Four Largest Mortgage Insurers Tagged by CFPB in Illegal Kick-Back Scheme

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MND NewsWire

The four largest remaining private mortgage insurance (PMI) companies have agreed to end what the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ( CFPB ) called "illegal kickbacks" in complaints and consent orders announced by the Bureau today. These complaints charge that the companies along with unspecified numbers of mortgage lenders have for years engaged in a sham reinsurance structure devised to hide kickbacks from the PMI companies to the lenders. The company which is to provide PMI to a borrower with less than a 20 percent downpayment is determined by the lender who is also the beneficiary of the PMI policy in the event of a default even though it is the borrower who pays the premium. In order to secure PMI business the four companies are accused of purchasing reinsurance to hedge their own risk...(read more)

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

Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/04042013_cfpb_enforcement_pmi.asp

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

Mortgage Rates Hit One Month Lows. Time To Lock?

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates improved at their fastest pace in a week, bringing most lenders' rate sheet offerings to their best levels since the first few days of March. In a continued break from recent tradition, markets largely ignored the European trading overnight and instead took cues from domestic data. In this regard, a softer than expected read on employment marked the jumping off point for a healthy rally in bond markets. Bond markets include MBS, the mortgage backed securities that most directly influence mortgage rates, and when prices improve, consumer borrowing rates decline. As is typically the case, a single day of movement in rates--though positive--was not enough to change the prevailing 3.625% b est execution ( what is this? ) rate for 30yr Fixed loans. Instead, the movement was seen primarily...(read more)

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

Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/302698.aspx

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

Home Prices Improve at Fastest Rate Since 2006, Driven by Western States

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MND NewsWire

Rapidly rising home prices were confirmed by another report this morning, this one from CoreLogic. Its Home Price Index (HPI) jumped 10.2 percent on an annual basis in February, the biggest year-over-year increase since March 2006 and the 12 th consecutive month that home prices have risen nationally. The HPI, which includes sales of distressed properties, also increased on a monthly basis, rising 0.5 percent from January to February 2013. When sales of lender-owned real estate (REO) and short-sales are excluded from the calculations home prices increased by 10.1 percent on an annual basis and 1.5 percent from January to February. CoreLogic's Pending HPI for March indicates another 10.2 percent increase from March 2012 and a 1.2 percent increase from January to February. Excluding distressed...(read more)

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

Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/04032013_home_prices_corelogic_hpi.asp

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

Chase Mortgage Cutbacks; FHA MIP Clarification; Modified Loan Performance; Thoughts on the Future of Securitization

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Pipeline Press

In 1981 Jimmy Carter handed the reins to Ronald Reagan. The prime rate hit 20.5% , and yes, people still bought houses. (It has been at 3.25% for the last four years.) Freddie and Fannie 30-yr net required yields were well into the teens. The Dow Jones was treading water around 900 (it is now around 14,500). 1981 was also the year that Dan Segersin, who runs correspondent lending in the Western Region for Wells Fargo, began working at Norwest Bank, many years prior to its acquisition of Wells Fargo. I mention this because, after 32 years, last week Dan announced his retirement , slated for this summer. Congratulations to Dan and congratulations to the lending industry for having someone like Dan in it for so long. And yes, some folks actually do retire from this business prior to retirement...(read more)

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

Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/channels/pipelinepress/04022013-modified-loan-performance-hud.aspx

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

MBS MID-DAY: Europe Leads Risk Rally, MBS Standing Ground

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MBS Commentary

MBS Live : MBS Morning Market Summary Mortgage markets have done almost admirable job of holding their ground against what has been an almost admirable risk rally in Europe. Why only "almost?" As far as the risk rally in Europe is concerned, charts paint an increasingly clear picture of markets that knew they were shutting down for 4 days, erred on the side of risk-aversion heading into it, and have now simply undone some of that preemptive move. For MBS, we'd stop short of assigning an unequivocal "admirable" due to the fact that they've widened out so much into the end of March, and are really only just barely pushing back from their widest spreads vs Treasuries since before QE3. We'll take what we can get though, and so far, it's been "OK" with Fannie 3.0s holding within an eighth of unchanged...(read more)

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

Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/302407.aspx

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

Mortgage Rates Improve After Weak Manufacturing Data

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates improved slightly today, helped along by a weak manufacturing data on an otherwise quiet day. Had it not been for that report at 10am, bond markets including MBS ('mortgage-backed-securities' that most directly influence mortgage rates) might have remained in the weaker territory that characterized the morning hours. Several lenders released positively revised rate sheets in the afternoon, bringing the average back down to something just slightly better than "unchanged" vs Thursday. Even then, a few lenders are still worse off than last week while others moderately lower in cost. Best execution ( what is this? ) for 30yr Fixed loans remained at 3.625%. It might not be possible to convey the actual extent to which markets were quiet today. The whole of Europe and some of Asia...(read more)

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

Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/302293.aspx

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

Thoughts on Keeping the 30-yr Mortgage; Tax Implications of Cancelled Mortgage Debt

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Pipeline Press

There continues to be a debate about whether or not 30-yr mortgages/liens are a good idea or not . The MBA's president - Dave Stevens - weighed in on the argument last week. "On the one hand it could be argued that the fully pre payable 30 year fixed rate loan was not a necessity in looking back historically. There is some truth to that - to be clear - mortgage interest rates have been on a steady decline for over three decades since their peak in 1980. While clearly home-owner preference for the 30 year mortgage has been high, borrowers would have clearly benefited from an adjustable rate product that would have adjusted naturally downward over the past three decades. In hindsight, borrowers would have avoided all of the expense and time associated with refinancing as mortgage interest rates...(read more)

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

Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/channels/pipelinepress/04012013-taxes-on-forgiven-debt-irs.aspx

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