One in 10 American households with a mortgage was at risk of foreclosure this summer as the government’s efforts to help have had little impact stemming the housing crisis.
About 9.9 percent of homeowners had missed at least one mortgage payment as of June 30, Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday.
That number, which is adjusted for seasonal [...]
Mortgage rates fell to the lowest level in decades for the ninth time in 10 weeks as concerns grow that the economy is weakening.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate for a 30-year fixed loan was 4.36 percent this week, down from 4.42 percent last week. That’s the lowest since Freddie Mac [...]
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Rates on fixed-rate mortgages hit another low this week, after recent reports showed drops in existing- and new-home sales, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of conforming mortgage rates released Thursday.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.36% for the week ending Aug. 26, down from 4.42% last week and 5.14% a year ago. [...]
Palm Beach Post: WEST PALM BEACH – The Palm Beach County Convention Center filled again Friday with tales of mortgage woe.
Before dawn, with a plump white moon overhead, a line of desperate home owners trailed around the outside of the building. They slept in beach chairs or on blankets on the ground, refugees from a [...]
(Reuters) – As mortgage delinquencies climb near historic highs, Wall Street is finding new ways to make hay with the assets.
So-called “vulture” firms have been snapping up troubled home loans at a faster pace, and are expected to ramp up securitizations of the assets in coming months. That should give a modicum of life to [...]
(Reuters) – Nearly half of homeowners getting help through the Obama administration’s premier housing rescue program have dropped out through July as many failed to document their eligibility, the U.S. Treasury said on Friday.
In its monthly report on the Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, the Treasury said 48.1 percent of 1.3 million homeowners who [...]
(Reuters) – The house on the 53rd block of South Wood Street in Chicago’s Back of the Yards doesn’t look like a $355,000 home. There is no front door and most of the windows are boarded up.
Public records show it sold in foreclosure for $25,500 in January 2009, then resold for $355,000 in October. In [...]
(Reuters) – Home loan rates set new lows in the latest week on more evidence of a soft U.S. economy and high unemployment, home funding company Freddie Mac said on Thursday.
The average 30-year mortgage rate fell to 4.44 percent in the week ended August 12, the lowest since Freddie Mac records began in 1971. The [...]
Palm Beach Post: South Florida’s homes are treading water, managing so far this year not to sink further into negative equity. But analysts warn they better be good dog paddlers.
A second quarter study released today by market experts at Zillow found 44 percent of South Florida single-family homes with mortgages are underwater – real estate [...]
Palm Beach Post: The non-profit Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America _ hero to the struggling homeowner, bully to big banks _ announced during a Thursday news conference that it will hold its third South Florida mortgage counseling extravaganza in West Palm Beach Aug. 27 to Aug. 31.
In assembly-line fashion, the 24-hour-a-day nationwide events process thousands [...]
(Reuters) – Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB) expanded its mortgage portfolio in June, while the rate of late payments on loans it guarantees fell in May to the lowest level this year, the largest U.S. home loan purchaser said on Friday.
The serious delinquency rate has steadily improved but remains elevated, with 9.5 percent U.S. unemployment and wage [...]
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — In some parts of the country, it doesn’t take much to become a mortgage-loan officer. Not a license, not much training.
That’s changing.
The Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008, or Safe Act, is aimed at increasing consumer protection and reducing fraud. It sets minimum standards for state licensing and [...]
Palm Beach Post: LOS ANGELES — Countrywide Financial Corp. agreed to pay $600 million to settle shareholder lawsuits in the largest payout so far from the mortgage meltdown.
U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer in Los Angeles on Monday gave preliminary approval to the agreement, in which the defendants admitted no wrongdoing.
The settlement would end several class-action lawsuits that [...]
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Mortgage rates took another drop this week, with fixed-rate mortgages again hitting record lows, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of conforming mortgage rates, released Thursday.
Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.56% during the week ending July 22, down from 4.57% last week and 5.20% a year ago. Fifteen-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.03%, down [...]
(Reuters) – Demand for loans to purchase U.S. homes sunk to a 13-year low last week, and refinancing demand also slid despite near record-low mortgage rates, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday.
Requests for loans to buy homes dropped 3.1 percent in the week ended July 9, after adjusting for the Independence Day holiday, to [...]
Reuters – Republicans should not use problems at mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as an excuse to vote against sweeping changes to the rules of Wall Street, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Sunday. ”We are going to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” Gibbs said on NBC’s Meet the Press.
The Senate [...]
New York Times: LOS ALTOS, Calif. — No need for tears, but the well-off are losing their master suites and saying goodbye to their wine cellars.
The housing bust that began among the working class in remote subdivisions and quickly progressed to the suburban middle class is striking the upper class in privileged enclaves like this [...]
Reuters – Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N), the fourth-largest U.S. bank by assets, said on Wednesday it is closing more than 600 Wells Fargo Financial offices and will no longer originate non-prime mortgages.
The bank said the Wells Fargo Financial offices are no longer necessary after its 2008 acquisition of Wachovia Corp and it will offer [...]
Reuters: Rates on the 30-year mortgage dropped to a record low in the past week, according to a survey released Thursday by Freddie Mac, as concerns mounted about the economic recovery.
Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, the most widely used loan, averaged 4.57 percent for the week ended July 8, down from the previous week’s 4.58 percent [...]
