FHA-Cut-Premiums
Mortgage Industry Trends

“To Cut or Not to Cut”; That is the Question

The debate rages on among the mortgage lending professionals and their respective trade groups. Should FHA again reduce their required mortgage insurance premiums? If so, should they reduce the upfront premium, the annual renewals, or maybe both? (FHA Cut). Proponents of the additional rate cuts say that the prior actions to reduce the annual premiums helped make FHA loans much…

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fannie-mae-Home-Ready
Mortgage Compliance

Home Ready (or Not)!

Recently, Fannie Mae announced the implementation of its new “Home Ready” mortgage product. According to Fannie Mae, this mortgage product was designed to support homeownership opportunities among underserved populations. They now recognize the growth of extended-household living arrangements and by allow the existence of non-borrower income to be considered as a compensating factor in Desktop Underwriter. Articles are already being…

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Moon-rising-mortgage-market
Mortgage Industry Trends

Housing Market’s Moon is Rising

Maybe there is a little “happy” in this New Year. The latest housing market indicators all seem to be pointing in the right direction. Although all the planets are not quite fully aligned, the outlook for housing is more positive than negative (Housing Market). The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes rose almost 15% from November…

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Get-off-the-fence-buy-a-house
Mortgage Industry Trends

First Time Buyers Getting Off the Fence

Was it the result of the recent rate hike, the reintroduction of the low LTV home loans by the GSEs, or maybe the FHA rate cut? Whatever it was, it appears many first time homebuyers are dipping their proverbial feet into homeownership waters. According to recent reports, FHA-insured lending dramatically increased over the past year. In many cases, these FHA…

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Rocket-mortgage-quicken-loans
Mortgage Industry Trends

Will Consumer Direct Eliminate the LO?

LOQuicken Loans says, “Take off with its new Rocket Mortgage”, an easy online mortgage loan application and approval. Will this replace the traditional loan originator? Let’s examine that possibility. Most say the consumer of today and tomorrow wants ease of communication and process through online applications. I believe most of us agree. Does that mean they will make their mortgage…

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