Mortgage Manifest

Fewer Borrowers & fewer qualify

2011-07-05T20:47:00.000-04:00

I'm probably the last to say it, but while rates are at an all time low, it seems that very few can qualify. The ones that can seemed to have had their head in the sand for the past year or so. For unknown reasons, they just didn't refinance at any previous time. Maybe they were waiting for rates to get lower, not much chance of that according to the smart folks who opine on such things as

According to WSJ, there are 10 reasons to buy a home

2010-09-19T08:48:00.000-04:00

A Wall Street Journal blog article outlines 10 reasons to buy a home now. Take a look. For the full article, click here. Enough with the doom and gloom about homeownership. Sure, maybe there's more pain to come in the housing market. But when Time magazine starts running covers that declare "Owning a home may no longer make economic sense," it's time to say: Enough is enough. This is what "

Property Values in LA, NYC, Chicago and Miami

2010-05-21T13:06:00.001-04:00

Zillow Home Value Index You need the latest version of the Macromedia Flash Player. Download the free Flash Player now!More US Home Values

Shortenin' Bread

2010-05-02T09:29:00.001-04:00

Now that I've read Michael Lewis' The Big Short, read the recipe for a CDO short done by Dr. Mike Burry that he graciously left on his now closed money management firm's website, I think I have an idea about the Goldman Sachs case that is in the news. According to the individuals in Lewis' book, Goldman hadn't thought of shorting their CDOs and thought that these buyers were the dumb money until

New Year, New Deal? Hardly

2010-02-13T12:37:00.002-05:00

This year is shaping up to be one of the hardest yet in the mortgag business. There's going be many, many more REOs (foreclosed houses that the bank owns) on the banks' books, likely driving prices downward further.That's not the problem if that increases buying activity, but with double digit unemployment (real unemployment), uncertainty, tightening underwriting standards, destabilizing

Fannie & Freddie are pushing more loans back to lenders

2009-12-05T21:43:00.002-05:00

According to WSJ, Fannie and Freddie are making banks buy back poorly underwritten loans that have soured.No wonder we have pre-closing audits, pre-funding audits, post-closing audits, post-post closing audits and so on and so forth. The documentation that borrowers must provide almost never ends at this point. Properly prepare borrowers for the onslaught of documentation requests. Banks don't

FHA Loosening Condo Approval Guidelines

2009-12-05T20:46:00.003-05:00

Haven't posted in awhile. Business has been pretty good lately, despite all the whining I do on this blog.FHA is changing some of their condo guidelines which should play well in the NYC market. First off, they are lowering the required pre-sales to 30% which will help many of the new developments offer FHA loans until they reach that magic 51-70% threshold needed for FNMA approval. Another nice

Is Fannie Taking Another Run at Mortgage Insurance?

2009-10-02T18:51:00.002-04:00

I just read this here.It would great if there was a way to get mortgage insurance for condos and coops with 10% or less down.

Take the Good with the Bad

2009-08-20T21:19:00.004-04:00

FHA Mortgagee Letter 2009-19 dated June 12, 2009 has a few good things in it, and a few bad things. I'm not sure if overall it's good for the high rise condo market.First, I'll mention the good stuff. First off, Right of first refusal is permitted unless it violates discriminatory conduct under the Fair Housing Act regulation in 24 CFR 100. That is a major plus for the New York City market where

The media is myopic

2009-07-19T10:05:00.002-04:00

I'm watching CNN this Sunday morning, and they've elected to continue their extensive coverage of one of their own's death. Walter Cronkite died the other day, a sad event much as anyone dying is. But a historic event? I think not. The man was a news reporter, perhaps even a good one, though I wouldn't really know being too young to truly remember his reporting style. I've seen less coverage of a

It's really this bad...

2009-07-17T18:42:00.002-04:00

I know the Loan Officers out there may have horror stories of their own, but I need to purge. It seems like between the new regulatory microscope, the everchanging financial picture of the mortgage insurance companies, the constant unsurety of condo and coop building approval guidelines, and the unwillingness to pay for good underwriting staff, it's a miracle that loans actually close.In New York

Morgan Loan Mods are slow like everyone else

2009-07-16T18:38:00.002-04:00

I read in the WSJ today that Morgan's servicing unit (Saxon - remember them from the heydays of subprime?) has modiified only 6% of their servicing portfolio. That's not a surprise. Modifications, even the FNMA, Freddie MAC prime loan modifications are put on the back burner at all the major banks that I know of. These loans actually don't require much to close, less than a traditional refinance

The Condo Approval Morass

2009-06-23T22:32:00.003-04:00

It's not enough to qualify and approve the borrower, nor has it ever been, but when someone is buying in a condo or coop, the building must also be approved. This has become increasingly more difficult as condo / coop approval departments are overloaded increasing turn times, but also as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac begin enforcing rules that up for years were not enforced.One major hurdle with

HVCC Sucks

2009-05-31T17:19:00.002-04:00

Recently New York Attorney General, in an effort to raise his image, fight corruption and save the American consumer from themselves, went to Fan/Fred and created the Home Valuation Code of Conduct that all mortgage originators (big and small) must abide by. On the surface, it sounds great. Greater appraiser independence, less commissioned individual involvement. Without going into how Mr. Cuomo

Bring back the stated income and 100% mortgage

2009-04-19T15:18:00.002-04:00

Though there is an argument (often made by mortgage loan originators) that there must be a minimal risk underwriting box that for stated income and high loant to value products, these loans don't seem to be coming back any time soon.Self employed borrowers are feeling like victims of banks' current underwriting guidelines when it comes to documenting income. Their Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) is

We Reward The Risk Takers...

2009-04-04T13:30:00.002-04:00

I guess the feeling is that we have to. I just finished an article on Forbes about D. Andrew Beal and Beal Bank. He stayed out of the fray during the go-go years from 2004 until 2008, originating no real estate loans. Now his bank is solvent, capitalized and ready to buy loans from other banks who need the $. And of course, there is no TARP money for him, no Fed assistance of any kind. The

WSJ Says Mortgage Rates May Be At Their Lowest

2009-03-20T16:35:00.003-04:00

According to an article in today's Wall Street Journal, mortgage rates may not go any lower, confounding many borrowers' hope that they will go lower and lower.Take a look at the article below:By JAMES R. HAGERTYThe Federal Reserve is going to extraordinary lengths to push down long-term interest rates, including home-mortgage rates. But those hoping mortgage rates will fall sharply from current

Meet the Feds

2009-03-18T21:48:00.003-04:00

FED TO BUY ADDITIONAL $750 BLN OF MBS, $100 BLN OF GSE DEBTFED LEAVES TARGET INTEREST-RATE RANGE UNCHANGED AT 0% TO 0.25%FED TO PURCHASE UP TO $300 BLN OF LONGER-TERM TREASURIESFED SAYS INFLATION MAY PERSIST BELOW `BEST' LEVELFED SAYS NEAR-TERM ECONOMIC OUTLOOK IS `WEAK'FED SEES `EXCEPTIONALLY LOW' FUNDS RATE FOR `EXTENDED' PERIODFED TO CONTINUE MONITORING BALANCE SHEET SIZE, COMPOSITIONFED VOTE

Is Mitt Romney a Racist?

2009-03-01T09:36:00.002-05:00

The other day on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Governor Romney continually called the President by his first and last names instead of addressing the office. Instead of saying President Obama, he kept saying "Barak Obama." Even going so far as to call the President by his first name one time.Is this because Governor Romney is a racist, or because he doesn't believe in our electoral politics?

Rush Limbaugh Wants This Country to Fail

2009-03-01T09:32:00.002-05:00

I think Mr. Limbaugh's statements at a political event, are indicative of the Republican Party these days. They'd rather see the President's policies fail so that they can win an election to regain power than do something for this country.Pathetic. I'd rather both parties try their best to make this country great than spend all of their time setting each other up for failure.

Unemployment is the wild card

2009-02-26T19:44:00.003-05:00

With unemployment on the rise, along with documentation of mortgage applications, I'm seeing more concern about the continuation of employment, and thus, income. Income is necessary to pay the loan, no paycheck, no timely payments. Low rates, if unemployment continues its rise, may not matter much.

Goodbye...and thanks for the Pell Grants

2009-01-02T19:34:00.003-05:00

Former Rhode Island Senator Claiborne Pell died yesterday at the age of 90. I don't know anything about his politics or how he did as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but I do appreciate the Pell Grant which was a great help in putting me through college.I'm not sure I could have done it without the Pell Grant. That's what government should be doing for citizens in it's purest

Crime...boy I just don't know

2008-12-20T13:47:00.003-05:00

Uncle Bernie's run off with rich people's money and now they are broke like the rest of us. The newspapers are full of articles about Madoff's scheme and the repurcussions of it on the victims, the community and the financial community as whole.Meanwhile it seems that we are in a bona fide refi boom. 30 year fixed rates are the lowest since 1971 according to Freddie Mac. Borrowers must pay a

Libor Schmibor

2008-11-15T19:16:00.000-05:00

It's all crazy now. TARPs funds rolling through the system, mostly being used by recipients to buy smaller banks on the cheap. Insurance companies are even getting into the "buy a bank cheap" fray. There is a total disconnect between the 10 year Treasury Yield and the Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) market that seems to be here to stay. Jumbo rates are as high as they've been in years,

So much happening it's hard to stay on top and blog

2008-04-29T10:42:00.000-04:00

The Libor rate has been called into question lately as perhaps being artificially low, this will affect many borrowers who have an ARM that will adjust based on Libor. A Citibank analyst was quoted in the Wall Street Journal last week saying that banks may not be disclosing their true borrowing costs when reporting the rate at which they borrow, and more importantly there is no way to calculate a