Thu, May 30 2013, 10:10 AM
Foreclosure-related
home sales retreated to a 21 percent share of all homes sales in the
country during the first quarter of 2013. RealtyTrac rep...
Tue, May 28 2013, 9:59 AM
In Saturday's edition of the commentary, the question was raised by CG from Wisconsin regarding paying loan officers different rates based on differen...
Fri, May 24 2013, 10:03 AM
T he IRS, furlough days, and the possible impact on 4506 transcript processing . I first heard about it through a Mountain West Financial e-mail: "T...
Thu, May 23 2013, 2:58 PM
The Fed giveth, and the Fed taketh away. Both stocks and bonds fell on Wednesday after a Q&A session with Ben Bernanke , and minutes from the latest ...
Thu, May 23 2013, 1:41 PM
New home sales rose 2.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in April to an annual rate of 454,000 units . The Census Bureau and the Department ...
Wed, May 22 2013, 12:51 PM
Yesterday the commentary mentioned a rumored shut down of MGIC's Capital Markets Group . I received this e-mail: "MGIC has indeed reorganized certai...
Wed, May 22 2013, 12:24 PM
Existing home sales remain constrained
by limited inventory and tight credit but still managed to eke out a small
increase in April the National A...
Wed, May 22 2013, 3:04 PM
In April 2012 distressed properties
accounted for 45.8 percent of home sales in California the states Association
of Realtors® said Wednesday, but l...
Mon, May 20 2013, 9:32 AM
Here in Austin, at the Texas Mortgage Banker Association's yearly conference, the talk is not so much about the Millennial generation but about how ...
Mon, May 20 2013, 1:31 PM
Fannie Mae's economic and strategic research team today called the housing recovery "undeterred" after it contributed 0.3 percentages points to ec...
Fri, May 17 2013, 3:18 PM
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) said Thursday it might be time to " dial down the credit stringency ." ...
Thu, May 16 2013, 9:03 AM
The median price of homes in California
topped $400,000 in April for the first time in five years. The California Association of Realtors®
(C.A.R...
Wed, May 15 2013, 11:42 AM
Where's the Fed's head when it comes to housing? I can't say for sure, but Fed Governor Duke's speech on " The Mortgage Market and Housing Condition...
Wed, May 15 2013, 1:14 PM
Several speakers representing lenders, servicers, and appraisers spoke to Realtors
attending their Midyear Legislative Meetings in Washington on Wedn...
Tue, May 14 2013, 3:20 PM
Home sales in Southern California hit a seven year high in April spurred by pent up consumer demand and high levels of investor activity . Prices ...
Tue, May 14 2013, 1:52 PM
CoreLogic's May MarketPulse report, released today, looks at the housing recovery and concludes that it is not occurring evenly across the U.S , bu...
Mon, May 13 2013, 12:46 PM
Realtors saw an increase in their income in 2012 for the second year in a row after nine straight years of losing ground The National Association of...
Mon, May 13 2013, 11:08 AM
The report points out, "It is hard to imagine a sustainable housing recovery taking place with fewer homeowners ."
This point, it says, "appears to...
Thu, May 9 2013, 3:49 PM
Despite rising home prices in U.S. metropolitan areas in the first quarter, the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) said today that home affordab...
Fri, May 3 2013, 10:49 AM
The seminar, earning, and agency news just won't stop! Richey May & Co ., an accounting firm based in Denver that specializes in serving mortgag...
Mon, Apr 29 2013, 10:28 AM
Home purchase contract signings slowed in March
although they remained slightly above February levels and well above contract
signings one year ea...
Thu, Apr 25 2013, 4:15 PM
The House Ways and Means Committee heard a wide variety of opinions today at a hearing on housing tax incentives . Representatives of the housing, b...
Wed, Apr 24 2013, 10:15 AM
In spite of all the increased regulations and underwriting criteria that require borrowers to actually qualify, mortgage applications are hanging in t...
Tue, Apr 23 2013, 11:08 AM
New home sales increased to 417,000 units on a seasonally adjusted annual basis in March. This was a 1.5 percent increase from the revised estimate...
Tue, Apr 23 2013, 11:02 AM
We were reminded that the CFPB's " Final Rules " aren't necessarily final when it issued proposed clarifications to rules dealing with servicer-held e...
Mon, Apr 22 2013, 11:15 PM
April has been a pleasant month for MBS so far. Eleven out of the 16 trading days have been positive. Only 3 of the 5 down days have been more than ...
Mon, Apr 22 2013, 11:09 AM
Despite the beginning of the traditionally busy spring market, existing home sales declined slightly in March , owing primarily to continuing tight i...
Mon, Apr 22 2013, 9:39 AM
Wells Fargo has decided that it time to embark on a $100 million expansion in Iowa : This is in spite of the industry concerned about less volume an...
Thu, Apr 18 2013, 3:58 PM
Fannie Mae's economists note that
economic growth was very choppy during the second half of 2012 because of
inventory swings and the same is expecte...
Wed, Apr 17 2013, 11:21 AM
Wells Fargo Bank's
Economics Group has issued commentary on housing which updates
concerns it says it has raised over the past few month "that the ...
Mon, Apr 15 2013, 11:22 AM
Despite a revival of demand for new homes, builders are
facing constraints that are eroding their confidence in the market for new
single family h...
Mon, Apr 15 2013, 3:58 PM
A sudden surge in single family home
prices in California coupled with flat sales are both attributed by the
California Association of Realtors® (...
Fri, Apr 5 2013, 3:18 PM
The March Housing Scorecard for March, jointly
produced by the Departments of Treasury and Housing and Urban Development,
focused on the large annua...
Wed, Apr 3 2013, 9:36 AM
The pending increase in FHA guarantee
fees pushed applications for government-backed purchase mortgages up 7 percent butt
the overall volume of mo...
Tue, Apr 2 2013, 11:07 AM
The improving economy is leading to
mixed results for sales of non-owner occupied properties. The National Association of Realtors® (NAR)
reported ...
Thu, Mar 28 2013, 1:14 PM
The
monthly housing commentary published by Fannie Mae's economists noted some
downsides to the market in early 2013.
Housing starts tumbled in ...
Wed, Mar 27 2013, 10:15 AM
Demand is now pushing at the edges of the supply of available homes according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). Limited buyer choices...
Wed, Mar 27 2013, 8:07 AM
With the benefit of one additional day having transpired in this, the "Cyprus Bailout Week," we're quickly seeing that Cyprus-related trading fluctuat...
Tue, Mar 26 2013, 11:08 AM
Remember in the "old days" when we didn't have government-sponsored refi programs like HARP? I seem to remember the rule of thumb being, "If you could...
Tue, Mar 26 2013, 10:52 AM
New home sales dropped in February to a seasonally
adjusted annual rate of 411,000 units.
This was down 4.6 percent from the revised rate in Jan...
Mon, Mar 25 2013, 11:02 AM
I am visiting Pennsylvania this week, from where I coincidentally received this note from a Realtor: "Rob, what's the scoop on Blackstone ?" I think ...
Mon, Mar 25 2013, 3:40 PM
Equity sales , that is sales of
non-distressed properties, now constitute two-thirds of all home sales in California
compared to less than one-hal...
Fri, Mar 22 2013, 1:25 PM
David Stevens, the president of the MBA, is on TV today talking about the undeniable housing recovery. But a lot of that is all-cash transactions. M...
Thu, Mar 21 2013, 12:00 PM
Sales of existing homes and their prices continued to rise in February affirming, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) which rel...
Thu, Mar 21 2013, 9:48 AM
Freddie Macs senior economists Frank E. Nothaft
and Leonard Kiefer said
in the company's March Outlook that "the continued strengthening of the econ...
Thu, Mar 21 2013, 3:52 PM
I have a lot of pretty interesting Freddie & Fannie news below , but let's start with this note. "Rob, my ops folks complain about the oddest things....
Fri, Mar 15 2013, 4:06 PM
California house prices have now risen
on an annual basis for a full year according to the California Association of
Realtors® ( C.A.R. ). The med...
Mon, Mar 11 2013, 1:09 PM
Federal Reserve Board Governor Elizabeth A. Duke strongly
endorsed the Board's current monetary policy in a speech to the Mortgage
Bankers Associa...
Fri, Mar 8 2013, 4:06 PM
The
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department
of the Treasury today released the February edition of the Obama
...
Mon, Mar 4 2013, 10:40 AM
With the change of clocks ahead of us this weekend, let's ease into the work week and put this Girl Scout cookie issue to rest once and for all. Bes...
