RECENT BLOG POSTS
As I wrote in my post dated December 14, 2014, entitled "Fannie / Freddie To Make Housing Fund Payments" Mel Watt, Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency ordered FNMA and FHLMC to make their payments to the Housing Trust Fund and the Capital Magnet Fund as required under the Housing and E...
01/28/2015
You are no doubt aware that the reduction in the FHA premiums for mortgage insurance went into effect yesterday, 01.26.2015. There are a number of people with FHA loans that might benefit from refinancing their existing FHA loan into another FHA loan with lower MIP. As stated in an earlier post...
01/27/2015
A fifteen year mortgage loan with no down payment, no closing costs, no mortgage insurance, a fixed interest rate of 2.5% (that can be bought down), and borrowers that are less than three years out from a short sale - sounds unbelievable doesn't it? The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of Ame...
01/26/2015
Nationally syndicated real estate news columnist Ken Harney has released an article that appeared in The Hartford (CT) Courant on Friday (01.23.2015), entitled "Consumer Agency's 'Rate Checker' Gets An Incomplete Grade". Harney is the latest in a line of mortgage industry leaders, associations a...
01/25/2015
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You may have seen some recent blogs about the "old fashioned" direct mail marketing and telemarketing. Have you tried email marketing, or even marketing by text messages on your smartphone? There is a blog entitled, "A 5-Pronged Approach for Using Strategic Email Marketing for Quality Lead Gener...
01/24/2015
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Private mortgage insurance premiums are higher for people with lower credit scores. FHA mortgage insurance premiums are the same for all FHA borrowers regardless of their credit score. The Urban Institute recently posted a blog that indicates that the break-even credit score with a 95% LTV has ...
01/23/2015
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You may have missed the announcement as I am not sure there was one. I am subscribed to CFPB announcements and emails and did not receive any notice of this rule change. Two days ago (Tuesday, 01.20.2015) the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau ("CFPB") finalized two minor changes to the TILA-RE...
01/22/2015
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Did President Obama act too hastily in lowering the FHA Mortgage Insurance Premiums? According to an editorial in the Washington Post the FHA MI premiums should not have been reduced as the FHA has not restored completely its capital reserve, and as recently as September, 2013, FHA had to take a...
01/21/2015
The American Land Title Association (ALTA") has expressed concern that the new TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure form to be used as a "Closing Disclosure" does not properly provide for the disclosure of title insurance premiums. In a post on BusinessWire.com ALTA expresses its concern that the ne...
01/20/2015
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Last week it was reported by REUTERS that Mel Watt, Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency ("FHFA") has instructed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to "explore 'alternate' credit score models and the credit history of the loans they support". Watt has stated that expanding credit availability ...
01/19/2015