Basis Point contributor Julian Hebron was quoted in a MarketWatch story yesterday about how to handle HELOC freezes. All year, banks have been freezing Home Equity Lines of Credit in big waves. It’s a way to protect themselves from dropping home prices and also a way to free up limited capital that would otherwise have [...]

A majority 69% of Countrywide shareholders voted today to approve takeover of the company by Bank of America. Countrywide will drop the name in short order and is likely also to drop many product lines. According to Bloomberg:

Wachovia, the last name-brand player besides Countrywide still active in neg-am Option ARMs, has hired Goldman Sachs to evaluate its loan portfolio. Wachovia’s slogan on their wholesale broker rate sheets is “We Lend Our Own Money, We Make Our Own Rules.” That seems likely to change as outsiders exert more influence over the process.

There are millions of clever folks out there, and believe it or not some aren’t even in mortgage banking! The website name says it all, but anyone who likes cats, and especially those that don’t, should check out this site.

Later today, Chase will announce that they will no longer accept home equity applications through their wholesale channel.

With the Prime Rate down to 5.0% at banks, what does that do for borrowers and their HELOC’s? Well, assuming that a borrower still has a HELOC, some might be searching their database for clients where it makes financial sense to use their 2nd to pay down their 1st. One top loan agent said, “Most [...]

What if a loan agent is trying to help a client decide between renting and buying in this environment? Here’s one tool that might help them organize their thoughts. As one would expect, in high value areas (the coasts) renting is often a favorable option, whereas in depressed areas such as Cleveland or Detroit, buying [...]

If you’re like many loan consultants, you’re entering into the second quarter thinking you’ll still have second mortgages to structure your deals with. You should think again. Loan-to-value requirements will keep dropping, and you may be returning to old school mortgage insurance for financing greater than 80% sooner than you think. There has already been [...]

Last week, we touched on tax deductions for investment property. So with the tax filing deadline is creeping up, we wanted to add some detail to that and include some extra property tax topics that may come in handy right now, and will also give you some things to think about as you fine tune [...]

Fixed and ARM rates are about even following last week’s Fed meeting. Rates dropped about .25% for the two trading sessions ahead of the Fed meeting then rose right back up after the Fed cut the bank-to-bank Fed Funds Rate and the Fed-to-bank Discount Rate by 75 basis points each. These rates are to encourage [...]