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"What is a pirate's favorite place to shop? Taaaarrrget, of course - because of all the baaaarrrrrggggains." Speaking of bargains, in July Retail Sales improved 0.3% on the heels of motor vehicle and gasoline station sales, but in some measure due to many stores marking down items to attract customers...
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Much of life is a balancing act. For example, I eat my Captain Crunch with only low-fat milk because I wouldn't want unnecessary calories. Underwriting is also a balancing act, matching the risk of the borrower being able to make payments with the desire for the lender to earn a rate of return on the...
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If you are interested in seeing HUD's "Final Rule" on increasing the required net worth of FHA-approved mortgagees, eliminating FHA approval of loan correspondents, etc, go HERE . Through FHFA, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have had their stocks delisted by the NYSE . Both stocks have...
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Do you live in a flood plain, or have borrowers that do? Be forewarned that the Senate adjourned Friday without extending the National Flood Insurance Program . Language that would have kept the program in place until April 30 was part of a more comprehensive House bill that extended a variety of federal...
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With the House and Senate working to hammer out differences in their respective approaches to solving the housing/credit crisis, problems are already emerging with other solutions proposed or enacted tackle pieces of the problem. The New York Times reported on Wednesday that there are real problems with...
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Fannie Mae's Managing Director, Brian Faith, released a statement on Wednesday that gave notice that at least one of the two government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) that play a major role in the nation�s mortgage industry has decided it would be wise to protect its own interests. Government lawmakers...
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The Federal Reserve has released the October 2007 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices which addresses changes in the supply of and demand for bank loans both to businesses and consumers over the previous three months which, we presume, corresponds to the third quarter of 2007...
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Several Executive Branch surrogates indicated late last week that the Administration was sort of willing to compromise about the role of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in solving the current credit crunch. But the announcements made and the methods proposed seem to this reporter to be little, late, and misdirected...
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Probably no one who has read a paper or a website in the last 60 days expected anything different, but the monthly report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) on Tuesday confirmed that once again the sales of existing homes fell in August. Total existing home sales which include single family...
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The National Association of Realtors (NAR) issued its monthly forecast for the housing industry on September 11, offering hope that the current problems in the market will merely postpone an expected recovery in existing home sales until some point in 2008. Lawrence Yun, senior economist for NAR said...