asset-backed securities that went sour.

Problems with the chemical chemical bond insurance companies have got caused pandemonium in municipal bond markets, forcing many authorities to pay higher involvement rates on their debt.

Vallejo's narrowly avoided bankruptcy and a possible bankruptcy filing by Thomas Jefferson County, Ala., have got done nil to calm down the flustered muni markets. Thomas Thomas Carlyle concerns

Potentially more than worrisome, on Thursday hedgerow monetary fund Carlyle Capital said it had failed to ran into border phone calls on portion of its portfolio of AAA-rated securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Thomas Thomas Carlyle is a publicly traded spin-off of Carlyle Group, the politically connected private equity firm.

Fannie and Freddie are publicly held companies (often called agencies) that buy, sell and warrant place mortgages.

Heretofore, their chemical bonds have got been considered nearly as safe and liquid as U.S. Treasurys. Although they are not explicitly backed by the federal government, there is a given that the authorities would not allow them neglect because of their importance in the lodging market.

Recently, however, there have got been growing concern about Fannie and Freddie's portfolios, specifically what are called private-label mortgage securities they have bought from others and make not guarantee, states Joshua Rosner, managing manager of research house Billy Graham Fisher.

Private-label securities do up almost one-third of Freddie Mac's retained loans. Although they are generally very high quality, investors today are leery of anything that is not guaranteed.

The larger job is that many hedgerow funds, REITs and other investors who have got got been getting border phone calls on their lesser-quality indirect have been raising hard cash by merchandising Fannie and Freddie securities. That is driving down their terms relation to Treasurys.

On Thursday, the U.S. Treasury Department denied a rumour that it is going to explicitly vouch Fannie and Freddie, which did nil to assist the Fannie/Freddie merchandising frenzy.

In a news release on Friday, Thomas Carlyle Capital said, "In the past respective days, there have been a rapid and terrible impairment in the marketplace for U.S. authorities federal agency AAA-rated residential mortgage-backed securities" such as as those issued by Fannie and Freddie.

In response, respective of Carlyle's loaners marked down the value of its collateral and said they would soon inquire for more. "The company believes these further border phone calls and increased collateral demands could quickly consume its liquidness and impair its capital," it said.

On Friday, the Dutch stock exchange where Thomas Carlyle Capital is listed halted trading in its shares.

Fannie and Freddie's shares drop almost 20 percentage last week. What it all means

Where the recognition crisis stops is anyone's guess. But it assists show why the Federal Soldier Reserve's involvement charge per unit cuts are doing small to excite the economy.

"The jobs that we confront cannot be fixed by pecuniary policy," Rosner said in a report.

Instead of focusing on cutting involvement rates and pumping liquidness into the banking system, he says, the Federal should be forcing Banks to let on and recognize losings and raise capital.

"The cardinal to whole job is allowing establishments to neglect that are fundamentally weak," and letting working capital flowing to the 1s that are strong, he says.

Good fortune with that.

Net Worth runs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. E-mail Kathleen Pender at .

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Thursday, March 06, 2008

Real Estate Transactions - The Seven Deadly Sins

1) Avoid identifying your existent needs, nor the territory in which you desire to pass at least the adjacent 10 old age of your life. Go about deciding to purchase on a caprice and don't research the neighborhood. Leave it up to opportunity and to a commission-based existent estate agent.

2) Don't check up on on the existent estate agent who will work to acquire you a house. The agent background, his agent banner, his repute or his capacity to acquire you the "right buy" are not important. Just subscribe on blindly.

3) Don't happen it of import to acquire professional aid from either a legal professional or a competent fiscal adviser before entering the negotiating part of the purchase. Forget that this purchase is a major determination that have to be taken while you are cool-headed. Disregard the negotiating accomplishments that tin save you one one thousands and thousands of dollars during the adjacent few years. Just 'fall in love' with the house and allow things happen.

4) Don't trouble oneself to have got the place thoroughly checked, in-depth side a competent inspector and don't take a firm stand on determination out if the house is made toxic by the presence of assorted chemicals or debasement which may very well directly impact on your family's wellness and welfare.

5) Don't expect the realistic cost of purchasing the house (legal fees, welcome tax, moving expenses, etc), nor the necessary ascents and redevelopments which are out-of-pocket disbursals and are required at the onset. Don't believe about the logistics to repair the house and anticipate that all volition be done on clip and on-budget. Also, don't do a budget.

6) Don't complete all the work to be done to the house before you move-in and larn to bask life in an unfinished home with tradesmen and deficiency of basic facilities. Put your household through the ordeal of life as gypsies. Don't fault yourself for your deficiency of foresight.

7) Don't believe that a house or a condominium or any home imply changeless care, attending and yes, dedication. A house is not a simple merchandise and it will forever necessitate your commitment.

In other words: don't plan, don't budget, don't fault yourself, and bask the ride!

In reading this merriment listing of Real Number Estate Sins, maintain in head that as human beingnesses we be given to larn a batch more from painful errors than from glorious achievement.

You don't even have got to do all the errors to be in existent trouble. A few here and there, an guiltless oversight, and roar -- you're in for a very expensive ride.

Realize the importance of all major outgoes related to purchasing a house. For most people, it will do or interruption you. Go about it in the most clear-eye, realistic, common-sense manner that you can.

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Tuesday, March 04, 2008

New standards for home appraisers

Fannie Mae and Freddie Macintosh agreed yesterday to necessitate greater independency for existent estate appraisers, whose patterns during the existent estate roar have got been criticized for leading to bad loans and the current subprime mortgage meltdown and recognition crunch.

The two government-chartered agencies, which purchase nearly 80 percentage of all place loans originated in the country, made the understanding to settle down an probe by New House Of York Lawyer General Saint Andrew Cuomo. He had subpoenaed the federal agencies in November over questionable loans purchased from banks, including American Capital Mutual, the nation's biggest nest egg and loan.

Mortgage bankers and agents were divided on whether the changes, effectual Jan. One 2009, will get rid of struggles of involvement among lenders, appraisers, existent estate agents, and statute title and coverage companies that run assessment subsidiaries. They also disagreed on whether the alterations will increase costs to place purchasers and sellers.


Cuomo had challenged Banks to “clean up assessment fraud.”


“Today's understanding with Fannie Mae and Freddie Macintosh gets to put right what had gone so horribly incorrect in the mortgage industry – rampant assessment fraud,” Cuomo said in a statement. “The unity of our mortgage system depends on independent appraisals.”

Overview

Background: Critics state loaners have got pressured valuators to knock up the listed value of homes, contributing to a national mortgage crisis that is forcing households into foreclosure.


What's changing: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which purchase nearly 80 percentage of place loans originated in the United States, will debar loaners from using in-house staff for initial assessments and from using assessment direction companies that they have or control. Industry leadership anticipate the alterations to use nationally. The understanding will:


Prohibition mortgage agents from selecting appraisers.


Forbid loaners from using staff valuators or valuators working for assessment companies they have or control. H. G. Wells Fargo and Countrywide Financial, two of the nation's biggest mortgage lenders, run assessment units. They declined to notice on the consequence of the agreement.


Institute an 11-part “Home Evaluation Code of Conduct,” which all loaners dealing with Fannie Mae and Freddie Macintosh will have got to follow, to get rid of “coercion, extortion, collusion” and other agency for influencing appraisals.


Establish the “Independent Evaluation Protection Institute,” funded from $24 million from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to supervise assessment practices.


Set up a consumer hotline to manage ailments about questionable appraisals. The federal Office of Federal Soldier Housing Enterprise Oversight will host the institute and keep the hotline.


David Berenbaum, an executive manager with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, praised the agreement, as did Sheila Bair, president of the Federal Soldier Deposit Insurance Corp.


Bill Garber, authorities dealings director for the 23,000-member Appraisal Institute in Washington, D.C., said his organisation back ups the reforms as a manner to cut down the pressure levels exerted on valuators to come up up with values that warrant a place loan.


“There are modern times when that type of pressure level furuncles over into and could be considered Acts of coercion,” Garber said. “The good valuators will state no to those pressure levels and hang up the phone.”


Tony Majewski, acting manager of the Golden State Office of Real Number Estate Appraisers, said a state law effectual in October prohibited some of the tactics banned in the Cuomo agreement. The law “prohibits anyone with an involvement in an assessment from exerting or attempting to exercise influence on an assessment to impact a value,” helium said.


Mortgage bankers and agents differed on what the understanding will intend to them and their clients.


Mike Dillon of technetiums Mortgage, a San Diego mortgage banker and brokerage firm that closed about 25 loans last month, said Banks might go overly conservative if they alone choose appraisers.


“I don't believe it works out anybody's problems,” helium said.


Steve Hops, a mortgage banker at Club Mortgage, called the understanding “a nonevent” for bankers, because they will still command World Health Organization makes the appraising, but a “headache for brokers,” who will have got no function in the choice process.


But Hops added, “It's the unity of the individual valuator that's astatine stake, whether he works for an in-house company or an independent company.”


Jim Park, a Mile-High City valuator workings with Chief Joseph Caffaro in Coronado to establish the Evaluation Plant web of independent appraisers, said, “This is going to be a good thing for borrowers, very good for consumers,” because they can presumably trust on assessments to be accurate.


Park and other valuators predicted that costs of an appraisal, typically $350 to $450 for a home, would not change. On the other hand, Roy DeLoach, executive manager director of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, said the understanding will take “thousands of small-business rivals from the marketplace” and thereby increase consumer costs.


Some perceivers thought the clip it takes to obtain an assessment might increase, especially if an assessment sought from one loaner is not accepted as valid by a 2nd lender.


But Saint David Eshelman, who runs an assessment company in Carlsbad, said loaners are already being more than prudent in how they reexamine loan applications and appraisals.


“The existent estate industry travels thorough these rhythms of fattening up and skinnying down – it's bingeing and purging,” Eshelman said. “And right now, we're in a purge.”


The Associated Press, Bloomberg News and Reuters contributed to this report.

Roger M. Showley: (619) 293-1286;

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Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Are Greedy Mortgage Brokers Responsible for the Foreclosure Crisis?

There have got been a growth figure of narratives in the news about householders suing their former mortgage agents over the loan that they were given. Lawyers, as usual, are seeking out victims in order to drag more than people into the tribunal system and effort to contort money out of them, rather than actually providing any utile service to society. Many of these lawyers will be able to pull out some kind of legal judgement payments out of the mortgage brokers, of course, but it is dubious how much existent duty mortgage agents have got in the current foreclosure crisis. In fact, the lawyers as a community may have got more than than to make with it all.

The norm agent may be just as victimized as the homeowners, and many more former agents and loan conceivers are feeling the hurting of tighter recognition and declining place values. Their possible client alkali is quickly shrinking. The easy concern is just not there any longer, and Banks are not approving loans without better recognition and existent down payments. For agents who specialised in or got a important amount of the income from providing loans to borrowers with mediocre credit, they may not be able to remain in the concern at all.

This environment of easy recognition and loose loaning policies was created by the government, the functionary place of the lawyers. The Federal Soldier Modesty lowered involvement rates drastically in order to excite the economy, but only managed to make a immense fiscal bubble in the lodging market. Local authorities and big Banks turned a unsighted oculus to the fact that many of the place values were being exaggerated beyond any premise of reality. Place taxations rose and loaners were able to supply immense loans on places worth far less than stated, bundle them into incomprehensible fiscal products, and sell them to unaffectionate hedgerow funds.

The mortgage agents played the most direct function with the homeowners, but they were only offering the mortgage companies' merchandises to a marketplace of householders and purchasers who wanted them. If the adjustable charge per unit or interest-only mortgages were not utile or desirable, then they would not have got been so popular. Brokers would have got had to offer more than reasonable, less brassy merchandises to their customers, like loans on low-cost places or higher, fixed charge per unit mortgages. But many householders either did not desire this type of loan, or they did not measure up for a more than than criterion mortgage but wanted to purchase a house anyway.

In all cases, besides that of fraud on the portion of the broker, mortgage lender, or service company, the duty lies more with householders than any other party. It is up to the consumers of mortgages to understand how their loans will work, not just now but old age down the road, and be able to analyse at least the biggest risks, such as as declining place values and rising involvement rates. Few people purchase autos without researching their options and evaluating the characteristics of their prospective choices, such as as cost, security, mileage-per-gallon, and so on. And autos have got far more than technical, moving pieces, and are less expensive, and are shorter committednesses than purchasing a house with a mortgage.

Although avaricious mortgage agents may go the whipping boy of the foreclosure crisis, they were not the lone 1s taken in by the epoch of easy credit. The Banks and hedgerow finances encouraged the usage of these loan merchandises in every case, and the authorities created a immense bubble instead of recognizing that economical bubbles make not work out former economical bubbles. The lawyers, if they really wanted to throw the right political party answerable for the foreclosure mess, would travel after the government's mediocre pecuniary policies. But that would be like expecting a domestic dog to seize with teeth the manus that feeds it. Lawyers in authorities make the laws and policies that let the fiscal bubbles to occur, and then utilize other laws to debar answerability away from themselves, encouraging the lawyers out of authorities to make their best to steal money from the productive of society and retarding force them in presence of another lawyer in authorities wearing a achromatic robe.

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Tuesday, January 08, 2008

The Mortgage Crisis of 2007 - A Love Story

In the future, when people project a fiscal and historical oculus back to 2007, one thing will clearly stand up out, and that is the mortgage "meltdown" that came to a caput during that year.

In truth, the full personal effects of this mortgage and loaning crisis are yet to been known, even as I compose this article in January of 2008. People are, however, beginning to flip the awful 'R' word around ... Recession. And why shouldn't they? Abroad, we are disbursement money we don't have got to struggle the seemingly eternal "war" in Iraq. While at place we are experiencing the so-called mortgage meltdown -- the worst in recorded fiscal history. It sure smells like a possible recession.

But this article isn't about recession. It's about love.

You see, many people don't recognize that the mortgage crisis of 2007 is really a love story. In fact, there are many different types of love overlapping here. It's just one large love-fest! See the followers types of love that are present here:


  • We American consumers love to buy, even when it's not wise to make so.

  • American corps love to net income from the consumers who love to buy.

  • Government functionaries love to be paid for the problem of looking the other way.

Looking Back - A Love Narrative Unfolding

Through the mid 1990's and early 2000's, the figure of subprime mortgage loans rose significantly. A subprime loan is basically a loan made to person who really shouldn't be taking on the loan. But the loan is made possible out of love. The loaners love to bear down high involvement on consumers with bad credit, and those consumers lRove to purchase things (in malice of their bad credit).

Some mortgage loaners drop so deeply with this type of loaning (and the net income it produced) that they began to concentrate on it exclusively as a concern model. Thus they became known as subprime lenders, and they saw this as a opportunity to outmaneuver rivals by extending loans to borrowers that their rivals were turning away.

Economists, who love the truth and the information that supports it, began to warn against this practice. So some states began to go through limitations against certain types of subprime lending.

Ah, but those state politicians also love lobbyist dollars. So they establish themselves lacerate between two loves -- the love of doing the right thing, and the love of money funneled in from the mortgage industry itself. For example, see the fact that Governor Matthew Arnold Schwarzenegger of Golden State received well over a million dollars from associates of Ameriquest* (one of the biggest subprime loaning companies).

Incidentally, Golden State is 1 of the states hit worst by the mortgage crisis. Tons of love in California!

So this is yet another illustration of a politician who loves to have support from big corps -- corps that, in turn, love to determine our country's laws with some good old-fashioned greasing of skids. I loved Matthew Arnold in the original Conan movie, by the way, but I don't love him so much as a Governor.

The Love is Spreading All Around Us

The love of money, buying, selling and lobbying have created a mortgage crisis of truly epic poem proportions. And like any good fiscal crisis, it have distribute to other areas. When consumer loaning tightens, concern recognition and funding usually follows suit. Just listen to what a recent New House Of York Times article had to state about it recently:

"Credit fluent to American companies is drying up at a gait not seen in decades, threatening the creative activity of occupations and the enlargement of businesses, while intensifying concerns that the economic system may be headed for recession."

At the same time, we are seeing the dollar weaken against foreign currencies around the world. We should be alarmed by this! We should press for change! We should restrict spending! We should oppugn the White Person House's maniacal love for overspending on bootless ventures like the warfare in Iraq. We should inquire the question, "How long until the United States travels broke?" But there is another type of love that letups us into complacency...

Politicians at the peak degree love to offer encouragement by playing down the true badness of our fiscal crisis. They love to comfort us the manner 1 might comfort a kid who is teething.

And we just maintain swallowing it right up. Because love is blind.

* Sources: Federal Soldier Election Commission; National Institute on Money in Politics; Center for Populace Integrity; state revelation offices.

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Thursday, December 20, 2007

Getting Lucky In Your Mortgage Business

We have got all seen it...every now and then person acquires really lucky. It could be person just like you or I that come up up with a truly great thought and before you cognize it; they're rolling in dozens of money. And yes...people make win lotteries, don't they?

Luck, however, have nil to make with operating your ain successful mortgage business. There's no uncertainty about it, a lucky interruption here and there might add a few dollars to your underside line and a seemingly unpredictable negative occurrence might be you a small bit. Overall though, occurrences like this are bantam blips on your mortgage selling microwave radar and are short lived. Your success or failure in the mortgage concern won't be a substance of luck.

Instead it's a substance of your commitment, investing and, a willingness to do it happen. Here are seven (7) ways you can change and influence your success:

1. You have got to put effort,

2. You have got to put in your education,

3. You have got to put clip into your business,

4. You have got to put in your personal development,

5. You have got to put money in the right tools for your business,

6. You have got to put in the new engineerings to perpetuate your concern and,

7. You have got got to put in human relationships with your prospects and your concern affiliates.

This hard cash and perspiration equity that you put are what really constructs the foundation for your mortgage success, not chance, and certainly not luck.

If you're waiting for a lucky interruption to make you rich, you don't necessitate to have a mortgage business. You might as well work in a nine-to-five occupation some where and set aside a part of your bank check for lottery tickets if your program for success is based on luck.

Every 1 of us who is trying to develop a successful mortgage concern necessitates to worry less about fortune and more than about work, consistence and persistence. Fortune is not apart of any concern plan. Opportunity makes not order the consequences of your mortgage marketing.

Those who attain their ends make so because they compound dedication, information, goals, planning and motive with their effort. They don't worry about whether they'll acquire lucky and they don't look for shortcuts, speedy holes and, acquire rich strategies to do it happen.

Yes...we all bask a small good luck. If the inquiry is...who have to take out the rubbish or pick up a luncheon bill...and, it come ups down to a coin flip, we all privation to win. Fortune is a mulct thing when it runs in your direction. It makes not, however, do or interruption a mortgage business.

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Saturday, December 08, 2007

An Update on Interest Rates

30-year, fixed-mortgage rates drop to the last degree in two years, according to a study by MSNBC. Additionally, rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, a popular option for refinancing, drop to 5.73 percentage this week.

Mortgage loaning giant Freddie Macintosh reported an norm mortgage charge per unit of 6.10 percentage for 30-year, fixed-mortgages, down from last calendar month and marking the last charge per unit since October of 2005.

According to analysts, the diminution is likely owed to the continuing lodging slack and recognition crunch that is currently plaguing the lodging market. Disturbance faced by the stock marketplace in the aftermath of an economical recession have got prompted many investors to petition the U.S. Treasury for security solutions.

Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's head economical expert says, "Interest rates for U.S. Treasury securities have been drifting less this calendar month over marketplace concerns that the lodging slack and emphasis in the recognition marketplaces could decelerate future economic growth."

Following a five twelvemonth roar that recorded record gross sales last year, the lodging marketplace have seen a significantly terrible slack in recent months. The rush of foreclosures owed to resets in Adjustable Rate Mortgages have spurred mortgage loaners to ease rates in an attempt to buffer the market.

In addition, the mortgage meltdown have also prompted loaners to fasten their loaning standards, especially for subprime residential loans. According to Market Watch, at least 43%, Oregon 23 of the 53 domestic Banks surveyed, tightened their subprime mortgage loaning standards. Sir Joseph Banks are also tightening their criteria on fixed premier residential mortgages by size up borrowers more closely. As a result, some loan applicants, even those with good credit, are facing higher costs and more than hassles.

You can even avoid being scrutinized by borrowers with some of the programmes at Butterflylister.com that make not even necessitate you to have got typical depository financial institution recognition scores. Many people are not aware that there are other ways to have a home. Not all of which necessitate the boring undertaking of passing demands and waiting for approvals. For options to traditional depository financial institution funding bank check out http://butterflylister.com/Buy.htm for more than information.

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Thursday, August 30, 2007

Chicago - Bad News In The Real Estate And Mortgage Market Means Great Deals For First-Time Home Buye

The existent estate and mortgage marketplaces have got changed tremendously over the last year. Not so long ago, all a marketer had to make was set a mark in presence of his house and he'd have got people lined up to buy. Buyers rushed to happen the new listings, hoping to be the first to set in an offer. Everyone had narratives about how much they had made by purchasing existent estate. At the same time, mortgages were easier to acquire than they've ever been before. No money for a down payment? No problem. Bad credit? That wasn't a job either. Maybe you didn't have got got the income to qualify, or maybe you didn't even have a job. There were mortgages for these buyers, too.

Things have got changed. Now there are narratives about how existent estate is in a slump, and in the Windy City country it have gone from being a strong seller's marketplace to a true buyer's market. The mortgage industry have tightened up, too. Most of the 100% funding programmes are gone, and you will necessitate to turn out your income in order to acquire a loan. But it isn't all bad news. In fact, now could be the best clip in old age to purchase a home. The best clip to purchase is when people are apprehensive to sell. Couples and people who are ready to purchase now are getting great deals.

This is a great clip to buy, but to acquire the best trade you necessitate to have got a plan. You should cognize up presence what is of import for you in purchasing a home. Where make you desire to live? Are the location stopping point to your job, friends and family? How are the schools, transportation, shopping and amenities? Are this a house you be after on being in for old age to come? Or will it be a starter motor house, a stepping rock to a new place a few old age down the line? On the fiscal side, have got you set together a budget and decided how much you can afford for a monthly payment? What will your income and fiscal image expression like 5 old age from now? How about 10 old age down the road? Thinking these things through in progress can assist you to do the right decision.

The other key to success is to set together a squad of experts. You will necessitate a Realtor who have got entree to all the places on the market, cognizes the country and can state you what places have sold for. A good Realtor will assist you to happen the right home, and good negotiating accomplishments can do certain you acquire it for the right price. On the mortgage side, you necessitate to be pre-approved with a mortgage professional person before you even begin looking. This manner you cognize exactly how much of a place you can afford, and there won't be any unpleasant surprises down the road. Even with all the changes, there are still programmes designed specifically for first-time buyers, including loans with no down payment required. A good mortgage loaner can assist you kind out the options so you pick the programme that is best for you.

Buying in a down marketplace intends you are going against the popular tide. But that is when deals are available. A few old age down the road, when the terms are climbing again, you will probably look like a genius.

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Thursday, August 23, 2007

Lehman, Accredited, HSBC Shut Offices; Crisis Spreads (Update3)

The rise cost of recognition took its toll on Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Accredited Home Lenders Retention Co. and HSBC Holdings Plc as the subprime mortgage radioactive dust spreadings through the economy.

Lehman, the greatest investment banker of U.S. chemical bonds backed by mortgages, became the first house on Wall Street to close its subprime-lending unit and said 1,200 employees will lose their jobs. Accredited, reeling from its canceled purchase by Lone Star Funds this month, stopped making place loans. London-based HSBC, Europe's biggest depository financial institution by marketplace value, closed a U.S. mortgage business office after failing to finance new loans.

Mortgage loaners today announced programs to open fire 3,700 people as the slack that began in subprime mortgage chemical bonds attains beyond mortgages to companies seeking money in the corporate debt markets. The deficit of recognition prompted the Federal Soldier Modesty last hebdomad to cut the price reduction charge per unit that it bear downs Banks to lend. The Federal may cut its nightlong charge per unit to carry loaners to widen more than credit, said Toilet Lonski, main economic expert at Moody's Investors Service.

``The subprime state of affairs goes on to deteriorate and the likeliness of a Federal Soldier Modesty charge per unit cut is increasing,'' said Lonski, who is based in New York. The Federal may necessitate to cut ``in the event that the fiscal marketplaces stay dysfunctional.''

H&R Block Inc. said today that its Block Financial unit of measurement drew down on depository financial institution lines and two European mortgage-securities funds had their recognition evaluations slashed to debris from AAA by Standard & Poor's because debt marketplace disturbance curbed entree to short-term financing.

Applications Decline

Home loan applications drop 5.5 percentage last week, the greatest diminution in almost three months, according to information from the Mortgage Bankers Association today. The association's index of applications to purchase a place or refinance debt retreated to 641.1, from 678.7 the former week. Subprime loans are made to people with mediocre or limited credit.

The tone of voice in the mortgage marketplace is ``exceptionally cautious,'' Lonski said. ``You're looking at what will be in all likeliness the worst lawsuit of place terms deflation since the 1930s.''

Subprime loaner Delta Financial Corp. today said it will fold business offices in Florida, Lone-Star State and California, cutting its work force by 20 percent, or 300 jobs. Quality Home Loans filed for bankruptcy, the 15th loaner since December to seek protection. More than 90 have got halted trading operations or sought a buyer.

No Bottom

``I don't believe we are going to see the underside for at least another six months,'' said Prince Edward Resendez, the former Head Executive Military Officer of Resmae Mortgage Corp. Resendez sold Resmae to Bastion Investing Group in March at a bankruptcy auction. ``The loaners that are struggling out there are not going to survive. As soon as their liquidness runs out they are going to travel under as well.''

Accredited said in a statement today it will close more than than one-half of its mortgage trading operations and fire about 1,600 people.

Accredited shares drop 45 cents, or 6.9 percent, to $6.10 in composite trading on the New House Of York Stock Exchange. They have got fallen 78 percentage this year. H&R Block shares drop 35 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $19.44. The stock have tumbled 16 percentage in 2007.

Lehman, based in New York, will close its BNC Mortgage LLC unit of measurement and cut about 4.2 percentage of its work force of more than than 28,000. The shutting will cut down its net income by $52 million, Lehman said in a statement. Lehman shares, down 25 percentage this year, rose $1, or 1.7 percent, to $58.54.

HSBC bes after to fold its Carmel, Indiana, business office by the end of the 2nd one-fourth of adjacent year, eliminating 600 jobs, spokesman Michael Lee Trevino said. HSBC's commissariat for bad loans climbed 63 percentage to almost $6.4 billion in the first one-half of 2007, HBSC said in July.

H&R Block Draws

Sunflower State City, Missouri-based H&R Block said Block Financial drew down $200 million on Aug. Sixteen and then repaid that loan when it borrowed $850 million four years later.

``The recognition marketplaces have got go increasingly constrained and unstable,'' H&R Block Head Financial Military Officer William Trubeck said in a statement. ``We have got got decided to replace this more than stable beginning of finances to back up our short-term needs.''

More than 20 companies have been close out of the marketplace for asset-backed commercial paper, or short-term debt maturing in 270 years or less, as investors balked at purchasing mortgage-backed debt. HBOS Plc, the U.K.'s biggest mortgage lender, will refund about $35 billion of commercial paper from its Grampian Support LLC unit.

London-based Solent Capital Partners LLP's $4.5 billion Mainsail two Ltd. monetary fund and Geneva-based Avendis Group's $5 billion Golden Key Ltd. unit of measurement were forced to sell assets after they couldn't happen purchasers for their short-term debt, causing ``an eroding of capital,'' S&P said.

Golden Key's commercial paper evaluation was cut to B, one measure below investing grade, from the peak degree of A-1+. Ratings on parts of Mainsail two drop by 16 stairway to CCC+ from the peak grade, and its commercial paper evaluation dropped three stairway to A- 3, the last short-term investment class ranking.

To reach the newsmen on this story: Caroline Salas in New House Of York at
; Steven Church in Wilmington, Delaware, at .

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Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Mortgage woes lead to more foreclosures

By Pam Dawkins
staff WRITER

Connecticut's foreclosure filings declined between June and July, but the figure is still up for the twelvemonth so far and is approximately 100 percentage higher than the July 2006 filings.

Nationally, the figure of foreclosure filings last calendar month jumped 93 percentage from July 2006 and rose 9 percentage from June, the up-to-the-minute mark householders are having problem devising payments and determination purchasers during the national lodging downturn.

There were 179,599 foreclosure filings nationally reported during July, up from 92,845 during the same time period a twelvemonth ago, Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac Inc. said Tuesday. There were 164,644 foreclosure filings reported in June.

According to RealtyTrac, there were 2,118 foreclosure filings in Nutmeg State in July, down from 2,386 in June but more than than dual the 1,038 in July 2006. In July 2005, there were 563 foreclosure filings.

In July 2007, New Haven County had the peak figure of filings, at 706, followed by Capital Of Nutmeg State County at 450 and Fairfield County at 403.

While New Haven County edged up between June and July, Fairfield and Capital Of Connecticut counties reported fewer foreclosures.

"It's calm up on a year-over-year basis," said RealtyTrac spokesman Daren Blomquist of Connecticut's foreclosure rate.

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Sunday, July 15, 2007

Finding Real Estate In Wichita KS

Wichita is biggest metropolis in the state of Sunflower State and, as may not be known by many people, is also known as the Air Capital of the World. This name was given because this metropolis is a hub of aircraft manufacturing and is place to six major aircraft manufacturing companies. Wichita is also place to the McConnell Air Military Unit Base. A recent estimation shows that Wichita have a population of about 360,000 and is ranked as the 51st biggest metropolis in the United States.

The 2000 nosecount proposes that there were 139,087 households and 87,763 families residing in the Wichita. The median value value household income in the metropolis was $39,939 and the median family income is $49,247.

Wichita is vulnerable to extremes in weather, with the norm low pressure temperature being 17.6°F in January and the norm high temperature being 94°F in the calendar month of July. The metropolis also witnessers violent electrical storms and occasional hail and lightning.

The Wichita school territory and parts of the Haysville and Bowler Hat school territories support the instruction system in the city. Populace schools include Wichita High High School and Wichita Southeast High School. A figure of colleges and universities like Butler Community College and Newman University have got been outstanding members of the educational cloth of Wichita.

This metropolis have always been a favourite point of mention for film makers and this phenomenon may be establish in movies like Twister, Firewall, A League of their Own, and Arlington Road. The metropolis have assorted attractive forces of which Botanica and The Wichita Gardens are most famous. Every May, the Business District and Old Town countries of Wichita drama host to the Wichita River Festival.

Wichita is rather active in athletics and this as evidenced by the fact that the metropolis have its ain baseball, inside soccer, sphere football, rugby football and water ice field hockey teams.

A innovator in the Wichita air power industry was a company named TravelAir that employed over 600 workers in the 1920's. It ran well, employing hundreds, until the stock marketplace clang in 1929 when a big portion of the work force had to be laid off. In the pre and station warfare periods, Wichita have always been a important hub for entrepreneurial concern activity with companies like Mentholatum, Pizza Hut and White Person Palace all beingness founded in the city. To guarantee that the entrepreneurial spirit goes on to flourish, Wichita State University formed a Center for Entrepreneurship.

Like much of the Midwest, Kansas, and especially Wichita, is slowly growing and in footing of existent estate. Housing is low-cost and there are plenty of deals available for both savvy and novitiate investors.

The first measure when looking for existent estate in Wichita is to talk with a mortgage professional. It is of import to cognize exactly how much you can afford before you get to begin seriously looking to buy a new property. You should also take the clip to talk to talk with a figure of existent estate agents. It is of import that you work with an agent that you are comfy with and that you trust.

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Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Pay Off Your Home Mortgage Fast

Whether you are buying a place for the first clip or the one-tenth clip or more than you may wide area network to see some strategical agency to pay down your place mortgage. Home purchasing is one of the best ways to derive a small freedom I life. There is just something about having a place that you can name your own. This article will look at some manner to derive on your place mortgage.

If you have got purchased a place in the past five old age or so then you might desire to see the advantages of paying a small more than on your payment each calendar month to assist cut down the principal owed on your place mortgage. The lone cautiousness is to make certain that you do not have got any type of punishments for early payments. Although most place mortgage loaners are good with you paying other each calendar calendar month you may happen that some volition use a certain mulct for paying off your place mortgage too soon.

You may begin with a little amount like $25 dollars over the amount that you currently pay and then slowly increase this amount until you are paying at least $100 or more than over the expected amount each month.

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Saturday, May 12, 2007

Things You Should Know Before Buying A Home

When buying a home there are some things you should know. One thing you should know when buying a home is the prices of the homes in the area. By doing this it would help you to know if you are getting a good deal or not. One other thing when it comes to knowing the prices of the homes in the area is it can save you from over paying for a house. The last thing you want is to over pay for a house. If you over pay and you can't afford the mortgage you can end up losing the house and damaging your credit.

Another thing you should know when buying a home is what kind of mortgage to get. It is recommended that you get a fix rate mortgage. With a fix rate mortgage the monthly payments stay the same for the life of the loan. One other thing when it comes to mortgages is it's not recommended to get any mortgages where the interest rate changes over the life of the loan. The reason for this is the interest rates can move higher.

One last thing you should know before buying a home is what in the house needs to be fix and what other things come with the purchase of the home. By knowing this you will know exactly what you're paying for. If the seller say they will throw in some other things with the sale of the home, make sure you get it in writing. Buying a house may not always be a simple thing but if you use the tips you read here it can become just a bit easier.

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Monday, May 07, 2007

Harbor Mortgage Hosts Telephone Seminar for Seniors May 24 - Reverse Mortgages Made Understandable

Published on: May 8th, 2007 12:01am by:

() | |

Braintree, MA (OPENPRESS) May 8, 2007 -- Senior homeowners and their families are invited to stay at home, pick up the phone, and dial in to hear a free Educational Telephone Seminar on Reverse Mortgages and Retirement Planning on Thursday May 24 from 11 AM to 12 Noon.

Moderated by Greg Porell, the Editor of the South Shore Senior News and the Neponset Valley Senior News, this telephone seminar will provide objective information about the unique government backed programs that allow seniors (age 62+) to access the equity in their homes. Now seniors and their families can learn about an important financial option without leaving their home, just by listening.

Listen and Learn
Businesses have used telephone seminars for years. IT’S SIMPLE! Participants don’t need to say a word; they just dial in to a specially designated 800 number from the comfort and privacy of their home or office on May 24 at 11 AM and hear:
• How to access the equity in their home.
• Implications for retirement planning.
• Answers to THEIR questions (submit with RSVP).

Seminar speakers will include: Attorney Francis X. Small, Elder Law Attorney, Heaney & Small, LLP, Milford, MA; and George Downey, founder of Harbor Mortgage Solutions, Braintree, MA and former Chairman of the Massachusetts Mortgage Association.

Advance reservations are required. Call 1-800-597-5133 to RSVP and find out how to dial into this informative seminar on May 24th.

Those who dial in to the Reverse Mortgage seminar will learn how a reverse mortgage can help homeowners over the age of 62 cash in on the investment they made in their home without having to sell, move, or take out a home equity loan. Reverse mortgages can help provide a steady source of tax-free income enabling seniors to have the extra cash needed to pay off their bills and stay in their own home.

A recent study conducted by the National Council on Aging found that impaired, older Americans are struggling to live at home at a time when they own more than $2 trillion in untapped housing wealth. Senior homeowners throughout Massachusetts are struggling to make ends meet, yet most are unsure of how to proceed to unlock the equity in their homes.

A reverse mortgage, essentially the opposite of a traditional or “forward” mortgage, can enable seniors to tap into accumulated equity without having to face ongoing payments. Unlike traditional mortgages where borrowers make monthly payments, in a reverse mortgage the cash flow is reversed, and the lender makes payments to the borrower, enabling borrowers to use the tax free cash they receive in any way that they wish.

There are no minimum income, asset, or credit qualifications to meet and no effect on Social Security or Medicare benefits. The property must be the primary residence of the borrower and properly insured and maintained, with real estate taxes kept current. As long as the borrower continues to live in the property the loan can never be called.

Unlike a traditional mortgage where the balance starts high and the borrower’s monthly payments systematically reduce the loan balance, the balance of a reverse mortgage loan starts low and continues to increase as more cash is drawn and the deferred interest charges are added to the balance. Repayment is required if the home is sold, or when the last borrower permanently leaves the property, or passes away. At that time, the heirs can sell, or refinance, the property to pay off the loan.

Once the province of a few small banks and private lenders, the great majority of reverse mortgages today are provided through government-sponsored programs, namely the HUD/FHA Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) and the Fannie Mae Home Keeper (HK) programs.

Telephone Seminar Sponsor - Harbor Mortgage Solutions
The Senior Homeowner Division of Harbor Mortgage Solutions is dedicated to providing customized service, obtaining the best possible solution for each individual client every time.

An equal opportunity lender licensed in Massachusetts (license #MC0041) and Rhode Island (license #20041821LB), Harbor Mortgage Solutions is a member of the Massachusetts Mortgage Association, the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, and the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association, strictly subscribing to their rigid code of ethics. Harbor Mortgage Solutions is also an Educational Subscriber of the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys.

For additional information on services offered by Harbor Mortgage Solutions please call 781-843-5553 or 800-599-8700, or visit www.HarborMortgage.com.

###Professional Free Press Release News Wire




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Sunday, May 06, 2007

Manufactured Home Mortgage Loans

Stock Photo





Many potential home buyers find the price is right on a manufactured home and a record number of 10,783 Californians purchased them last year. This is no surprise when the prices can be as low as $129,000 for a new 2,600 square foot home. Another attraction is the increased customization available on manufactured homes.

Buyers can get wood burning fireplaces, stucco exteriors, even attached garages, making manufactured homes look more like a standard home. The price and extras may be right, but getting manufactured home financing can be a difficult endeavor.

Peter Skillern executive director of the Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina notes, “[Lending] companies used to underwrite anyone who could make an X on the line… [It] came back to bite them.� Green Tree Financial, one of the nation’s largest lenders for manufactured home mortgages found that 30 year mortgages were a huge liability, mostly outlasting the homes and encouraging defaults on the loans.












There were so many defaults in fact, that Green Tree filed for bankruptcy in 2002. Many lenders now will not even consider this kind of loan and potential borrowers are having difficulty financing manufactured homes.

It may take more work and effort to get a manufactured home loan these days, but be sure to take your time to find the right manufactured home lender. Wes Johnson author of “The Manufactured Home Buyer’s Handbook� states that buyers, “should be extremely wary of predatory lending practices.� Compared with a traditional mortgage, consumers should expect to pay larger down payments, higher interest rates and generally a shorter repayment period.

This doesn’t mean that the loan should have ridiculous interest and payments, however. Potential borrowers should shop around and also keep in mind that it can more difficult to refinance a manufactured home mortgage than a traditional one. Manufactured homes without land are not likely build equity quickly, which makes refinancing unlikely.

This also means that borrowers will have an easier time getting the first mortgage if land is part of the purchase price of the manufactured home. The value is more likely to appreciate on a manufactured home that is bundled with land. So if you think that a manufactured house might be the home of your dreams, do your research so that you can make the best decisions about financing.

Becky is a respected writer who recommends the following online resources at . Please visit these additional resource websites:
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