‘Friction’ in Obama’s Refi Proposal
The response to President Obama’s recent proposal to refinance more borrowers into lower interest rate mortgages was at best underwhelming and at worst scathing.
Falling Home Equity Spurs Fear of Strategic Default
Yesterday a lot of folks, including myself, were slightly incensed at the announcement by mortgage insurer PMI that it is launching a pilot program offering cash bonuses to borrowers who stay current on their mortgage payments.
Should Everyone Get Bonus For Paying Mortgage On Time?
As home values continue to fall and more borrowers fall into a negative equity position on their home loans, those who stand to lose, banks and investors, are working to keep borrowers current.
Realtors Slam Lack of HUD Funds in Foreclosure Deals
Today’s bullish report on pending home sales came with a caveat from the National Association of Realtors that if banks began lending to more creditworthy borrowers, recovery in the housing sector would be faster.
Predicting Home Prices is Now Impossible
Now we have a new dip in home prices, which is putting more borrowers in a negative equity position. There is more concern of more borrowers hitting that “stress threshold,” as one panelist put it, where they just quit paying on their loans.
Foreclosure Fight Needs to Find Fast Answers
As federal regulators clamp down on foreclosure procedures at the big banks, and the government sets new lender requirements for risk retention in residential mortgages, the cry from the industry is that this will only hamper the housing recovery and p…
Big Banks Lose: Mortgage Risk Retention Doesn’t Expire
Yesterday morning I attended the FDIC’s background press briefing before the vote on proposed risk retention rules. While the rules covered a vast ground, I was of course most interested in those that focus on the “Qualified Residential Mortgage.” The …
More Borrowers Underwater: Why We Should Care
Falling home prices at the turn of the year pushed more borrowers into a negative equity position, meaning they owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. In Q4, 23 percent of borrowers nationwide, or 11.1 million, were holding “underwater…
Will Banks Be Forced to Reduce Loan Principal?
I’m reporting today from a Wells Fargo two-day mortgage modification event in Portland, OR. This is the 20th such event WFC has held since September of 2009, meeting face to face with over 19,000 borrowers.
Negative Home Equity Surges, Weighing on Housing Recovery
The number of borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth took a huge leap in the fourth quarter of 2010.
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