Wed, Oct 24 2007, 7:00 AM
The NAR report blamed the sales decline on temporary problems in the
mortgage market which disrupted sales and distorted prices on sales
closed duri...
Wed, Oct 24 2007, 7:00 AM
A popular theme in the responses we have received to our request for
feedback from the foreclosure front has been the
confusion , delays, and infle...
Mon, Oct 22 2007, 7:00 AM
A few weeks ago we asked you to tell us what you were seeing out
there ; stories about the effects of the subprime debacle and the
credit crunch on ...
Thu, Oct 18 2007, 7:00 AM
Reuters News Service and the Associated Press are both quoting a story
in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that the controversial
CEO of Countr...
Thu, Oct 18 2007, 7:00 AM
There is an old Western expression that a person's mood is "lower than
a snake's belly." Well lift up that snake and you just might find a home
buil...
Thu, Oct 18 2007, 7:00 AM
Buoyed by the strong employment figures for September that were
released last week, mortgage interest rates rose
slightly in all categories accord...
Wed, Oct 17 2007, 7:00 AM
The fallout from the mortgage meltdown continued today as ResCap, a
division of GMAC Financial Services, announced that it will be
restructuring its...
Wed, Oct 17 2007, 7:00 AM
Secretary of The Treasury Henry M. Paulson , Jr., is
in danger of becoming a household name in the midst of the sharp housing
downturn.
"The hou...
Mon, Oct 15 2007, 7:00 AM
Three major U.S. banks announced on Monday that they were responding
to some week-end jaw-boning by the Treasury Department and
forming a consortiu...
Fri, Oct 12 2007, 7:00 AM
Looks like people are finally starting to take the mortgage
situation seriously, and by people we mean the federal
government and major industry p...
Thu, Oct 11 2007, 7:00 AM
The National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) and many New
England based mortgage brokers had a rude shock last
week when a well known Harva...
Wed, Oct 10 2007, 7:00 AM
Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist released
a statement saying "Mortgage rates eased slightly this week following
three w...
Tue, Oct 9 2007, 7:00 AM
...Or, if terms are defined too broadly they could allow prosecution
for activities that are not fraudulent at all. S. 1222 is once again
cited as f...
Mon, Oct 8 2007, 7:00 AM
While news events have conspired to delay finishing the series on
fore
closu...
Fri, Oct 5 2007, 7:00 AM
According to Reuters News Agency, this announcement places Merrill
Lynch at the top of the growing pile of investment and mortgage companies
which h...
Thu, Oct 4 2007, 7:00 AM
What is happening out there? We know that
mortgage companies are closing right and left and that people are being
laid off in huge numbers from t...
Wed, Oct 3 2007, 7:00 AM
Long term mortgage rates during the previous week did
not respond at all to the drop in the Federal Funds Rate announced by the
Federal Reserve a ...
Tue, Oct 2 2007, 7:00 AM
The National Association of Realtors ( NAR ) on Tuesday
released preliminary figures on sales contracts that were pending at the
end of August and t...
Mon, Oct 1 2007, 7:00 AM
There was actually some good news in real estate on Friday. The bad
news was it had nothing to do with the housing slump or the mortgage
crunch.
...
Fri, Sep 28 2007, 7:00 AM
The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development issued their monthly joint report on August new house
sales on Thu...
Thu, Sep 27 2007, 7:00 AM
According to Sudeep Reddy and Michael Corkery writing in The Wall
Street Journal, "The housing market is going into a deeper chill, and
consumers ar...
Wed, Sep 26 2007, 7:00 AM
Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist
commented that, "Mortgage rates were largely unchanged in the previous
week, with long...
Tue, Sep 25 2007, 7:00 AM
Several Executive Branch surrogates indicated late last week that the
Administration was sort of willing to compromise about the role of
Freddie Mac...
Tue, Sep 25 2007, 7:00 AM
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
Associat...
Mon, Sep 24 2007, 7:00 AM
Foreclosure scammers have a wide variety of modes of
operation and no limit to the kinds of people they target. Particular
favorites are the elderl...
Fri, Sep 21 2007, 7:00 AM
It seemed to smack a bit of desperation at the time, but in hindsight
it appears to look more like marketing genius.
Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. ...
Thu, Sep 20 2007, 7:00 AM
Thu, Sep 20 2007, 7:00 AM
Housing starts in August hit the lowest level on an
annualized basis since July 1995 The news would have been even worse if
it were not for a subs...
Wed, Sep 19 2007, 7:00 AM
One day after the Fed cut rates and the House of Representatives
approved FHA Reform , the Senate Banking Committee
approved legislation that would...
Tue, Sep 18 2007, 7:00 AM
The Federal Reserve slashed benchmark interest rates
by a half point in an agressive move to prevent the economy from moving
into recession and to...
Mon, Sep 17 2007, 7:00 AM
It is hard to find a tragedy in the world that some heartless rat
can't find a way to exploit and the current and growing incidence of
foreclosures ...
Fri, Sep 14 2007, 7:00 AM
Lawrence Yun, senior economist for NAR said that unusual
disruptions are dampening the outlook for home sales, notably
for August and September. "...
Thu, Sep 13 2007, 7:00 AM
Countrywide issued its operational results for the
month of August and it comes as no surprise that the numbers were down.
Here is a recap of their...
Wed, Sep 12 2007, 7:00 AM
The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications
Survey for the week ended September 7 showed a dramatic drop in the 30-
year FR...
Tue, Sep 11 2007, 7:00 AM
Congress and the Administration may be headed for a clash on yet
another front - the size of Freddie Mac and
Fannie Mae's owned portfolios.
O...
Mon, Sep 10 2007, 7:00 AM
The nation's largest home lender Countrywide Financial
Corporation said it plans to cut up to 12,000 jobs, 20 percent
of it's workforce, over the ...
Mon, Sep 10 2007, 7:00 AM
The National Association of Home Builders ( NAHB ) in
partnership with Bank of America Home Equity recently completed a study
that should be of inte...
Fri, Sep 7 2007, 7:00 AM
Nationally the situation is not as dire as these figures would
indicate. The figures are being driven by what is happening in a few
large states and...
Thu, Sep 6 2007, 7:00 AM
The six big agencies that regulate most of the nation's banking system
issued "guidance" Tuesday encouraging mortgage servicers
to work with borro...
Wed, Sep 5 2007, 7:00 AM
Word came late last week from both the Federal Reserve and the White
House that the federal government does not intend to stand by and watch
the hou...
Wed, Sep 5 2007, 7:00 AM
"Interest rates on conforming long-term fixed-rate mortgages declined
slightly, while rates on one-year adjustable rate mortgages increased by
about...
Fri, Aug 31 2007, 7:00 AM
The OFHEO House Price Index (HPI) usually doesn't get
too much attention (except here where we regard it as the best, or at
least the most interes...
Thu, Aug 30 2007, 7:00 AM
Two executives from the National Association of Home
Builders held a teleconference on the "credit
crunch" on Tuesday. The one hour conference w...
Wed, Aug 29 2007, 7:00 AM
Mortgage rates in general took a fairly substantial dive during the
previous week with longer term rates dropping double digits in most cases
and so...
Tue, Aug 28 2007, 7:00 AM
The Times quoted Moody's Economy.com, a research firm as predicting
that the national median home price will probably not return to its 2007
peak in...
Mon, Aug 27 2007, 7:00 AM
Katrina may have marked the end for this lack of regulation. As has
been widely reported, one victim of the storm was Senator Trent
Lott , the powe...
Fri, Aug 24 2007, 7:00 AM
Sales of new homes improved slightly in July with a
seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 870,000, up 2.8 percent above
the revised June sales ...
Fri, Aug 24 2007, 7:00 AM
Fitch Ratings announced Thursday that it has revised its Rating Watch
on Countrywide Financial Corp. (CFC) and its related
subsidiaries from "Nega...
Thu, Aug 23 2007, 7:00 AM
Mortgage rates increased in every category last week
according to surveys released by Freddie Mac and by the Mortgage Bankers
Association.
Jay B...
Thu, Aug 23 2007, 7:00 AM
IndyMac Bank announced today that it will resume
originating prime, single-family residential, full doc jumbo loans after
they temporarily reduced ...
