Voice of Housing - All Comments

re: Former FHA Commissioner: Shortfall Pales in Comparison to the Economic Value it Provides

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re: ORIGINATOR COMPENSATION: STILL IN THE FIGHT

Mark Taylor — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 19:11:24 GMT

A Reverse Mortgage is a non-recourse loan, which means the repayment amount cannot exceed the value of the home. The loan typically does not have to be repaid until the borrower passes away, sells the house or permanently moves out. The owner is still responsible for insurance, taxes and maintenance of the property. http://www.reversemortgagelendersdirect.com/reverse-mortgage-information/ http://www.reversemortgagelendersdirect.com/reverse-mortgage-calculator/ http://www.reversemortgagelendersdirect.com/reverse-mortgages-pros-and-cons/

re: Now What? - A Post-Election Analysis of Potential Housing Reform

JHON MOJENA — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 04:42:32 GMT

A reverse mortgage is a loan for senior homeowners that uses a portion of the home's equity as collateral. The loan generally does not have to be repaid until the last surviving homeowner permanently moves out of the property or passes away. At that time, the estate has approximately 6 months to repay the balance of the reverse mortgage or sell the home to pay off the balance. All remaining equity is inherited by the estate. The estate is not personally liable if the home sells for less than the balance of the reverse mortgage. http://www.reversemortgagelendersdirect.com/hud-reverse-mortgage/ http://www.reversemortgagelendersdirect.com/reverse-mortgages-pros-and-cons/ http://www.reversemortgagelendersdirect.com/reverse-mortgage-calculator/ http://www.reversemortgagelendersdirect.com/hecm-reverse-mortgage/

re: Good Riddance 30-Year Fixed Mortgage? Not So Fast...

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re: Good Riddance 30-Year Fixed Mortgage? Not So Fast...

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re: HECMs Stuck in Reverse. HUD Considers "Two Product" Solution

Willeam Jerico — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 06:46:25 GMT

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re: Reverse Mortgages Get Special Attention from Federal Investigators

Alabart Thomas — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 11:33:50 GMT

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re: Reverse Mortgages: Friend or Foe? Definitely Friend

Alabart Thomas — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 11:14:38 GMT

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re: MERS: Myths, Misconceptions, and Realities

Deadly Clear — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 21:45:30 GMT

The myth is that MERS could hold anything at all. It is merely an acronym in the mortgages. It is a shell, a straw man with no assets or employees. See: http://deadlyclear.wordpress.com/2012/08/16/mers-is-not-a-holder-under-the-plain-language-of-the-statute-says-the-supreme-court-of-the-state-of-washington/ Midway into the post see WHO IS MERS. Most people do not realize that there were 3 separate entities with the same name. "Bottom-line, it appears that there were 3 Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. companies, 2 companies were absorbed by MERSCORP, Inc., and then the 3rd with the acronym “MERS” found in the mortgages which is the “strawman/trade name Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc.” (no employees or software systems, basically a shell) – it is not MERSCORP, Inc.’s MERS® (the “system”)." The documents are easily accessed on the www.doctelportal.com website in the LIBRARY section.

re: Former FHA Commissioner: Shortfall Pales in Comparison to the Economic Value it Provides

Jana Holmstrup — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 03:25:42 GMT

Good points, Hal - I also have issues with their studies and budgets. Will be watching to see if you receive an answer.

re: Former FHA Commissioner: Shortfall Pales in Comparison to the Economic Value it Provides

Hal Hoodwin — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 03:01:12 GMT

Maybe you can help me. According to HUD's own report, - Annual Report to Congress Regarding the Financial Status of the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund Fiscal Year 2011 - http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=FHAMMIFundAnnRptFY11No2.pdf - on Page iii and I quote: --------------- "The findings of independent actuarial reviews performed at the close of FY 2011 indicate that the MMI Fund remains actuarially sound, though there continue to be significant near-term economic risks. As of the end of fiscal year 2011, FHA’s total capital resources stand at $33.7 billion, $400 million more than at the end of fiscal year 2010. Of that total, $29.0 billion is in the Financing Accounts to offset expected claims and $4.7 billion is in the Capital Reserve Account. While the Fund has remained positive, we know that we must remain vigilant to the risks before us and we will continue to take the actions necessary to protect the Fund and taxpayers.” Further, their Total Capital Reserve in 2008 was 28.2 Billion vs. 33.7 Billion in 2011… and INCREASE of 5.5 Billion Dollars!... and that after massive losses from the housing bubble. If the funds aren’t being used for losses from the Financing Account, they can simply move it back over to the Capital Reserve Account to get the capital risk house in order. Am I missing something here?

re: Housing Assistance 2012: Another Herculean Task for the FHA

Frank Ceizyk — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:37:07 GMT

Why is there no debate about the failure of the residential real estate valuing process? We continue to analyze a 3-4 month period without a historical overlay which forces these drastic up and down cycles, and makes the valuing process little more than a speculative snapshot of what is going on RIGHT NOW. Any other asset of investment (or even speculative) grade quality would demand a 1-5-10 year performance review---WHY DOES THIS CONTINUE TO NOT BE THE CASE as we continue selling houses with 96.5% leveraging in declining value markets? I keep getting the sinking feeling that the investment value of the collateralized asset (a home) is irrelevant to the bigger goal of trading large pools of securitized debt, mitigating toxic loan losses and generating a steady flow of real estate commission sales revenue...somebody talk me down...

re: Housing Assistance 2012: Another Herculean Task for the FHA

steve iler — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:46:44 GMT

Of course the underwater loans will be shifted from the banks' balance sheets to the taxpayer via FHA. The taxpayer is the unsuspecting patsy in the game. Everyone else wins--banks, law firms, politicians,, the Fed, government bureaucrats. What's not to like? The show must go on! Years from now we can all repeat over and over, "No one saw this coming." Well, it is a crisis, and something has to be done. Besides, the banks will "be forced to pay a fee." The politicians are always looking out for the taxpayers and negotiating on their behalf.

re: Mr. President, it's Time for a National Housing Policy

CompetitionBenefitsConsumers — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:02:16 GMT

Frank, The Fed's monetary policy was the root cause of the boom and bust. If rates had remained steady at 7.5% or so as they were in the 90's there would not have been a housing boom or bust. Low rates drove APPRECIATION, which masked inherent sub prime risk by masking delinquencies and defaults because sub prime borrowers could always refi, or sell, leading to high ratings of these products, leading to demand for these products by investors, leading to ever lax guidelines for more of these products. The demand by investors came first, then, as the guidelines loosened, all sorts of people discovered they too could be in the real estate game, until the FED methodically ratcheted up rates starting in mid 2004. Every time Greenspan announced he was going to raise rates the frenzy to buy became stronger until the average buyer could not afford the inflated values AND inflated rates at just under 7% in mid 2006. Then WEEeeeeee it all came down. This is all factual information. It wasn't the Originators, it wasn't the Real Estate Agents, and it wasn't the Appraisers that created such a huge national bubble and bust. There was only one common factor in every market across the nation, and that was interest rates, which are manipulated. The correlation of interest rates and home values is not coincidence. All the new laws designed to prevent it from happening again will be ineffectual.

re: What Should the Government do to Address the Inventory of Foreclosed Properties?

Steve Dalia — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:51:56 GMT

Reducing the FHA monthly mortgtage insurance would asssit greatly, as well. Homeowners could afford higher purchase prices if the government asssited to keep these premiums lower...and certainly not increase them. Additionally, many FHA refinances are not cost effective at much lower interest rates becasue of the more than doubled premiums. Streamline refinances are also strongly affected. HOW ABOUT OFFERING THE SAME MIP PREMIUM TO FHA REFINANCES?