Don’t be penny-wise and dollar foolish when it comes to protecting what may be the largest financial commitment of your life! The situation: ‘Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now accepting written Attorney Opinion Letters (AOLs) in lieu of a title insurance policy under limited circumstances as a result of Equitable Housing Finance Plans announced earlier by […]
Hmmmm…Where and when have I heard the phrase “Home ownership is an integral part of the American Dream?” before? Was it in statements concerning the Community Redevelopment Act (CRA)* and that period in American history leading up to the great financial crisis of 2008? A time in residential real estate when basically anyone with a pulse could be […]
Residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) stuffed with sub-prime “liar loans’ were at ground zero of the 2008 financial crisis and, guess what… They’re Ba-ack! Not stated loans per se but in a new program from Fannie Mae called HomeReady Mortgages, 97%-plus Loan-to-Value loans become possible ‘based not on the borrowers income (which is too low) but on “non-borrowers” […]
Wait a second! Did I really mean to say that New York homebuyers face an average purchase price of $347,614? No, you read it correctly the first time! Incredibly, while the national average down payment for a new home is $31,723, in the New York/New Jersey marketplace the number soars to $347,614 representing 37% of the average […]
As 2014 quickly draws to a close, eyes will now turn to forecasts for how the US economy is expected to perform in 2015! And, as is surely the case, as the housing market goes will in no small way help to determine how the overall economy will go. From Calculated Risk, this chart provides 2015 US […]
The following flash release about mortgage default risk was published by AEI’s HousingRisk.org! Mortgage risk increased as the NMRI hit a new series high, due to an increase in FHA’s market share and loan level risk. AEI’s National Mortgage Risk Index for home purchase loans hit a new series high of 11.89 percent for April, up […]
