I came across this brief article which caught my attention. You may have seen the headline: “Down Payment Costs Prevent Renters from Buying Homes: Zillow” (Down Payment). I’m a little perplexed (which frankly is not all that uncommon). According to Zillow, many renters say they cannot buy a home because of the large down payment required. The article gives examples…
In a recent National Mortgage News survey, lenders indicated that in 2016 they are looking for ways to get back to business of generating more loans (Back to Business). With TRID now in full swing, lenders are now looking at ways to increase loan production, improve customer service and streamline operations. Lenders can use what they’ve learned in meeting the…
It is nice, for a change, to get some good news about the housing and related markets. Here’s some. According to HUD Secretary, Julian Castro, the health of the FHA insurance fund has significantly improved over last year (FHA Fund). This is believed to partly be the result of the previous 50 basis point reduction in the annual mortgage insurance…
A million homes here, a million homes there. Pretty soon, we’re talking about a whole lot of home sales. Where is the housing market headed? It seems that MBA and Fannie have a slight disagreement on the issue (Housing Market). Everyone is projecting a rise in interest rates. MBA forecast is for a rise as soon as December. Both Fannie…
Fannie Mae continues to make changes to their products, pricing and processes in attempts to help lenders provide financing to more home buyers and homeowners. They rolled out their 97% financing, eased some of their underwriting guidelines, modified reps and warrants and recently expanded their eligibility for high balance loans to better serve creditworthy borrowers in high cost areas. What…
Mortgage applications fell drastically last week and some believe it is the direct result of the new TRID rules (Apps Decline). Could it be that lenders were able to push many applications to the prior week due to the fears created by the need to comply with new disclosure rules? Do lenders have such powers to make buyers move up…
