House Refinance Center
This Week's Top Mortgage News
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| HUD enforces job creation 03.10.2010 HUD has initiated a campaign amongst state and local governments to increase the number of jobs for low-income persons. More than 3,100 agencies have responded to the call to expand hiring and contracting opportunities for the low-income. In 2008 HUD funding generated more than 17,000 new employment and training opportunities. |
| Purchase Applications Increased 03.10.2010 The weekly application survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) showed that for the week ending March 5, 2010, the Market Composite Index increased 0.5% from the previous week. This index measures the loan application volume in the US. The same survey indicated that the Refinance Index decreased 1.5% from the week before. The refinance share of applications is at its lowest since October 2009 when it was at 66.1%. The latest figures had it at 67.2%. ARMs were up in the survey to 5.1% of the total applications. This was the highest ARM share since November 2009. The MBA is the national association representing the real estate finance industry. |
| Appraisal Institute opposes plan for "Short Sales" 03.10.2010 The Appraisal Institute, which is 25,000 national members strong, and four other appraisal organizations have opposed the Obama's Administration's plan for short sales. The main objection centers around Broker Price Opinions (BPOs). With a broker price opinion, a realtor gives his or her opinion of what the property is worth. A full appraisal is not conducted. This in itself is very subjective. It is cheaper. But in the long run it could end up being very expensive. A letter raising the concern of potential mortgage fraud was sent to Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner. It was signed by the Appraisal Institute, the American Society of Appraisers, the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, and by the National Association of Independent Fee Appraisers. The big question is "how do we prevent fraud and protect the homeowner who has just lost a home?". Let's say a house has a market value of $400,000. The realtor issues a BPO for $375,000. The bank accepts this and approves the short sale for this amount. The bank doesn't know that the buyer is a relative of a friend of the realtor, and that they are all in on the "flop". A few weeks later the house is resold at the market price of $400,000. There's a profit of $25,000 which is split three ways. This is just one of the problems facing the new plan. |
| Foreclosure Rate Getting Better 03.11.2010 A report issued by RealtyTrac, showed that house foreclosures were down 2.3% in February, when compared to January. This is the second straight month that we saw a drop in foreclosures. There were 308,524 properties that received a foreclosure notice. According to the report Nevada had the highest foreclosure rate for the 38th consecutive month. One in every 102 properties in the state received a foreclosure notice. Foreclosures seem to be slowing, however the housing crisis is not in recovery yet. Homeowners who choose strategic default as their option are on the increase. What choices do they have? If you have lost 40% equity in your house, do you want to wait for another 10 to 15 years to get back to where you were 20 years ago? Strategic defaults will possibly be the next tidal wave to hit the US housing market. |
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