The Federal Housing Administration, or FHA, has opened its doors for the “short refinance” program that’s supposed to help homeowners who owe more than their home is worth. But skeptics — including my colleague Holden Lewis, who is on vacation this week — have already taken a dim view of the short refi program as [...]
Posts Tagged ‘housing’
‘Doomed’ FHA short refi starts
February 1st, 2011 by Financial Writer
Tags: au, Debt, economic, fed, finance, government, homeowners, housing, Invest, investor, investors, lender, lenders, loan, mortgage, owners, us
more...Kotlikoff: How to Fix the Mortgage Mess
January 17th, 2011 by Financial Writer
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. What cute-sounding names. They suggest adorable siblings, not twin financial disasters that may cost $1 trillion when we get the final bill.
According to Edward Pinto, Fannie Mae’s former chief credit officer, in 2008 the two government-supported mortgage finance companies, along with the Federal Housing Administration [...]
Tags: au, bank, banks, borrow, borrowers, borrowing, business, buyers, Debt, economic, economics, fannie Mae, fed, finance, financial, freddie Mac, glo, Global Financial, government, home prices, housing, interest rate, Invest, investment, investor, investors, lender, lenders, loan, loans, money, mortgage, mortgage applications, mortgage finance, mortgage market, mortgages, oil, president, rate, stock, subprime mortgages, taxpayers, ubs, us, wall street
States offer mortgage aid
January 13th, 2011 by Financial Writer
Holden Lewis is on vacation.
States such as Michigan, Arizona and Florida that have been hard hit by unemployment and foreclosures are introducing new programs to help homeowners who can’t manage their mortgage payments.
The federally funded programs offer new help to homeowners who may have been disappointed by other federal government assistance programs.
The Michigan State Housing [...]
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Increase In Mortgage Rates Predictions
December 22nd, 2010 by Financial Writer
The current mortgage interest rate forecast for the United States is the mortgage interest will remain at historically low levels in November until after the election, and then start rising too high. Homeowners in the United States can not presume that mortgage rates are at low levels historically, as it has since been a [...]
Tags: au, bank, banks, crisis, dollar, economic, fed, financial, financial system, foreclosure, foreclosures, homeowners, housing, housing market, increase, inflation, interest rate, interest rates, loan, loans, mortgage, mortgage rates, mortgages, oil, oil prices, owners, rate, sales, subprime mortgages, the dollar, united states, us
Mortgage-Bond Slump ‘Won’t Be Fun’ for Housing: Credit Markets
December 13th, 2010 by Financial Writer
A slump in government-backed mortgage securities that’s sent yields to the highest level since May is threatening a recovery in the U.S. housing market, which had been bolstered by record-low borrowing costs.
Yields on Fannie Mae-guaranteed securities that most affect loan rates jumped as high as 4.21 percent today, an increase [...]
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Home loan conference recap
December 7th, 2010 by Financial Writer
Mortgage maven Christopher Cruise summarizes yesterday’s housing conference in D.C.:
My overall impression of the conference is that there will be changes and that maybe, maybe sometime in the next decade or so, Fannie and Freddie will cease to exist, or their functions will be split and half-retained in government and the other half fully privatized. [...]
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Government plans three new measures to bolster economy
December 6th, 2010 by Financial Writer
Canada’s Conservative government will introduce three new measures in coming weeks to bolster the country’s economy”>
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Canada’s Conservative government will introduce three new measures in coming weeks to bolster the country’s economy
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Paul Vieira, Financial Post · Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010
The federal Conservative government plans to introduce three new measures in the coming weeks aimed [...]
Tags: 2012, au, bank, barack obama, ben, benefits, business, Canada, consumer, Debt, economic, economic growth, economic recovery, economist, economists, economy, fed, federal government, financial, glo, global economic, government, government spend, housing, interest rate, job, jobs, monetary, money, obama, president, prime minister, rate, recession, spending, unemployment, us, visa
What Is The Difference Between A "broker" And Mortgage "banker" Is?
November 18th, 2010 by Financial Writer
It seems that home buyers and brokers are many, “the question of the difference between a mortgage” broker “and mortgage” banker. May be some differences between the two of them, because I’ve been on both sides of the fence. I know the differences between them, but please, to see that it is much more [...]
Tags: au, bank, bankers, banks, ben, benefits, buyers, company, fed, housing, lender, lenders, loan, loans, mortgage, mortgage bankers, mortgage lenders, rate, sales, united states, us, wells fargo
U.S. recovery slowdown a ‘concern’: Carney
November 16th, 2010 by Financial Writer
Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney said Friday the slowdown in the U.S. recovery is of “some concern” to the central bank and whatever unfolds will have a “significant” impact on this country’s economy.
In an interview with U.S. business network CNBC, he said the low level of U.S inflation — due to a debt overhang [...]
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US extends guarantees on Fannie, Freddie through 2012
December 26th, 2009 by Financial Writer
The US Treasury said Thursday it would extend guarantees to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac through 2012 to allow the government-sponsored mortgage finance giants to weather any new crisis.
A new, amended agreement lifts a cap of 200 billion dollars in aid that can be pumped into each of the two firms, and gives the government [...]
Tags: fannie Mae, freddie Mac, Global Financial, housing, mortgage finance