Tagged : mortgages

The government is watching the housing market even closer these days. Carney comment on this last week and will intervene if needed. The worries are some markets are overvalued, in the last few years mortgage lending criteria has changed so much. The days of 35/40 year amortizations are gone a few years back, changed the rules for self employed people making it more difficult for people to qualify. I see more and more investorsmoving away from financial markets and getting into real estate. T... Read Full Post

If you're wondering what's next for housing, here's the next idea in the line up. Senate Bill 170 (S170) is designed to allow homeowners who are underwater in their mortgages to refinance at todays lower interest rates. This is regardless of the homes current value. One catch is that they must be current on their payments to qualify, and the mortgage must be a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan. This would help alot of people in the Tampa Real Estate market, but I just wonder how you get the bank... Read Full Post

Unless you’re one of the lucky few who have the “problem” of not knowing how to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars just hanging around inside your bank account (now that’s a problem worth having!), you’re going to need a mortgage to purchase your next house. That much is clear. But what isn’t so clear is the wide world of interest rates – in particular, whether variable is the right way to go, or whether fixed is the smarter option. Well, to be very frank with you: I can’t... Read Full Post

­­While the economy is muddling along, there are Real Estate, Mortgage, and Investors that are taking advantage of market needs. The Commerce Department said that the economy expanded at a 2% annual rate in the July-September quarter, which marks an increase in the previous 1.7% growth a quarter earlier. Historically this is a very slow growth rate however; it is the biggest quarterly increase since 2006. Note though that savings rates have increased to 5.5% of disposable income, up from 1%... Read Full Post

If you are involved in shopping the market for the purchase of a home, then it is important to know the basics of home buying. The process for many is involved. There is a learning of an entire new language. It takes time to shop the market. Then, there is the negotiating and always wondering if you have made the right decision. The decision needs to be made as the best informed decision you have ever made, to ensure that you do not have future regrets. The only way to do this is to be famili... Read Full Post

Isn´t it funny what a difference a couple of months make in the world of property finance? After the total phobia banks showed, when discussing morgtages of any stripe, some of the bigger lenders are trying their best to snare wealthy individuals looking to spend over 1,000,000 Pounds with a deposit of 40% or more. Lloyds, the state owned bank who fell apart during the credit crisis are offering a 1.9% discount through their Cheltenham & Gloucester lending arm. This now facilitates rates... Read Full Post

Seems Collier County officials and the Collier County Planning Commission (CCPC) did not think through the unintended consequences of a compromise made with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials back in 2005 regarding the adoption of proposed new digital flood zone maps. Under the new changes to the floodplain ordinance, approximately 50,000 home and businesses could be required to carry more flood insurance or face having to obtain a exemption from FEMA. The net effect would b... Read Full Post

ATTENTION ALL REAL ESTATE AGENTS... ALL Seller funded Down Payment Assistant Programs such as Nehemiah, HART and AmeriDream or funds from any other interested party (Yes, this includes the seller) to the transaction will be prohibited on all loans where final credit approval has not been established by September 30, 2008. This means call all your buyer leads that have been sitting on the fence and tell them the urgency of finding a home within the next two weeks. I say the next two weeks, bec... Read Full Post

The F.B.I. and the Justice Department have opened a criminal inquiry into Countrywide Financial for securities fraud. The F.B.I. investigation will take a close look at how common fraud was in Countrywide's origination process. Their management is suspected of misrepresenting the quality of its mortgages in routine securities filings, which would have caused investors to overvalue the loans that were used as securities worth more than $100 billion between 2004 and 2007. This is part of a broa... Read Full Post