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…
House Rule 916, the Risk Management and Homeowner Stability Act, was recently introduced as bi-partisan legislation by Representatives Mark Sanford (R-SC) and Brad Sherman (D-CA). The bill is intended to restrict increases in agency Guaranty Fees to finance reforms to the secondary markets and prohibit use by Congress to fund other programs or cover budget shortfalls for such programs. “G-fees”,…
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…
A major result of the 2008 housing crash was that many people lost their homes. Very sad, but very true. This resulted in two things coming about: 1. These people needed a place to live 2. The market was flooded with unoccupied homes. All that was needed was a way to bring these two components together.…
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…
