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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/30/2009 - 12:01am
The decline in home prices slowed for the third straight month in April, according to a leading market surveys, suggesting that while the housing market has not turned around, it may finally be firming up.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/29/2009 - 12:06am
As many as one in four mortgage defaults are voluntary, with homeowners walking away from the property despite an ability to make mortgage payments, according to a new study by economists at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/26/2009 - 12:18am
People who are still hoping to refinance their mortgage or are shopping for a home got some good news the past two days, thanks to an easing of concerns over some of the factors that have been pushing up mortgage rates.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/26/2009 - 12:11am
Michael Jackson, who died unexpectedly Thursday at age 50, will always be known for his music. But in his later years, it was his financial problems that kept him in the news.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/25/2009 - 12:07am
Sales of newly built single-family homes have remained relatively stable the past four months, meeting a Commerce Department standard for the establishment of a trend.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/24/2009 - 12:08am
U.S. mortgage applications increased last week, ending four consecutive weeks of declines, according to data released this morning by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/23/2009 - 12:08am
Problems with faulty appraisals in a distressed housing market are causing increasing numbers of home sales to fall through at the last minute, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) is reporting.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/22/2009 - 12:16am
The Obama Administration's Making Home Affordable Plan may soon increase its limits on refinancing "underwater" mortgages to allow more homeowners to take advantage of the program, according to the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/19/2009 - 12:33am
The Making Home Affordable Plan is picking up steam, according to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, extending trial mortgage loan modifications to 40,000 homeowners in the past week alone.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/18/2009 - 12:02am
Mortgage rates backed off from their recent highs this past week, ending three weeks of sharp increases that had squelched strong demand for refinancing and dampened interest in home purchases.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/17/2009 - 12:50am
Endless lines of fine print, hidden charges and "exploding" interest rates on mortgages could be a thing of the past under a sweeping reform of the nation's financial regulations proposed Wednesday by the Obama Administration.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/16/2009 - 12:02am
New housing construction starts were up sharply in May, spurred by low mortgage rates and a first-time homeowner tax credit widely credited for stirring interest in the slumping housing market.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/15/2009 - 12:23am
With 30-year mortgage rates moving upward from the recent historic lows, many people are wondering if they can still get a good deal on a mortgage. The answer is definitely yes - provided you keep a few things in mind.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/15/2009 - 12:08am
In an effort to pressure lenders into doing more mortgage loan modifications to help keep financially troubled borrowers in their homes, California is today implementing a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/12/2009 - 12:32am
For homeowners who are having difficulty meeting their mortgage payments, a loan modification can help them avoid foreclosure and stay in their homes. Most lenders offer some sort of loan modification options, but a government-sponsored loan modification under the Making Home Affordable (MHA) Plan offers one key advantage borrowers should be aware of.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/12/2009 - 12:05am
The Federal Reserve is unlikely to take strong actions to bring mortgage rates back down again when it meets later this month, the Wall Street Journal is reporting.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/11/2009 - 12:20am
Can you still get a good mortgage refinance rate? With mortgage rates climbing nearly a full percentage point over the past month, many people who had been hoping to refinance their mortgages to a lower rate are wondering if they've missed the bargain boat.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/11/2009 - 12:04am
More than 150,000 homeowners have been offered mortgage loan modifications through the government's Making Home Affordable Plan in the program's first three months, according to the U.S. Department of Treasury.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/10/2009 - 12:45am
With rising mortgage rates threatening to squelch a potential housing recovery before it even gets started, a coordinated effort by business interests and members of Congress is seeking greatly expand the new $8,000 tax credit homebuyer tax credit and make it available to more than just first-time homebuyers.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/10/2009 - 12:08am
Mortgage rates rose nearly a third of a percent last week, according to figures released today by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), further dampening interest in mortgage refinancing, which had flourished in the weeks after rates hit record lows in March.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/09/2009 - 12:16am
The New York State Attorney General today announced plans to sue one of the state's largest loan modification assistance companies and subpoena records from 14 others as part of an investigation into an industry that many say takes unfair advantage of homeowners in financial distress.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/09/2009 - 12:01am
U.S. housing prices leveled off in April, reversing 10 straight months of declines as low mortgage rates and a first-time homebuyer tax credit lured buyers back into the market.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/08/2009 - 12:20am
Stricter rules governing reverse mortgages are needed to guard against repeat of the kind of problems that led to the subprime mortgage crisis, the U.S. Comptroller of Currency has said.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/08/2009 - 12:09am
Mega mortgage lender Freddie Mac is making several changes to provide homeowners with more flexibility in obtaining a government refinance of their mortgage under the Obama Administration's Making Home Affordable Program.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/05/2009 - 12:00am
Job losses declined to 345,000 in May, well below what economists had predicted and the fewest since last September, the Labor Department reported today.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/05/2009 - 12:28am
Nearly one in four homes currently for sale in the United States have undergone at least one price reduction as owners adjust their expectations to the realities of the current housing market.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/04/2009 - 12:42am
Mortgage rates took another big jump for the second week in a row, frustrating homeowners who had still hoped to lock in a refinance at ultra-low rates, but perhaps not enough to deter bargain-hunting home buyers seeking to take advantage of a depressed housing market.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/04/2009 - 12:23am
Weekly unemployment claims fell for the first time in five months, the latest "green shoot" to pop up this spring and raise hopes the economy may soon begin to recover.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/03/2009 - 12:41am
More than one million homes have already been targeted for foreclosure in 2009, with the rate only expected to increase, according to data released this week by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL).
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/03/2009 - 12:02am
Homeowners looking to refinance may have missed their best opportunity, as 30-year fixed-rate mortgages shot up nearly half a percent last week, according to figures from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/02/2009 - 1:42am
The new credit card rules that President Obama signed into law last month will provide a number of protections for consumers. But some analysts say that many consumers will actually end up paying more to use their credit cards or may find it more difficult to obtain credit to begin with.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/02/2009 - 12:38am
Pending home sales rose sharply in April, the third consecutive month of increases, according to a monthly report released today by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/02/2009 - 12:09am
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is looking to clamp down on so-called "foreclosure rescue" scams by restricting or banning outright advance payments to loan modification services that offer to solve homeowner's mortgage problems for a fee.
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- Kirk Haverkamp - MortgageLoan.com | 06/01/2009 - 12:16am
U.S. residential construction spending rose slightly in April, reversing seven months of declines, according to data released today by the Commerce Department.
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