GSEs, Mortgage Insurers Delegate Short Sale Authority to Servicers to Ease Process

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MND NewsWire

Agreements were announced on Wednesday with nine private insurance carriers that will make foreclosure alternatives much quicker and easier for some Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (the GSEs) borrowers to obtain. Servicers will no longer have to seek approval of private mortgage insurance (PMI) companies when borrowers with mortgages owned or guaranteed by either GSE and carrying PMI seek a short sale or permission to grant a deed in lieu of foreclosure. The agreements, which become effective on November 1, allow the GSEs to approve short sales and deeds in lieu on the insurers' behalf. The GSEs are, in turn, delegating these authorities to their servicers. The delegations will eliminate the separate review required by the mortgage insurers. Freddie Mac, in announcing the agreements said that this...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

Mortgage Rates Creep Higher Despite Closed Markets

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates rose slightly on Tuesday, even though financial markets were fully closed due to Hurricane Sandy. The market closure meant that there was no trading on the secondary mortgage market, but most lenders remained open, and released rate sheets accordingly. Without indications from MBS (the Mortgage-Backed-Securities that most directly influence rates), there was no unified theme among lenders, though perhaps a bit of " uncertainty premium ." Some rate sheets were unchanged from Friday's while others barely budged from yesterday's much-improved levels, though some lenders were markedly weaker. On average, the change over yesterday's offerings is merely an adjustment to cost/rebate for the same note rates. That means that the Conventional 30yr Fixed Best-Execution rate remains intact...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

Vacancy Rates and Homeownership both Down in Census Survey

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MND NewsWire

Vacancy rates in the third quarter declined from one year earlier for both homeowner properties and those held as rentals according to the U.S. Census Bureau, but rates were little changed from the second quarter of this year. The Bureau said that homeownership rates also declined on a year over year basis. The Census Bureau reported that there were 132.8 million housing units in the U.S. in the third quarter, 114.70 million of which were occupied or 86.3 percent. Of the occupied units 75.1 million were owner occupied (56.3 percent) and 29.6 million or 29.8 percent were renter occupied. Of the 18.15 million vacant housing units, 13.59 million were classified as year round properties (10.3 percent of all units) and 4.56 million were seasonal. Of year-round properties, 3.81 million were for rent...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

Mortgage Rates Signifcantly Lower As Markets Close Early

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates continued falling this morning despite stronger-than-expected economic data. The trading session was punctuated by an early closure for bond markets owing to Hurricane Sandy and will be completely closed tomorrow. The secondary mortgage market began the day in stronger territory after European and Asian hours combined to gradually bring yields lower overnight. Things didn't move much during the shortened domestic hours and the mortgage-backed-securities (MBS) that most directly influence mortgage rates ended the day in line with their opening levels. When combined with Friday afternoon gains, the market-based improvements were enough for lenders to offer s ignificantly improved rate sheets today w ith Conventional 30yr Fixed Best-Execution for most lenders back down to 3.375...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

Gfees Impact Mortgage Pricing; Fannie and Freddie Profits; Early Close for Bond Markets Due to Hurricane Sandy

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Pipeline Press

Although the credit markets are open until noon EST, and thus rates are moving, the Fannie Trading Desk spread the word to clients, " Due to Hurricane Sandy, the Capital Markets Sales Desk will be closed for MBS trading on Monday, October 29th . We will provide liquidity through our whole loan platforms, eCommitting and eCommitONE, until 12:00 PM EST. Fannie Mae's DC, VA, MD and PA offices will be operating with minimal staffing during the storm. We will continue to monitor conditions to determine additional recommendations for Tuesday. Market participants should be aware that SIFMA has recommended a 12:00 PM EST close for the fixed income markets. Please see the link here for SIFMA's announcement ." There is a lot going on with the agencies. (There are some Fannie & Freddie considerations...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

Warren Buffett up to his Shins in Betting on a Housing-related Recovery; Zillow Lists Foreclosures

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Pipeline Press

Here's a rare editorial comment from me if folks care to read it. I found the MBA's conference earlier this week to be well attended, informative, and upbeat. It reinforces what I have believed for much of my career: that the high percentages of people in this biz are honest, hard-working, and actually care about doing a good job . Sure the percentage ebbs and flows, but most who don't or aren't have left the industry. And sure the money is very good for individuals and companies right now - that won't last, at least not for everyone. But the people I came in contact with at this week's conference, either meeting for the first time or folks I have known since the mid-1980's, were optimistic, well informed, and happy to be there. Sometimes conferences are not much fun functioning on a severe...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

LPS: Home Prices Up Slightly in August, Detroit Leads the Way

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MND NewsWire

Home prices rose 0.2 percent in August compared to July on the Home Price Index (HPI) produced by Lender Processing Services (LPS). The LPS HPI is a repeat sales analysis of home prices as of their transaction dates based on the company's property and loan-level databases. In its model the price of non-distressed sales takes into account price discounts for REO and short sales. The HPI for August was $205,000, up from $204,000 in July and 2.6 percent above the $199,000 level of August 2011. The index value is now 23 percent below the peak price of $266,000 reached in June 2006. The largest increase among the states was Minnesota where the HPI was up 1.2 percent closely followed by Michigan with a 1.1 percent change, Maryland (0.8 percent), and the District of Colombia (+0.7 percent). Four states...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

Escape From Pottersville: A New Beginning in the Mortgage Industry

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Community Commentary

Contributing to MND the past 4 years, I have been content to represent my image as a bewildered George Bayley, wondering what happened to his beloved Bedford Falls when he stumbles across the "Pottersville" sign after wishing he'd never been born. I have lived a modern day version of George Bayley's alternate reality in Pottersville going on 5 years now. I have had many moments when I wished I'd never gotten into this business , and have come very close to jumping off that bridge to join the river of people who decide it isn't worth it. But there are voices crying out already drowning in the water, and they distract me from my self pity . The voices are those of home owners swimming in a sea of debt compared to the value of their homes. And these are not the speculative investors who took out...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

Mortgage Rates Recover Most Of Yesterday's Losses

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates fell back in line with Wednesday's levels in most cases today, though lenders' offerings varied more than usual. Markets continue to surprise, but this time positively! We saw a good amount of improvement in underlying markets overnight and added to those gains after the morning's economic reports. This is a bit of a break from the norm as economic data hasn't done much to move rates recently. Furthermore, the movement was in the opposite direction as that suggested by the stronger-than-expected GDP data and generally "as-expected" Consumer Sentiment data. Typically, when economic data suggests that growth is better than expected, interest rates and stock prices tend to move higher together, all other things being equal. Stock prices did, in fact, rise this morning, but interest...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

Mortgage Rates Jump Back To Recent Highs

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates are sharply higher today, as global markets abandoned bond market holdings at the quickest pace of the week. When investors favor selling bonds vs buying, prices fall and yields--or interest rates --move higher. Even before the domestic trading session was underway, bond yields were much higher after Asian and European trading. This led to the secondary mortgage market starting the day off at the worst levels in over month. Underlying markets attempted to bounce back from the weakness in the middle of the day but didn't even make it back to yesterday's worst levels before being pushed right back down. The net effect for mortgage rates was lender rate sheets in their worst territory in over a month and an increase in the prevailing Best-Execution rate (30yr Fixed, Conventional...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

Why the Jumbo Loan Market is Finally Thawing

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MND NewsWire

Current housing recovery chatter centers around two main themes: slightly improving stats on home sales, prices and foreclosures low rates vs. tight credit Let me bring you into the trenches on theme two because it feeds theme one. Most mentions of “tight credit” are broad macro assertions but the press rarely details loan guidelines consumers face on the ground. So let’s look at how loan guidelines impact credit availability in the jumbo loan market. That is, the market for loans above the Fannie/Freddie caps of $417,000 to $625,500 (depending on region). On one jumbo loan I just made, we were verifying unsourced deposit line items on a borrower’s bank statement—standard procedure for unsourced deposits over $1000. This self-employed borrower’s bank statement...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

Mortgage Rates Relatively Unchanged After Fed Announcement

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates were steady to slightly higher on Wednesday despite a big increase in the amount of economic data and events from the first two days of the week. Although the periodic policy statements released by the FOMC ("The Fed") can have a significant impact on mortgage rates, that was certainly not the case today as markets in general remained largely unchanged after the announcement. The economic reports from the morning hours as well as an auction of 5yr Treasury Notes were similarly underwhelming. For the most part, the movement in rates from a day-over-day perspective occurred mostly in the overnight hours during Asian and European trading. The secondary mortgage market moved inside a narrow range all day long after opening at slightly weaker levels. When prices of mortgage-backed...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

MBS RECAP: Underwhelming, Uneventful, Uninspired

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MBS Commentary

MBS Live : MBS Afternoon Market Summary The dreaded triple "U" score for bond markets today... The data was underwhelming and the trading on the session was uneventful as MBS cut an extraordinarily narrow range for an FOMC day. With the Fed announcement behind us, there's an even greater case to be made for a bond market that is generally feeling uninspired . Is it NFP that we're waiting for next week? Is it Europe? Is it the election? Is it month-end? How about a combo platter of all of the above? We don't know and we're not entirely sure markets know either, or perhaps Treasuries and mortgages are sort of biding their time with popcorn and lawn chairs watching the parade of earnings reports and gyrations in equities. Whatever the case, if we're going to see some sort of early indication that...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

QE3 Moves Freddie Mac Economists to Revisit Projections

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MND NewsWire

Freddie Mac is revisiting its economic projections for the remainder of 2012 and 2013 due to the announcement by the Federal Reserve of its Maturity Extension Program known as " QE3 ." Under the program the Fed will increase its purchases of agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) by $40 billion per month while continuing the term extension (also known as Operation Twist) of its portfolio. Taken together the two programs will increase the Fed's holdings of longer term securities by about $85 billion through the end of 2012. The Fed hopes to encourage lower long-term interest rates , especially on fixed-rate mortgages and through them stimulate further housing market activity. Moreover, the increased housing demand stimulated by QE3 may partly offset (albeit by a small amount) the substantial...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

MBA Revises Origination Projections Updwards for 2012, 2013

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MND NewsWire

The Mortgage Bankers Association's ( MBA ) chief economist echoed much of what Freddie Mac's economists said this afternoon as he hiked MBAs estimates for mortgage originations both this year and in 2013. Jay Brinkmann said he expects to see the value of originations hit $1.7 trillion this year and $1.3 trillion in 2013. Next year's increases will be driven by a spillover of refinances from 2012 into the first half of 2013. The Association revised its 2012 estimates of refinancing to $1.2 trillion in 2012 and expects it to fall to $785 billion in 2013. At the same time it projects that purchase originations will climb to $585 billion next year, up from a revised estimate of $503 billion this year. Brinkmann said that the Association had expected originations in 2012 to be front-loaded into...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

Mortgage Rates Unchanged To Slightly Higher

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates were steady to very slightly higher in most cases on Monday, though some lenders were in slightly better territory than on Friday. Market movements were fairly subdued with the all of today's trading in Treasuries and Mortgage Markets contained inside the range established by Friday's highs and lows. Conventional 30yr Fixed Best- Execution remained at 3.375%. ( Read More:What is A Best-Execution Mortgage Rate? ) The slow start to the week was relatively expected owing to a light calendar of data and events. That said, stock markets had more to digest with numerous earning's reports causing more volatility there. At times when bond markets (which include the Secondary Mortgage Market) have relatively little to digest, it's not uncommon to see interest rates follow stock prices...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

Lender Short Sale Performance Improving, but Remains Problematic: CAR

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MND NewsWire

Lenders have made some improvement in the eyes of California real estate agents in their handling of short sales , but the process remains problematic according to the California Association of Realtors® (C.A.R.) The industry group just released results of its third annual survey on short sales and found 64 percent of its members have had difficulty closing these sales with 34 percent describing the difficulty as "extreme." A short sale is one where the lender agrees to release its lien in return for a payoff less than the actual balance of the mortgage. When C.A.R. first conducted the survey in 2010, 70 percent of respondents said they had experienced difficulty with their most recent short sale transaction. That number rose to 77 percent in 2011 with 56 percent ranking the difficulty...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

After Moving Higher All Week, Mortgage Rates Finally Hold Their Ground

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

After moving higher every day this week mortgage rates finally held their ground today. Despite moderately lower Treasury yields and healthy improvements in the mortgage-backed-securities market, the actual rates that made their way onto lenders' rate sheets represented more of a "ground-holding" than a triumphant "bounce back" to previously lower levels. This can often be the case in the wake of several days of weakness and some lenders tend to be more conservative with rate movements on Fridays. The net effect is a Conventional 30yr Fixed Best-Execution rate that is now shying away from a move higher to 3.5% and sticking around at 3.375% despite threatening to move higher yesterday. The minor improvement today is nice in the short term, and the outright levels are also excellent in the overall...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

Existing Home Sales Decline; Prices Rise for Seventh Consecutive Month

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MND NewsWire

Existing home sales declined slightly in September, but the national median home price rose as inventories tightened. The National Association of Realtors® said that completed transactions of single-family homes, townhomes, condos, and co-ops were down 1.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.75 million units in September. August sales were revised upward from 4.82 million to 4.83 million. The September number is 11.0 percent higher than existing home sales in September 2011 which were at an annual rate of 4.28 million. The national median existing home price increased on an annual basis for the seventh consecutive month to $184,900 . This was 11.3 percent above the September 2011 median of $165,300. The last time there were seven consecutive year-over-year increases was from November...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

MBA Letter Addresses Basel III and it's Effects on Mortgage Markets

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MND NewsWire

The Mortgage Bankers Association ( MBA ) has sent a letter to the Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation expressing its opinion that proposed Regulatory Capital Rules should not go forward. The three rules about which MBA expressed concern are the Regulatory Capital: Implementation of Basel III (Regulatory Capital Rule); Standardized Approach for Risk-Weighted Assets (Standardized Approach); and Advanced Approaches Risk-based Capital Rule (Advanced Approach.) The regulators had earlier invited public comment on the proposals. MBA states in its letter that it "believes that the differences between the U.S. version of Basel III and the proposals of the European Commission are so pervasive that U.S. banks will have a major disadvantage...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

Bank Earnings Solid; Gfee Chatter - Who's Buying "dem" Mortgages? And what are they Buying?

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Pipeline Press

Pay no attention to those stories about "Shadow Inventory"! Apparently that has all been soaked up. Or, at least, builders and the NAR would like to believe that. It is hard to pick the top or bottom of any market, but it is hard to argue that housing prices are still heading down . Even the USA Today ("McPaper") headline today was about improving housing prices . The most recent Residential Price Index from FNC reveals that prices for non-distressed homes rose for a consecutive six months to hit their 20-month peak as of this August. They increased a mere 0.3% from July but year-to-date has increased 5% from January, which reflects the overall strengthening of the housing market. Not only is purchasing activity on the up, foreclosure sales dropped from 23% to 17.4% over that same time period...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

Origination Report: Loan Processing Times on the Rise, Closing Rates Improve in September

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MND NewsWire

While the time to close a loan increased again in September, lenders are closing a significantly higher portion of loans than they have in earlier months according to the Origination Insight Report released today by Ellie Mae. It is now taking 50 days on average to close a loan, a number that has increased steadily in the last year. Sixty-five percent of closed loans in September were for the purpose of refinancing compared to 61 percent the previous month. FHA loans accounted to 19 percent of loans originated and conventional loans represented 72 percent. FHA loans accounted for 24 percent one year ago and conventional loans 68 percent. "In September, the share of conventional loans continued to outpace FHA loans," said Jonathan Corr , chief operating officer of Ellie Mae. "During the past...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

MBS RECAP: Sideways, Slightly Weaker, Monday Offers Clues To Rest Of Week

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MBS Commentary

MBS Live : MBS Afternoon Market Summary Bond markets coasted into the domestic session after extremely quiet trading during Asian and European market hours. The bias was slightly weaker and MBS traded mostly near Friday's lows to begin the week. Stronger Retail Sales added to the selling pressure early, but the weakness was soon mitigated by news that the Troika won't reach a deal with Greece on the next aid tranche before Thursday's EU Summit. Despite that counterpoint, bond markets remained under pressure throughout the session after hitting their best level of the day just before 11am. The effective "cancelling out" of this morning's economic data by EU factors suggests that Thursday's summit is still in focus despite the high probability of disappointment. MBS Pricing Snapshot Pricing shown...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

Source: www.mortgagenewsdaily.com

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

California Realtors Say Tight Inventories Constraining Home Sales, Prices are Increasing

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MND NewsWire

For the last few months the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) has been making some general statements that tight inventories of existing homes are "in some locations" impacting home sales. Today the California Association of Realtors® (C.A.R.) confirmed that they are one of those locations. C.A.R. said that "A continued shortage of available homes for sale lowered California home Sales in September, while the median price reached the highest level in more than four years." Closed escrow sales of existing single-family residences (SFR) were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 484,240 units, down 5.2 percent from sales in August and 1.2 percent lower than in September 2011. The tight inventory of unsold homes eased slightly in September, edging up to a 3.7 month supply from...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

Source: www.mortgagenewsdaily.com

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com

Eminent Domain Still Out There; Wells and Chase Earnings; Investor and Agency Updates Continue

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Pipeline Press

The 2010 Census showed that people who reported multiple races grew by a larger percentage than those reporting a single race . According to the 2010 Census, the population reporting multiple races (9.0 million) grew by 32% from 2000 to 2010, compared with those who reported a single race, which grew by 9.2%. (Overall, the total U.S. population increased by 9.7 percent since 2000, however, many multiple-race groups increased by 50 percent or more.) Multiple-race data examines specific combinations, such as white and black, white and Asian, or black and Asian. (I don't think "mortgage banker Realtor" or "Realtor appraiser" was in there, but I know some top-notch couples that fit that bill.) What are "the big guys" watching? Eminent domain seemed to be on the back burner, but the consideration...(read more)

Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

Source: www.mortgagenewsdaily.com

- For more real estate news visit our website at http://www.AzHomeHelp.com