Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
According to a release by Bankrate today, mortgage rates did not change much this week from last week.
Interest rates for 30 year fixed-rate mortages averaged 5.23 percent this week with an average of cost of less than 1/2% for discount and origination fees.
The average rate for 15-year fixed-rate morgages dropped to 4.73 percent this week with jumbo loans average 6.65 percent.
Mortgage rates continue to be at historic lows.
Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
It seems home mortgages are in the news daily lately: record-low interest rates, record-high foreclosure rates, the sub-prime mortgage mess, lack of jumbo loans and so on. It’s confusing at best and causing much concern for many people wishing to buy a home or refinance their existing home mortgage.
H. John Frank, Jr., President Paramount Mortgage Co.
To find out just what is going on in the home mortgage world today I turned to someone I have known for over 20 years that is a highly respected mortgage banker, H. John Frank. John agreed to do an E-View TM to discuss what is going on with mortgages today and to share information to help educate consumers that may be seeking a mortgage.
John was a great source of information and I have a lot to share so I plan to share his E-View TM in a series of posts over the next few days. Read more…
Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
This is the third and final post of my E-View TM with H. John Frank, a highly respected mortgage banker that is the President of Paramount Mortgage Co. If you missed part one or two the link to them is at the end of this post.
Lets continue with the final part of the E-View TM :
H. John Frank, Jr., President Paramount Mortgage Co.
Q-I’ve heard stories of investors that, in an effort to find the “best” deal, shopped around extensively with Internet-based lenders. Unfortunately they later found they negatively impacted their credit score because of having multiple inquiries on their credit report as a result of submitting multiple applications. Can you please shed some light on this and if it does still impact credit scores?
A- Typically, people who ‘shop’ for the best rates via the internet or just using local lenders, do not hurt their score with the multiple inquiries as long as this is done in 30 day increments. Read more…
Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
Do you have a second mortgage on your home? Do you feel that you are “underwater” in terms of the debt versus the equity in your home? If so, there may be help.
Yesterday the Obama administration announced details of a new efforts to help bring relief to responsible homeowners under the Making Home Affordable Program. These efforts include an effort to achieve greater affordability for homeowners by lowering payments on their second mortgages as well as a set of measures to help underwater borrowers stay in their homes. Read more…
Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
Yesterday I posted part one of my E-View TM with H. John Frank, a highly respected mortgage banker that is the President of Paramount Mortgage Co.
Lets continue with part two of the E-View TM:
H. John Frank, Jr., President, Paramount Mortgage
Q-Investors, even those that are very qualified are struggling to obtain financing. Many banks are not willing to lend on non-owner occupied property at all and the ones that will won’t go over 65% or 70% of value in many cases.
What is your take on the financing market for investors? I assume one outlet for financing for rentals would be FNMA? I believe they recently increased the number of loans an investor can have from 4 to 10, is this correct?
Read more…
Today I want to feature a post from Charles Hugh Smith. This is an article that appeared on his site OfTwoMinds.Com a few days ago and I found it to be a very thoughtful and insightful look at the housing market. I asked Charles to allow me to publish him as a guest contributor and he graciously agreed. Get a cup of coffee before you start though, there is a lot of meat to this article and a lot of facts to comprhend and digest.
Happy Reading, Dennis Norman
Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds
By: Charles Hugh Smith:
The financial MSM and government officials alike are looking for a recovery in the housing market to bubble valuations to “restart the economy.” That is not going to happen–not this year, not in five years or even in ten years.
Here’s why.The entire world is hoping that housing is about to “recover” and re-ascend its glorious bubble-era heights of valuation. But it’s not going to happen.
Why not? For several fundamental reasons:1. Bubbles do not re-inflate in the asset class which just popped. It is simply a truism that bubbles never reflate, ever. Tulip bulb valuations did not rise to stratospheric heights after the Tulip Craze popped, and the Nasdaq dot-com bubble did not reinflate, either, for the very good reason that bubbles are never based on rational valuations–they are based on the psychological state of mania which cannot be reinstated once lost. Read more…
By: Dennis Norman
For investors there is no lack of opportunities when it comes to real estate. The recession, record foreclosure levels and high unemployment are some of the contributing factors to why there are “deals” to be had. I keep hearing from investors though that the problem is financing. Even established investors with a good track record and existing banking relationships are finding that banks are reluctant if not flat out unwilling to loan money to investors at this point.
H. John Frank, Jr., President Paramount Mortgage Co.
To explore this issue and find out what types of financing is still available to investors I turned to someone I have known for over 20 years that is a highly respected mortgage banker, H. John Frank. John agreed to do an E-View TM to discuss financing issues for investors. John has been a great source of information and I want to be able to share everything I learned from him so I’m going to share his E-View TM in a series of posts over the next few days. Read more…
Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
According to a report issued late last week by First American CoreLogic, Inc. based upon their LoanPerformance HPI1 home price data for February 2009, national housing prices have declined for 24 consecutive months to a level equal to 2004 prices.
CoreLogic reported:
- National housing prices fell 12.2 percent in February from a year ago.
- The depth and breadth of price declines continued to worsen in February
- Nevada (-26.7%) was the top ranked state for price depreciation, followed very closely by California (-26.5%), Arizona (-21.1%), Florida (-19.7%) and Rhode Island (-19.5%).
- Although price declines are beginning to stabilize for the very high depreciation markets, the price trends among a next tier of state that are experiencing double digit declines is worsening. These states include Washington, Illinois, Maryland, Oregon, Massachusetts and Virginia.
- Since U.S. home prices peaked in July 2006, they have declined 22.7 percent on a cumulative basis and are currently down to the lowest price level in more than five years. Read more…
Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
Earlier this month I did a post about the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) which is scheduled to take effect May 1st (click HERE to see post)
Last week, Charles McMillan, the President of the National Association of REALTORS(R) sent letters to Fannie Mae President and CEO Michael Williams and Freddie Mac Interim President and CEO John Koskinen requesting that the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) be delayed until May 1, 2010. Read more…
By: Dennis Norman:
This morning the U.S. Department of Commerce released a report showing the sale of New Homes in March decreased 0.6 percent from February and is 30.6% less than a year ago.
A decline of less than 1%, following last February’s increase of 4.7% in sales I think again shows the market is perhaps leveling off. In addition, the change in year over year sales from last year has decreased from 41.1% less from February 2008 to February 2009 to 30.6% less from March 2008 to March 2009. Read more…
