Photo credit: Dan Foy cc No Distinction Between Borrower and Non-Borrower Back in June, the primary U.S. reverse mortgage product Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECM) was strengthened with a FHA guidance banning deceptive marketing. HECM has been strengthened yet again. As of August 4th, non-borrowing spouses (NBS), are protected from foreclosure and displacement in the […]

Credit Scoring Changes and Banks Loosen Requirements   Credit requirements for obtaining a mortgage are easing and credit scoring companies, along with banks, are leading the way. FICO recently introduced its new FICO Score 9. The new scoring will bypass paid collection accounts and will differentiate between non-medical and medical collection agency accounts. Consumers with […]

Photo credit: Sunset Girl cc Has Home Buying Become American Dream Deferred? Young renters in the much of the nation’s metro areas can afford to own a home. This includes the ability to afford all financial responsibilities associated with homeownership including homeowners insurance and property taxes. While there are many reasons why young renters are […]

Photo credit:Sam Howzit cc Judicial Foreclosures Responsible for 70% of Past Due Loans   Overall, mortgage foreclosures continue to fall, but those in judicial foreclosure states account for nearly 75 percent of the U.S. foreclosure market according to the latest Mortgage Monitor Report by Black Knight Financial Services.  Although judicial states comprise 42 percent of […]

Photo credit: Michael Gi cc This Program Could Become A National Model The biggest component in the housing market’s barometer of stability is the number of foreclosures conducted and this number continues to decline. Much of the decrease in the number of foreclosures may be attributed to government mitigation programs, short sales and ‘zombie’ foreclosures. See […]

Photo credit:Neil Conway cc Big Time Increase Predicted for Housing Market in 2015 Housing market news has been up and down over the past few years. There are many variables that go into how good or bad the housing market performs. One company, Altos Research, claims to provide a more objective view of the chaotic […]

Photo Credit: Homesnap Is Homesnap Pro The New MLS Mobile Platform? MLSs nationwide now have 1 year free access to the agent-only real estate app, Homesnap Pro. The announcement was made at Real Estate Connect in early July 2014 by Homesnap; the Technology Company and Brokerage based in Washington, DC with over 50,000 agents currently […]

Photo credit: Jeff Turner cc Some Areas Are Not Out of the Woods Yet Foreclosure activity in the U.S. has fallen to levels not seen since before the financial crisis started, according to a recent RealtyTrac report. The Midyear 2014 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report shows a total of 613,874 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings. This […]

Photo credit: Leader Nancy Pelosi cc Full Effect of the Act Not Seen Yet Four years ago on July 21st, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 was signed into law. The Act’s reason for being was to save our nation’s financial system from great ruin. Four years later and after […]

Photo credit: Duane_Brown cc Wall Street’s $20 Billion Takeover is Raising the Rent More than $20 billion have been invested in single-family homes since 2012 by Private Equity firms, according to a recent report by national housing activist group, Right to the City Alliance. The report is critical of the increase in REO-to rental and […]