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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 03/31/2009 - 12:49am
Legislation to limit increases in credit card interest rates and provide other consumer protections has been narrowly approved by a Senate committee, over the objections of financial industry groups and to the applause of consumer organizations.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 03/31/2009 - 12:02am
Home prices continued to fall at record annual rates in January, according to the Standard & Poor's monthly report on U.S. home prices in major metropolitan areas.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 03/30/2009 - 12:33am
Sales of vacation homes fell sharply in 2008, in both actual numbers and as a share of the total real estate market, according to a newly released survey from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 03/30/2009 - 12:01am
Wouldn't it be nice to buy a home without having to make mortgage payments?
Senior citizens can now do just that, thanks to a new wrinkle in federal housing law that allows them to purchase a new home using a reverse mortgage. Qualified buyers who can put up a substantial portion down payment can finance the rest using a reverse mortgage, and live mortgage-free the rest of their lives.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 03/28/2009 - 1:53am
Foreclosure avoidance scams are on the rise. As more and more homeowners experience financial difficulties and fall behind on their mortgages, they become the targets of an army of con artists who seek to fleece them out of their money and even their actual homes in return for a promise of assistance
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 03/27/2009 - 1:29am
With prices way down and mortgage rates at historic lows, the housing market offers some great deals right now. But the big bargain hunters are looking to push their savings even further, by putting in a bid on a foreclosed property.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 03/26/2009 - 1:58am
Mortgage rates hit their lowest point in half a century this week, following last week's announcement by the Federal Reserve that it would buy up more than a $1 trillion in Treasury debt and mortgage-backed securities to help free up credit.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 03/26/2009 - 1:07am
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is calling on Congress to adopt new legislation to establish uniform regulation of the industry nationwide and establish a new framework to protect borrowers.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 03/25/2009 - 1:12am
Sales of new, single-family homes rose unexpectedly in February, according to figures released Wednesday morning by the Commerce Department. Coming on the heels of a reported similar increase in sales of existing homes, it's the latest in a number of recent indicators that the ongoing recession may be starting to loosen its grip.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 03/25/2009 - 1:26am
At a time when most mortgage lenders are tightening up credit and cutting back on loans, at least one part of the industry is showing remarkable growth - credit unions.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 03/24/2009 - 1:59am
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has sharply increased its prediction of the volume of mortgages that will originate this year, increasing its 2009 forecast by 800 billion, a 67 percent increase over previous estimates.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 03/24/2009 - 1:35am
Taking a page from the 1930s, the Obama administration is calling for a new authority, modeled after the FDIC, to allow the government to restructure failed large financial institutions in much the same way the FDIC is able to restructure failed banks.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 03/23/2009 - 1:59am
Sales of existing homes rose unexpectedly in February, providing a bit of good economic news and raising hopes that the slumping housing market may finally be bottoming out.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 03/23/2009 - 1:59am
Stocks rose sharply at Monday's opening, following Treasury Secretary Paul Geithner's announcement of a plan to generate up to $1 trillion in public and private funds to buy up distressed bank assets and related securities to get the economy moving again.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 03/20/2009 - 1:59am
In the current economic downturn, financially stressed homeowners are becoming increasing desperate to do what they can to avoid foreclosure. At the same time, others whose finances are secure may be looking at falling home prices and historically low interest rates and thinking that now would be a good time to buy their first home, if they could only put up enough for the down payment.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 03/20/2009 - 1:13am
The current recession is being particularly hard on recent military veterans, whose unemployment rate is higher than that of others in their age group who did not serve. Fortunately, veterans who are having difficulty making their mortgage payments have some new tools available to help them.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 03/19/2009 - 1:31am
The Federal Reserve's aggressive action on Wednesday to buy up Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities is designed to jolt the economy out of its doldrums, but at a potentially high price - the risk of triggering rapid inflation.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 03/19/2009 - 1:21am
Borrowers who would like to refinance their homes but aren't sure if they have a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgage needed to qualify for the government's new Making Home Affordable mortgage relief program now have an easy way to get their answer.
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- MortgageLoan.com - MortgageLoan.com | 03/18/2009 - 1:59am
Mortgage rates are expected to drop still further in the wake of Wednesday's announcement by the Federal Reserve that it will make major purchases of both mortgage-backed securities and Treasury notes in an effort to jolt the flagging economy.
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- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | 03/18/2009 - 1:46am
What will be the Federal Reserve's next move? Bernanke and the Federal Open Market Committee wrap up a two day meeting this afternoon. Faced with an economy that continues to post negative results and interest rates effectively at zero, theFOMC will need to rely on more creative moves to revive the economy.
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- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | 03/17/2009 - 1:04am
Embedded in President Barack Obama's budget is an attack on something as American as baseball and apple pie--the mortgage-interest deduction. "Buy a home and get a tax break" is practically a national anthem in the US.
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- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | 03/16/2009 - 1:30am
In an interview straight out of President Obama's media playbook, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke takes his case straight to the American people on "60 Minutes." A case that is sure to require more of the taxpayer's money to achieve what he claims is a fundamental underpinning to economic recovery--stabilizing the US banking system.
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- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | 03/13/2009 - 1:59am
President Obama's latest loan modification plan has driven homeowners to the Internet for answers. Online traditional news outlets, as well as specialized real estate and mortgage news and information sources are reporting significant increases in consumer traffic and inquiries.
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- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | 03/12/2009 - 1:36am
Mortgage applications move higher again in response to declining mortgage rates. Could this be false hope in recovering a steadily declining housing market?
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- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | 03/11/2009 - 1:52am
Large first mortgage servicers have just been handed a potentially dangerous incentive to help their second mortgage portfolios. The Obama administration's new loan modification plan, Home Affordable Modification Program, strongly encourages mortgage servicers to restructure first mortgages.
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- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | 03/10/2009 - 1:42am
Taking to the Opinion section of the Wall Street Journal this morning, Kenneth Lewis calls for clear facts and undistorted information to guide debate on the path to recovery. His op-ed argues that the crisis is increasing fueled by misinformation that stifles options and confidence to recover our economy.
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- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | 03/09/2009 - 1:16am
Bank mortgage portfolios continue to fill with homeowners in payment default. Meanwhile, housing inventories swell with foreclosures. The economy is in one of its worst downturns in decades and chances are it is affecting you.
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- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | 03/06/2009 - 1:55am
A controversial bill that would allow loan modifications by Federal judges, forcing banks to reduce the payments of borrowers in bankruptcy got one step closer to becoming a law. The so called mortgage "cram-down" law passed in the House of Representatives yesterday 234-191 and heads to the Senate.
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- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | 03/05/2009 - 1:27am
Recent mortgage industry data reports are showing that the mortgage crisis continues to alarming deepen despite a variety of government assistance programs and capital. One of the major contributors in the expansion of job loss to multiple sectors and an increasing number of States.
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- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | 03/04/2009 - 1:47am
Today the US Treasury announced the much anticipated details of the Obama loan modification plan. This program is the broadest program to date targeting foreclosure prevention. Unique to other similar loan modification programs this plan seeks to aid troubled borrowers before they begin missing mortgage payments.
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- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | 03/03/2009 - 2:26pm
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Citigroup will announce a program today that attempts to help unemployed homeowners make their mortgage payment.
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- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | 03/02/2009 - 1:44am
President Obama's recent budget proposal may wipe out your mortgage deduction. Is this the right time to cut incentives to homeownership? The housing industry, at record lows and bulging with home inventory, is loudly protesting.
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