Greg 's Blog

Mortgage rates reversed their three-week rise, falling this week after the release of the latest Federal Reserve's policy statement that it expects inflation to moderate later this year," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac chief economist. The traditional 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.35 pe...

Lenders have tightened their guidelines & buyers are again are expected to "put some skin in the game." That "skin" refers to the borrower's own cash for the down payment & closing costs. Benefits of a down payment:  Borrow less money to buy the same-priced home. Shop among more lenders, loan ori...

HVCC stands for Home Valuation Code of Conduct.  It's intended to eliminate the opportunity for consumers and mortgage lenders to exert influence on the apprisal process and is schedulded to take effect January 2009. It proposes to accomplish this by setting up an inependent 3rd party to randomly...

The National Association of Realtors said today that existing-home sales increased two percent in May to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.99 million units. The median existing-home price for all types of housing stood at $208,600 last month, down 6.3 percent from a year earlier when the median was...

June 25, 2008 (UPI) Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said she would sue the nation's largest mortgage lender for overselling risky loans. The lawsuit accuses Countrywide Financial and its Chief Executive Officer Angelo Mozilo of inflating incomes for loans and misleading customers with hidd...

Payment Option Loans -Days may be numbered Just last week Washington Mutual announced that it would no longer originate negative amortization loans.  Recently Waucovia sent a memo to mortgage brokers that it intends to send a letter to their clients who chose payment option programs to verify the...

The rule as originally stated: To be eligible for a mortgage insured by FHA, the property must be purchased from the owner of record and the transaction may not involve any sale or assignment of the sales contract. This requirement applies to all FHA purchase money mortgages regardless of the tim...

With all the negative news about declining values many chat rooms seem totally preoccupied with the merits of renting vs. buying in today's market.  From my perspective the primary factor has always remained the same regardless of the current real estate economy - how long do you intend to stay i...

Let's say your current mortgage is for $250,000 on a 30 year fixed rate. Let's say you owe $45,000 in other non-deductible debts with an average interest rate of 10%. Before: Mortgage payment @ approx      $1,499.00 monthly (not including prop tax & insurance) Other Debts @ approx                ...

What's the likely outcome of IL SB 1167 for small rental property owners? Many 2 - 4 flat owners tell me it's difficult to break even on these small investment properties.  Stated income loans allowed them to show sufficient income to qualify for a mortgage loan while at the same time they persue...