HousingWire associate publisher and former subprime lender Richard Bitner testified to the Congressional Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission on the reasons behind the subprime mortgage collapse on Wednesday in an effort to explain just who was responsible for the collapse that eventually led to
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04/09/2010
With the end of the government purchase of mortgage backed securities, rates have begun to climb and as a result, applications for refinances have gone down significantly from last week’s numbers. According to the Mortgage Banker’s Association, the refinance index decreased almost 17% from last
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04/08/2010
Despite the hullabaloo surrounding the Second Lien Modification Program, or 2MP, the program still has a lot of uncertainty surrounding it. With only four major loan servicers signing on with the federal program designed to coordinate first and second lien modifications, the future success of th
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04/07/2010
Many homeowners whose loans are underwater have considered strategically defaulting on their homes. Of course, underwater loans are when a borrower owes more on their loan than their home is worth. This means that many of these homeowners are discouraged and don’t see the point in continuing to
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04/07/2010
After talking about it for what seems like forever, mortgage rates are finally on the rise. With the federal purchase of mortgage backed securities ending the first of April, Freddie Mac has released figures showing an increase from last week of 0.09% on the average rate for a 30 year fixed mort
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04/05/2010
This is from the mortgage market guide today - Orange County Loan Officer Current Trend Direction: Sideways Risks favor: Carefully Floating Current Price of FNMA 4.5% Bond: $100.38, +9bp The Bond market got a boost this morning after ADP reported that according to their research, there were 23
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03/31/2010
Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Barney Frank has sent letters to leading loan servicers calling on them to further address the problem of second liens impeding loan modifications and other foreclosure alternatives. While the number of successful loan modifications run through
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03/29/2010
Last Thursday, Governor Schwarzenegger signed a new homebuyer tax credit into law, providing $200 million for first time buyers and buyers purchasing brand new homes. As part of his California Jobs Initiative program, Schwarzenegger believes that the new tax credit will spur job creation by promo
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03/29/2010
Last week Chase announced it had decided to join the Home Affordable Modification Program’s second lien modification program, also known as 2MP. This makes Chase the third major loan servicer to join the program, along with Wells Fargo and Bank of America. The 2MP program is designed to offer mod
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03/29/2010
This is taken directly from the mortgage market guide: Current Price of FNMA 4.5% Bond: $100.38, +25bp Mortgage Bonds have traded in a wild 150bp range from Tuesday's intraday high price to yesterday's intraday low...and with the final days of the Fed's Mortgage Backed Security buying program in
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03/26/2010
