With the US Treasury purchasing $600 billion in mortgage backed securities mortgage rates are falling. There is also a plan being floated where the government would set the 30 year mortgage rate at 4.50% on home purchases – almost 1% below current market rates.  The idea being of course that the whole thing started with [...]

From the Arizona Mortgage Guru mailbag:
Question: Well, we just received a notice that IndyMac, who we have a second mortgage with, closed it’s doors. They kindly sent us a notice that they are working with Wells Fargo to offer help refinancing our loan. My concern is this, if we have to go through a “regular” [...]

The US House passed the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act (HR 3915). It’s being called as the “anti-predatory” bill, but I’m going to call it the “no loan for you” bill.
For those not familiar with the bill’s key provisions, below is a summary from MSNBC :
The bill would create a licensing system for residential [...]

Mortgage rates fell last week and that trend puts us in favorable territory this week. Rates fell last week reversing a rising trend over the prior two consecutive weeks. With lackluster corporate earnings, renewed credit concerns and rising oil prices investors are spooked about stocks. This makes bonds more favorable. Hence, the rise in bond prices and [...]

There is a lot of confusion regarding interest rates. I received a few e-mails and some phone calls asking if it was now a good time to buy real estate since the Fed cut interest rates. I replied that the Fed rate doesn’t affect home mortgage rates. The two are completely different animals. In fact [...]

Between First Magnus (Great Southwest Mortgage) closing shop and Countrywide going through some serious turbulencethings are very unpredictable right now. To calm markets the Federal Reserve just lowered the discount rate by 0.5% to 5.75%. The discount rate is what the Fed charges banks for short term loans.
What is a consumer to do? If you have any [...]

I didn’t see this one coming. National City is a very conservative lender. Even back in 2005 they didn’ t offer a lot of aggressive loan programs as others did, so I am very surprised this is happening now. Wow. This really makes you wonder who will survive this liquidity crunch.
According to Marketwatch:

National City Corporation said [...]

If you’re in the process of buying a home or if you’re a real estate agent working with a buyer then there are a few things you need to know about the imploding loan marketplace. Basically, the stated income party is over. In fact the party has been over for a while for a great number of [...]

I had heard about this video a while back but I never had the time to watch. I finally got around to it and I must say it is brilliant. It explains the whole subprime mess in very simple English.

The more I look at this mess the more I see greedy investors and crafty businessmen [...]

It’s Saturday morning. I’m drinking coffee and surfing the net reading economic commentary, looking at some really cool economic data and charts. What does that make me? (Not a real question!)
I want to share some cool things I’ve uncovered:

Calculated Risk has a chart demonstrating the historical rise in mortgage debt. It goes back to 1992 and quite [...]