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- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | 08/28/2008 - 12:31am
The US government and the nation's largest banks have teamed up to stem the rising tide of foreclosures and mortgage delinquencies. However, statistics from July show that it is going to be tough to outpace escalating borrower troubles.
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- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | 08/27/2008 - 12:25am
Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) recent minutes suggest that members, having "significant concerns about the upside risk to inflation," are likely to move toward a hike in rates as the next Fed policy move. However, the committee appears to be in conflicted discussion on what the data really means and timing of any policy decisions.
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- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | 08/25/2008 - 12:26am
According to a recent study of working-age households, 45% of Americans are going to fall short of retirement hopes. The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College cites "...the demise of traditional pensions, rising longevity, soaring health care costs, and falling returns" as reasons that current workers must strive to save more.
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- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | 08/22/2008 - 12:18am
It seems the inevitable approaches for the US government and its "supported entities" Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Both, moving in tight alignment, have lost over 60% of their market value in the preceding 30 days. Hovering dangerously between $3-$5 a share. Something is certain to break.
So, where does will a Fannie, Freddie meltdown leave mortgage borrowers?
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- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | 08/21/2008 - 12:26am
The election of our next President quickly approaches. The ads, debate, and polls fill every media outlet. However, a bigger theme maybe brewing on state election ballots--tax reform.
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- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | 08/20/2008 - 12:47am
Foreclosures rates continue to rise, borrowers have found themselves trapped in loans where payments and principle balances balloon, and housing values continue to plummet. This is mixing a toxic cocktail of homeowner despair. However, the government is trying to formulate an antidote.
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- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | 08/19/2008 - 12:37am
When borrowers talked about getting a mortgage you typically heard discussions of Countrywide and IndyMac--now you hear FHA. Only a few months ago you would have been hard pressed to find a lender, much less a borrower, that knew this acronym. Borrowers now ask for FHA loans, by name. Meanwhile, mortgage brokers are rushing to become approved FHA lenders.
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- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | 08/18/2008 - 12:37am
In the exuberance of the mortgage boom, it was broadly accepted that home values were moving upward quickly. Were these swiftly rising home values justified? Home owners are beginning to feel the pain of inflated appraisals. In some cases it is even costing them their homes.
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- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | 08/15/2008 - 12:11am
Home Mortgage Rate hold steady for the third straight week as the mortgage market is peppered with offsetting economic and housing indicators. Although there were several deviations from analyst estimates and expectations, notably in the Consumer Price Index and existing home sales, there were equally offsetting data in declining energy prices, a strengthening dollar, and record foreclosures. This mix and confusing bag of inputs seemed to leave the market feeling safer not to tinker with the status quo.
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- MortgageLoan.com - MortgageLoan.com | 08/14/2008 - 12:26am
New US legislation, effective 1 October, meant to help home owners stay in their home may not be coming soon enough. Today RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties, announced staggering increases in foreclosure and bank seizure rates. In their July US foreclosure data RealtyTrac reported foreclosure activity up 8% from the previous month and has risen to 55% from last years levels. Perhaps even more alarming is the steep increase of bank repossessions and REOs that surged to 184% year-over-year.
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- MortgageLoan.com - MortgageLoan.com | 08/13/2008 - 12:04am
Nehemiah Corporation, operator of the largest down payment assistant (DPA) program in the nation, launches an aggressive 50 day Web and social media campaign to save a program axed by the recent Housing and Economic Recovery Act signed into law by President Bush two weeks ago today. As the ban marches towards its effective date of October 1, Nehemiah is attempting to surge awareness and action in support of a reinstating bill (H.R. 6694) introduced into the House of Representatives on July 31.
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- MortgageLoan.com - MortgageLoan.com | 08/12/2008 - 12:38am
The Federal Reserve continues to report broader consumer credit tightening--stretching across home loans into small business and credit cards. Defaults and delinquencies are beginning to spread into prime lending and economic indicators continue to show weakness. In response banks are rapidly tightening lending standards.
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- MortgageLoan.com - MortgageLoan.com | 08/11/2008 - 12:55am
Henry Paulson, in his Sunday "Meet the Press" gathering has said he believes challenges in the US housing markets are likely to persist beyond this year, unlike his tenure as Treasury Secretary which won't stretch beyond the Bush administration.
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- MortgageLoan.com - MortgageLoan.com | 08/08/2008 - 12:09am
As the mortgage meltdown attention is focused firmly on the subprime market there is a subtle, yet alarming trend emerging in special mortgages made to good credit borrowers. Option ARMs, typically made to borrowers with good credit, are estimated by Barclays Capital to reach default rates as high as 48%.
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- MortgageLoan.com - MortgageLoan.com | 08/07/2008 - 12:10am
Ahead of Freddie Mac's revelation of $821 million in second quarter losses and in anticipation of Fannie Mae's estimated report of a 15% downturn on Friday, Secretary of Treasury, Henry Paulson tasks Morgan Stanley to assess the current and pending damage to cornerstones of the mortgage market.
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- MortgageLoan.com - MortgageLoan.com | 08/06/2008 - 12:49am
As Fannie Mae prepares for what is certain to be a brutal quarterly earnings report to analysts and investors on August 8, stockholders can rest assured higher fees are on the way.
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- MortgageLoan.com - MortgageLoan.com | 08/06/2008 - 12:41am
While analysts are tabulating and predicting default rates on less-credit worthy subprime portfolios there may be another specter lurking in the shadows of many good credit (prime) mortgage portfolios--payment option ARMs.
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- MortgageLoan.com - MortgageLoan.com | 08/05/2008 - 12:09am
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke faces one of his more challenging Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) interest rate decisions this afternoon.
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- MortgageLoan.com - MortgageLoan.com | 08/01/2008 - 12:58am
The second largest mortgage lender in the United States, IndyMac has filed for bankruptcy protection less than three weeks after it was seized by federal regulators following a bank run by depositors.
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