Mortgage lenders are facing challenges in 2017 from rising interest rates, rising home prices and fewer refinances. These add up to result in less business. The big question is should lenders relax credit standards to help qualify more homebuyers for financing? Here we go again. Lenders were blamed for relaxed credit standards that led to the crash of ‘08. As…
Fraud, misrepresentations, and loan defects are rising as refinances decline and purchase activity increases. According to The First American Financial Corporation, their Loan Application Defect Index rose 5.8% in January 2017, as compared to last year. This trend started in December of 2016. As the industry pushes to qualify more potential homebuyers in a rising rate environment, it experiences more problems…
Or, was it just a long foul ball? By most accounts, President Trump’s address to Congress was a success. He delivered a well thought out, measured speech in a professional, presidential manner. We saw a different side of the new President. Not everyone was enthralled by his words. The Democrats mostly sat silently through his presentation, rarely applauding any of his…
Is it a lending crisis, an affordability crisis, or a housing crisis? Maybe it is all three. Homeownership rates have declined and everyone is clamoring for lenders to do more to help provide financing to more perspective home buyers. A basic rule of economics is supply vs. demand. What if the problem is that there just aren’t enough homes for…
You would think that after all the hard work put in by CFPB and others to educate consumers on the mortgage process and associated costs we would now be seeing better results. According to a Wilson Perkins Allen Opinion Research survey, for ClosingCorp, in January 2017 more than 50% of homebuyers are still surprised by the costs at closing. Homebuyers…
You can’t pick up a newspaper, listen to a talk show, news broadcast, read a tweet or online post today without some comment on the political divide. Everything has become a zero-sum game; there’s no room for compromise. It’s right or wrong, black or white, fair or unfair. In the eyes of the public and our legislators, it’s “win or…
