October 11 2010 (Jeff Alan) Since very few people pay cash for a home, one of the most important steps in your purchase is finding a lender for your mortgage loan. The question is, should you deal directly with a lender or should you use a mortgage broker? There’s actually a big difference between the [...]
October 10 2010 (Chris Moore) Ten years ago the top five mortgage lenders held approximately 29% of the overall residential mortgage market. Today the top five mortgage lenders hold an estimated 62% of the market. Incredibly, it’s estimated the top 10 mortgage lenders command 72% of the residential mortgage market, up from just shy of [...]
October 8 2010 (Shirley Allen) Freddie Mac today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), which found that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate dropped yet again to break the survey's all-time low; the 15-year fixed-rate did the same. The 5-year ARM also set an all-time survey low. Read more...
October 7 2010 (Chris Moore) The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced a new program on Tuesday which would allocate $1 billion in bridge loans to mortgagors who are unemployed or have suffered significant losses in income. The program will be offered in 32 states and Puerto Rico and will assist eligible homeowners [...]
October 6 2010 (Chris Moore) The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) announced today that mortgage applications for buying a home rose last week to the highest levels since the end of the Obama Administrations homebuyer tax credit program in April. Read more...
October 4 2010 (Jeff Alan) Signed contracts to buy homes were up 4.3% in August compared to July according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), but still lagged remained below last years pace. Read more...
October 3, 2010 (Jeff Alan) One of the hardest things to understand, especially for first time homebuyers is the difference between what is the “interest rate” and what is the “annual percentage rate (APR). When evaluating loan offers it’s important to understand the difference between the interest rate and the Annual Percentage Rate because not [...]
Ocober 2 2010 (Shirley Allen) On Friday, October 1st, the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) approved a new reverse mortgage product that sharply cuts upfront payments by home owners but also significantly reduces the percentage of a home's equity that can be paid to owners under the program. Read more...
October 1 2010 (Jeff Alan) Bank of America joined JPMorgan Chase and Ally Bank in delaying foreclosures in 23 states pending a review as to whether it rushed the foreclosure process for thousands of homeowners without reading the documents. Read more...
