I am very excited, because last night I received news that I had won $5 million in the Netherlands lotto! Unfortunately I will receive $5 a year for a million years… Seriously, not a day goes by that I don’t receive some e-mail like, “Wherein your email address emerged as one of the online Winning
Appraisals
Do the “Alphabet Song” and “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” have the same tune? And did you just try singing the two songs? New Appraisal Regs On Way Out? Generally speaking, mortgage folks are a pretty optimistic bunch, although “trust but verify” is an approach that many use in their business lives. It turns out that
Everyone makes mistakes, and estimates are only that: estimates. The MBAA, who is pretty good at estimates, believes that mortgage originations will hit $1.5 trillion in 2010. This follows Wells Fargo and JPMorgan’s estimates (or at least the last one that I had heard) of volumes of about $1 trillion. Either way, it seems that
Loan modifications, which seem to have more of an impact on the larger investors than on the smaller brokers, have come a long way since earlier this year. An assortment of modification programs have been almost entirely replaced by HAMP, now the industry standard for first liens, and servicers have streamlined, to a much greater
In the 1990’s it was hard to lose money in the stock market. “Don’t confuse brains with a bull market” was a popular slogan, and in fact was printed on a shirt that we wore on the trading desk at Tuttle & Co. Late in the decade, however, stocks did not look so great. When
When I got home last night, my wife demanded that I take her someplace expensive…So I took her to a gas station…That’s when the fight started. Gasoline prices are on the rise, just in time for “Talk Like a Pirate Day”, which is tomorrow. In our wonderful non-metric system here in the US, a “barrel”
Rates on conforming loans up to $417k and super-conforming loans up to $729k continue to trade up and down as much as .5% per week but as of today we’re net even on lows we touched 10 days ago. Rates on Jumbos from $729k to $3.5m are competitive for borrowers with strong down payments, income
As of May 1, a new regulation prohibits loan officers from talking to home appraisers. Previously, this was one of the first steps in a loan agent’s client advisory process. The new regulation is called the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) and was mandated by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which both are regulated
The National Association of Mortgage Brokers says new appraisal rules will cost consumers at least $2.8 billion in extra fees created by long delays (extended lock-in fees) and higher appraisal costs. New appraisal rules, called the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC), prevent loan originators from talking to appraisers. Here’s NAMB’s full memo on the
After last week’s proposal by a democratic representative of a moratorium on the new appraisal rules imposed on residential mortgage lenders, this week republican congressman is on board. More on this below from San Francisco Chronicle. Even if this does go through, lenders won’t back off their implementation of new appraisal rules, because they have
Rates on conforming loans up to $417k and super-conforming loans up to $729k have been on a wild ride in the last 7 weeks, spiking up .875% then regaining .625% of that in the past three weeks, for a net increase of .25%. Inflation and bond market oversupply concerns lead the run up, then worse
Ah, inflation – at all levels. During the life of a 30-yr fixed-rate mortgage, there are bound to be periods of inflation. It is debatable, in the market of mortgages, whether or not borrowers and lenders take inflation into account. Certainly ARM loans do to some extent. But bond prices (aside from TIP securities, some
Manhattan Condo Prices When I graduated from Cal with a fresh business degree, I tried to get an apartment in Manhattan. They wouldn’t let me in. I knew it would be expensive, but I just assumed that for $2,000 a month, the toilet would be inside the apartment. That has changed a little, since in
Home Appraisal Issues I overheard the kids last night talking about doing chores. My daughter said, “If we stop dusting, we could use the coffee table for a message board!” Speaking of message boards, I have seen a few analysts state that they believe property appraisals are keeping a lid on values. More precisely, when
What are top loan agents saying? One broker wrote, “Things have been good for me lately, which has been much needed. Hopefully it will keep up, as I have a lot of brokers that were waiting to lock for 15 days, so unfortunately they’re in a little bit of trouble now. The DU Refi Plus
There are some clever folks out there. One of them created this lamentation of the new appraisal rules (known as HVCC, the Home Valuation Code of Conduct), sung to Joe Cocker’s “All Night Laundry Mat Blues”: We got the all day HVCC blues Brokers can’t use appraisers that they choose The AMC we’re using they
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