Mortgage giant Fannie Mae recently offered some predictions of what the housing market’s “normal” will look like in the next two years. In its report, “Transition to ‘Normal’?”, Fannie says while the housing market has shown improvement, uncertainty remains over both the economy and the real estate market. “Our forecast is that 2013 and 2014 will [...]
Los Angeles Times Drop in U.S. mortgage delinquency rates led by California, Arizona The national mortgage delinquency rate – the percentage of borrowers 60 days or more late on their payments – fell to 5.41 percent in the third quarter from 5.88 percent in the [...]
The biggest source of funding for low-down-payment condo mortgages, the Federal Housing Administration, has revamped controversial rules that caused thousands of building across the country to lose their eligibility for FHA financing. The revised guidelines, which were issued Sept. 13 and took effect immediately, should make it easier for a large number of homeowner [...]
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) plans to impose significant restrictions on the amount of money that sellers can contribute at closing in the near future. The FHA also will be raising its mortgage insurance premiums during the coming weeks, increasing charges for new purchases across the board. Making [...]
Largest False Claims Act Settlement Relating to Mortgage Fraud As part of the global resolution between the United States of America and the five largest mortgage servicing banks in the country, which will bring much needed relief to financially distressed homeowners nationwide, Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for [...]
In anticipation of the expiration of current loan limits on Sept. 30, 2011, Bank of America has decided to stop accepting conventional and government applications for loan amounts that will exceed the permanent loan amounts. The deadline to submit loan applications was July 1. According to an email from Bank of America, conventional loans [...]
Beginning Aug. 1, the Federal Housing Administration will extend the period for unemployed homeowners to miss mortgage payments from four months to a full year, providing qualified homeowners with more time to find employment before the foreclosure process begins. Making sense of the story The new Special Forbearance program falls under the FHA’s Loss [...]
Foreclosure properties, especially those with the water and power turned off, may not qualify for standard financing, but would-be owner-occupants may qualify for a federally insured 203(k) loan. Would-be owner-occupants who do not have enough money to purchase a foreclosure home using cash, may qualify for the federally insured 203(k) loan, which allows borrowers [...]
The United States has filed a civil mortgage fraud lawsuit against Deutsche Bank AG and its wholly owned subsidiary, MortgageIT Inc. The government’s complaint seeks damages and civil penalties under the False Claims Act for repeated false certifications made to the U.S. According to the government’s complaint filed May 3, 2011 in Manhattan federal court: [...]
On Tuesday, U.S. bank regulators submitted a proposal that would require lenders to originate mortgages with at least a 20 percent down payment if they want to repackage the loan to sell to other investors without keeping some of the risk on their books. The bank regulators say this would create strong incentives for responsible [...]
