Scott Fowler's (sfowler) Blog

The Federal Open Market Committee adjourns from its scheduled 2-day meeting today at 2:15 P.M. ET and the markets are eagerly awaiting the central bank's press release. In it, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is expected to address the U.S. economy, the future of credit, and the new Fed Funds Rate. It's...

Despite turmoil on Wall Street, the housing sector continues to deliver good news. Last month, led by a 22 percent surge from the West Region, New Home Sales rose 2.7 percent over August. A "new home" is a newly-built residence, never before lived in.  New homes are usually built and sold by real...

Mortgage markets followed the recurring trading pattern of 2008 last week -- volatility, volatility, and more volatility. After opening with a strong performance that drove rates down, late-week fears of a global recession reversed that path.  Mortgage rates ended the week unchanged. This was an ...

Statistics are what you make of them, but sometimes, they can provide good perspective. For example, from its peak in 2005 to its trough in late-2007, the number of "used" homes sold nationwide plunged. In 2005: Roughly 7 million homes sold annually In 2007: Roughly 5 million homes sold annually ...

According to foreclosure-tracking service RealtyTrac, the foreclosure rate is falling nationwide.  Versus August, foreclosures fell by 12 percent in September 2008 as more than half of the states showed month-over-month improvement.  Most interesting in the data is that several states that led th...

In the widest definition possible, amortization (pronounced: am-ohr-tih-ZAY-shun) is the scheduled process by which a loan's principal balance pays down to $0. The opposite of an amortizing loan is an interest only loan for which there is no scheduled principal repayment schedule. With respect to...

In an effort to limit risky borrower behavior, Fannie Mae announced a new round of mortgage guideline changes last week.  Unlike its previous 20-plus updates that raised income requirements and minimum credit scores (among other changes), Fannie's latest guideline tweaks focus on the value of its...

Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded both its largest one-day point gain and second-largest one-day point loss in history.  Mortgage markets got whipsawed, too. From day to day, huge rate swings made mortgage rate shopping difficult.  It wasn't uncommon for lenders to change prici...

Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) is a mortgage lender's insurance policy against highly-leveraged homeowners.  It's typically required when homeowner equity is less than 20 percent at the time of closing. With PMI defaults up 40 percent over last year, though, private mortgage insurers are taking...

For homeowners with soon-to-adjust adjustable rate mortgages, the recent banking turmoil worldwide may lead to budgetary pain. This is because most conforming ARMs made since 2003 are based on a borrowing cost called LIBOR and LIBOR is up an uncharacteristic 2 percent since September. LIBOR stand...