New regulations limiting mortgage brokers’ compensation go into effect on April 1, and they might prove to be appropriate for an April Fools’ Day. Though aimed at unscrupulous mortgage brokers, it seems the regulations will instead hit the nation’s struggling housing market. The Federal Reserve Board says that its regulatory goal is to “protect mortgage [...]
U.S. families—by defaulting on their loans and scrimping on expenses—shouldered a smaller debt burden in 2010 than at any point in the previous six years, putting them in position to start spending more. Total U.S. household debt, including mortgages and credit cards, fell for the second straight year in 2010 to $13.4 trillion, the Federal [...]
Is our long national foreclosure nightmare ending? The number of foreclosure notices filed in February dropped 14% compared with a month earlier and 27% compared with a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac. That was the biggest year-over-year decline the company has ever recorded. But the improvement may be exaggerated, according to RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio, [...]
The number of Americans who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth rose at the end of last year, preventing many people from selling their homes in an already weak housing market. About 11.1 million households, or 23.1 percent of all mortgaged homes, were underwater in the October-December quarter, according to report [...]
How might home buying change if the federal government shuts down the housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loan, the steady favorite of American borrowers since the 1950s, could become a luxury product, housing experts on both sides of the political aisle say. Interest rates would rise for most [...]
The Obama administration is poised to release long-awaited proposals for reducing government support of the mortgage market, but Congress will choose the path for reforming financially teetering housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Treasury Department is scheduled to release a report Friday that lays out three choices for winding down Fannie and [...]
Foreclosure filings plunged in January, but don’t shake those pom-poms yet. It’s strictly a fake out. The number of homes receiving foreclosure filings — default notices, auctions and repossessions — fell 17% in January compared to a year earlier, RealtyTrac reported on Thursday. But that’s still 261,333 properties and a 1% increase compared to December. [...]
Homebuilder executives and economists predict a post Super Bowl bounce in demand for residential construction as Americans turn their attention from football to another national pastime: house hunting. The chief executive officers of six of the 10 largest U.S. homebuilders cited the potential of a sales comeback in the spring, traditionally their strongest season, during [...]
The cost of getting a mortgage is rising as higher fees hit more borrowers, including those with stellar credit. For the first time since 2009, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are raising risk fees they charge lenders on loans they buy for resale to investors. The mortgage giants are also adding risk fees to more [...]
The spring real estate market is approaching, and this year there is no federal tax credit to get wary buyers off the fence. A recent survey of 3,500 U.S. homeowners and renters conducted for the National Association of Realtors by Harris Interactive found that 60 percent of those who would like to own a house [...]
