Archive for the 'Home Equity' Category

Home Prices and Net Worth are Dropping … Fast

By: Myles, July 9th, 2008

What will 2009 do to our home values and networth? Read on, and see what some experts predict.
 BofA sees additional 15% drop in real estate prices: Bank of America expects home prices will fall an additional 15 percent nationwide and 20 percent in California, BofA Chief Executive Officer Ken Lewis said in an interview with […]

Tags: ,

Even harder to get a mortgage in MD?

By: Myles, June 10th, 2008

Effective June 1, 2008 Maryland Senate Bill 363 went into effect, basically eliminating all lenders from closing any Alt Doc loans (NINA, NO RATIO, STATED Loans) where income has not been documented to show the borrowers can afford the monthly payments.
Maryland is the fourth State (West Virginia, Minnesota, and Ohio) to pass this type of […]

Tags:

The Home Finance data is a fall’in …

By: Myles, May 22nd, 2008

Applications for U.S. home mortgages, as reported by CNBC, fell to its second-lowest level of the year last week as interest rates rose, as the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said in its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity.
Name the category …. none of it is positive:

The number of applications for mortgages fell 7.8 percent […]

Tags:

Q1 2008 >> The Credit Data is in …

By: Myles, May 6th, 2008

The news is certainly not good these days. The beginning of 2008 has not been pretty. Perhaps we can find a niche’ or some sort of viable approach that gets us the credit needed to move forward and do deals. 
I always believe that information is power, so here it is … unedited and unfettered …. 
As reported by Rex Nutting, Washington […]

No Tags

Optimism: Is it time yet to buy a house? Refinance?

By: Myles, May 2nd, 2008

So, is it time yet for optimism in the residential housing market?
Thinking of buying a house? Looking to refinance your current mortgage? Is this the right time? These are the big questions of the day that everyone has been asking.
We at www.MylesTitle.com  and www.MarylandCommercialTitle.com sure hope so. Like us, you — the banker, builder, […]

Tags: ,

New RESPA Regulations: Unveiled & Exposed

By: Myles, April 6th, 2008

Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (otherwise know as “RESPA”) reform is back, and in a big way. On Friday, March 14, 2008, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) published its proposed regulations to reform RESPA. 
Ironically, HUD partially titles its rule a “Proposed Rule to Simplify and Improve the Process of Obtaining […]

No Tags

A Huge Underwriting Shift in the Wind for Fannie Mae

By: Myles, April 3rd, 2008

As reported in the Baltimore Business Journal today, Fannie Mae – the Washington, D.C.-based mortgage giant – is setting new rules about what mortgages it will buy.
These new underwriting guidelines will have a huge impact on the number of people who will get loans and the amount of business that flows through the real estate, banking, […]

Tags:

The $1.1 Trillion HELOC Problem

By: Myles, April 1st, 2008

There just may be an even scarier phenomenon approaching us on the financial and real estate horizon: HELOC’s.
Recently HoweStreet.com made several very interesting comments, in response to The New York Times’ enlightening article: Home Equity Loans as Next Round in Credit Crisis.
We at MarylandCommercialTitle.com believe that information is power. We hope you agree. These are […]

Tags:

Can Banks Recapture Closing Costs?

By: Myles, March 12th, 2008

The Maryland Daily Record just reported that “a bill that would allow Maryland banks to collect closing costs from customers who pay off loans early moved closer to final passage … after a contentious debate.” Apparently there’s no free lunch. It makes sense, but is is legal? It will be, if this piece of legislation […]

Tags:

Homeowner Equity Below 50% for First Time Since 1945

By: Myles, March 7th, 2008

This is a historic time, in our financial markets. Americans’ percentage of equity in their homes fell below 50 percent for the first time on record since 1945, as reported on CNBC today.

Homeowners’ portion of equity slipped to downwardly revised 49.6 percent in the second quarter of 2007, the central bank reported in its quarterly […]

No Tags