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The Departments of Treasury and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released the August edition of their Housing Scorecard on Friday which painted a picture of slowly increasing home prices and decreasing foreclosures while delinquencies increased. The Scorecard, issued jointly by the Departments of...
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The June edition of the Obama Administration's Housing Scorecard released on Friday showed that housing prices turned slightly upward while mortgage defaults continued to fall as have the numbers of completed foreclosures and short sales. However, the aggregate equity of American homeowners also declined...
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The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) has been subject to much criticism. To sum up the implementation and execution of the program in two words: GONG SHOW Loan servicers give on average three times more attention to delinquent borrower in their portfolio than they do on loans where they have...
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Three Federal Reserve economists are out to debunk the theory that reducing principal balances on mortgage loans is a no-cost cure for the housing crisis. The three, Kris Gerardi, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Chris Foote, and Paul Willen, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, recently published their paper...
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Another "ahead of the curve" article written by Al Yoon at Reuters... Fed up Fannie and Freddie eye new workout firms NEW YORK, Oct 25 (Reuters) - U.S. mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are looking to more aggressively move loan workout duties to specialist firms as their frustrations...
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After a week that saw mortgage rates fall to new historic lows , large numbers of American homeowners remain unable to refinance their higher rate mortgages and take advantage of low rates due to acollapse in home values that has left upwards of 23% of homeowners with negative equity in their homes....
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This news just flashed across my terminal: --------------- WASHINGTON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - As many as 30 million U.S. homeowners would be able to refinance their mortgage at record low interest rates regardless of their income, credit history or loan-to-value ratio under a plan to be unveiled on Tuesday...
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My sister-in-law works in the mortgage department of a very large respected bank. I recently asked her at a family function why the bank she works for wants my house back so badly. I explained how I wrote and submitted three application packets to the bank. The first one was "lost" but I insisted that...
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Using the farm crisis of the early 1980s as a model, two economists have refuted several of the arguments against legislation that would permit bankruptcy judges to cramdown or stripdown of mortgage loans. Thomas J. Fitzpatrick IV and James B Thomson, economists with the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland...
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Fannie Mae has unrolled a new interactive website designed to educate and assist homeowners who are struggling with their mortgage payments. The site, KnowYourOptions.com , outlines the choices available to homeowners and provides guidance on how they can contact and work with a mortgage company to find...
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"We only have three months left with hundreds of thousands of families facing foreclosure, is it time to rethink whether or not a mortgage foreclosure prevention program that is based on a group of servicers whom you describe as having done a 'terrible job' is a program that perhaps should...
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It wasn't long ago, 2005 or maybe 2006, when I was sitting in a GSE Leadership Conference with senior management and one of the COO's challenged his leadership group. He asked, "Are we really the best at risk management, or are we really just good at risk avoidance?" That COO's statement was eerily prophetic...
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The Obama Administration has released April data for the Home Affordable Mortgage Program (HAMP). The number of homeowners who completed HAMP's mandatory 90 day trial period and were converted into permanent load modification status rose 68,000 to 299,092 in April. This is a 13 percent increase over...
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The Hope Now Alliance has launched a new website in a further attempt to work through some of the wrinkles that have plagued both the Home Affordable Mortgage Program (HAMP) and other loan modification programs. The site, nicknamed HOPE LoanPort is located at http://www.hopeloanportal.org/ , and is designed...
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It’s all the rage now to run around talking about introducing moral hazard into the ranks of investment bankers, but what really bothers us is that no one talks about introducing moral hazard to the American homeowner! There was a time when there was a huge stigma to taking out a second mortgage...