Derogatory credit refers generally to items which count against you for your credit score. Minor credit items such as a single late payment may not show up at all on a credit report. Say you paid two days late. You may see a late fee on your next bill, but usually you receive consideration as current as of the next […]
Expect inflation through 2025 to remain elevated. It may persist longer. Based on extraordinary federal government spending, waves of extra cash will flow into the economy for at least 3-4 more years. Massive injections of extra cash lead to high inflation. Every. Single. Time. Few, if any, exceptions can be found anywhere in history. The Federal Reserve did the absolute […]
Forbearance opportunity has ended The HUD foreclosure and forbearance moratoriums for FHA and USDA loans ended. The same for FNMA and FHLMC. Forbearance is just one example of avoiding mortgage default, however, the window to enter forbearance has closed. Those still in forbearance must find out the best way to exit in the shortest time period possible. The costs […]
Down payments and risky mortgages — of course the down payment matters. Winning Mortgage, Winning Home covers a variety of ways to manage the down payment amount against the loan pricing. The interest rate paid on a loan has a detailed scale of penalties covered in the book and the book provides insights on using them to your advantage. But […]
You probably know someone who would like help understanding how to get approved. Or how to get better mortgage knowledge and a better rate, maybe the best interest rate for a mortgage. Or help understanding the reverse mortgage process. News commentary and helpful discussions can be found in the News/Commentary articles. Browse articles individually or by category of interest. Feel […]
Most Americans have seen energy costs skyrocket this fall/winter. Homeowners in the United States might be in for a costly winter. Oil and natural gas prices continue to climb higher as supply struggles to keep up with demand. Prices continued to increase as the temperatures dropped across the country. The price of natural gas used to heat homes across the […]
Forbearance jumped into the forefront of housing issues in March 2020 with the beginning of Covid. The federal government immediately enacted a plan to allow homeowners to defer payments on mortgages. While it had the ability to do that on mortgages controlled by the federal government, it did not have the authority to do so on private mortgages. The federal […]
Lumber prices continue to fall from the peak. From a level of about $400 per thousand board feet, prices quadrupled to more than $1700 per thousand board feet in FOMO buying panic. Since the peak around 60 days ago, approximately 80% to 85% of the increase in lumber prices has evaporated. Prices of other materials such as copper (wiring and […]
In earlier posts, we outlined our outlook for an opportune time to purchase a home. In this June purchase window update, we see many factors continuing to move in the direction predicted. On June 16, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors announced no rate hike was imminent and minimal increases expected through the end of 2023. Additionally, the short term […]
Yesterday (June 28), the CFPB Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released new forbearance exit rules for servicers. The rules run to more than 200 pages and can have very technical compliance requirements. According to the final rule, servicers can initiate a foreclosure action only after certain events. A borrower submitting a loss mitigation application must be eligible. The borrower cannot break […]
The end of forbearance may be panicking borrowers. In a just released report, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) noted that March 2021 had the most complaints since April 2018. Those complaints overwhelmingly focus on mentions of forbearance and related terms. The number of mortgage borrowers who reported struggling to make payments also rose. CFPB has been issuing conflicting information […]
Facing Default or in Default? There are many circumstances which cause a borrower to go into default or face the prospect of default. Our prior post on Disaster Declarations covered one such event. But more common reasons for default exist. As one would expect, job loss plays a substantial role in many defaults. Divorce and death also play primary roles […]
Is there an unhealthy housing market brewing? The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported March’s existing-home sales at 6.01 million. Comparisons to March 2020 may not be valid due to the start of Covid, but the year-over-year growth reflected an increase of 12.3%. This is unusually high and likely an outlier, but is consistent with the interest rate driven buying. Ongoing […]
Estimates of the number of mortgage borrowers who entered forbearance at some point over the last year range as high as 11 million. Some borrowers used it as a precaution, others had little other choice. Because there were differing reasons for entering forbearance and differing circumstances, many borrowers were able to exit forbearance. The exit would likely be from a […]
With the extension of forbearance noted in Q1 2021, forbearance time lines for borrowers to exit are all over the map. To qualify for forbearance, borrowers were required to request forbearance and start prior to March 1, 2021. Initial borrowers may have entered in April 2020. The forbearance periods allowed for FEDERAL mortgages is 12 months. However, two additional 3 […]
Home Owner’s Associations and Condominium Associations can rack up big assessments against an owner’s property. Can you stop paying these if you have trouble affording them? There are substantial differences between Home Owner’s Associations and Condominium Associations. In general, a Condominium Association has a substantial duty to maintain a variety of insurance coverages for common areas (walls, roofs, physical structures, […]
Many stories in the news recently credit a spike in home sales and home sale prices to the pandemic. The theme consistently refers to Work From Home job moves from high cost locations to suburban or remote locations. Clearly, moving from high cost, high density housing or rentals to a larger home provides more space. A more relaxed location with […]
2008 created a significant crisis in housing, bond markets, employment, and interest rates. Unemployment presents a significant problem. Interest rates are rising, but only for longer term loans such as mortgages. In a replay of 2008, short term interest rates (US treasuries with a term of 3 months, 6 months or 1 year) are actually at historic lows! March 22, […]
Forbearance requires an agreement between the borrower and the lender. Missing or delaying any payments without a documented agreement will likely hurt the borrowers credit, just as if the borrower stopped paying and went delinquent. But will forbearance affect a credit score? With proper approval, forbearance won’t affect credit, according to one of the major credit bureaus. Forbearance delays required […]
During the week of July 19, FHA published a revised version of loss mitigation options for borrowers coming to the end of their forbearance period. FHA terminated the old framework. Now, FHA offers two options. First, a COVID-19 recovery standalone partial claim for borrowers who can resume making payments on the mortgage. Second a COVID-19 recovery modification option for borrowers […]
At the end of 2020, mortgage delinquencies and the mortgage delinquency rate fell from the 3rd quarter of 2020. It’s still well above a year ago. What types of mortgages are performing best and which are the most delinquent?
DTI has been a component of mortgage underwriting and loan underwriting for decades. The general rule was 28/36 for a long time. If you are unfamiliar with DTI, pick up a copy of Winning Mortgage, Winning Home; you should not be applying for a mortgage without understanding these numbers and what they mean for you. Politicians pushed to raise these […]
Thank you for the 10s of thousands of page views, all the book purchases and the positive comments/feedback from following the book. Congratulations to everyone who saved thousands on the mortgage and planned well with our book. To close out the year, Winning Mortgage, Winning Home is discounted for Christmas and the holidays! Go to Amazon with your recipient’s email […]
What’s the latest information on forbearance help?