As we know by now, a strong purchase market for housing is forecasted for the next few years. After such a long period of refinances, this presents some real challenges for Realtors, lenders, and consumers. The recent onslaught of refi’s has removed many homes from the market. This results in a rise in home prices leaving fewer affordable homes for…
Fannie gave us a little ray of hope by adjusting their first quarter origination volume upward; albeit a little late in the quarter. They’re estimating total volume at about $384 billion, up from $369 billion. The breakdown is: $217 billion in Purchase business $167 billion in refi’s However, they also adjusted their forecast for the remainder of the year…
As my dear departed Grandfather would say when things got tough, “Things, they not looka so good!” He didn’t speak English very well, but he sure had a firm grasp of the obvious. Seems lenders are taking a page out of his book. The most recent Fannie Mae Lender Sentiment Survey revealed that mortgage lenders are reporting a negative profit…
Companies are always exploring new ways to leapfrog over their competition. But, now one of them is building a bridge, or maybe an arch, to by-pass their competition altogether. Arch MRT, a newly formed sub of Bermuda based Arch Capital Group, is working with Freddie Mac to provide mortgage insurance directly to borrowers bypassing traditional private mortgage providers. Under the…
This is my favorite time of year, other than Christmas. Not much can compete with Christmas in my book. March Madness comes close. The time of year when dreams are made, and in some cases, come true. David versus Goliath type stuff. The big guys take on the upstarts, all to be the National College Basketball Champion. I love it!…
Last July, Fannie Mae began accepting loans with debt to income (DTI) ratios up to 50%. This is much higher than that allowable under the Truth Lending Act (TILA) for a Qualified Mortgage (QM). However, TILA offers an exception to the QM rules for loans that get approved by Fannie’s Automated Underwriting System (AUS). For now, as long as the…
