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 Renewal Zone provides you with the most current news and information in the real estate industry. Check out our "News" several times a day to find out what is happening in the world of real estate.
Falling mortgage rates motivated an increasing number of borrowers this week to inquire about a refinance, though inquiries for purchases were also higher. Rates, however, are poised to deteriorate. Refinance activity more than doubled compared to a year ago. Despite a widening spread over conforming rates, more jumbo borrowers were out shopping for a loan.The number of prospective borrowers who inquired about a mortgage rose 4 percent from la...
Borrowers in more than a dozen foreclosure actions in 10 states have recently received favorable rulings from the courts. Several of the cases either involve the Federal National Mortgage Association or the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. Foreclosure processing services were named as defendants in lawsuits filed by the states of Illinois and Nevada.A foreclosure judgment in favor of U.S. Bank, N.A., as trustee against Julia Fel...
New York's attorney general has filed a lawsuit against the three biggest lenders and the Mortgage Electronic Registration System Inc. alleging that the registry is a sham designed to deceive borrowers and the public and avoid recording fees. The state wants the system declared illegal and all resulting title defects cured.The complaint was filed Friday in the Supreme Court of the State of New York by New York Attorney General Eric T. Schnei...
An increase in the number of mortgage brokers was offset by a decline in non-broker mortgage jobs. However, the government revised the prior month's mortgage industry headcount up by more than 28,000 jobs. But the bigger news was an improvement in the U.S. employment situation last month. The latest data are a sign of an improving economy -- though it might also signal the end of record-low interest rates.The number of people working in the...
Most mortgage rates fell to the lowest levels ever recorded, and it looks like they could hang near those lows through next week. The one exception is the one-year adjustable-rate mortgage.The 30-year mortgage, 15-year mortgage and five-year, Treasury-indexed, hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage all fell to record lows.This week's Treasury Market data suggests rates are likely to be about the same in next week's report.
New data shows the number Phoenix-area homes taken back by lenders fell to its lowest level in January since early 2008.
Last month, there were 2,263 foreclosures, or trustee sales, in the region, according to the Information Market. Pre-foreclosures, also known as notice of trustee sales, fell to 2,932, the lowest level since the summer of 2007.
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The much-anticipated details of a sweeping plan to help nearly 15 million Americans underwater on their mortgages refinance to lower rates were announced this morning by President Barack Obama during a speech in Falls Church, Virg.
The plan, first mentioned in one of the president’s speech last October, would be broadened to include not only homeowners with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgagesd, but also 3.5 million homeowners with priv...
In President Barack Obama’s State of the Union last night, he vowed to keep the “American dream” alive.
His plan includes legislation that would extend the expanded HARP refinancing program to homeowners with private loans.
Currently only underwater homeowners with mortgages backed by government-owned Fannie and Freddie Mac are eligible. To qualify, it doesn’t matter how much homeowners are underwater, but they can&rs...
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are changing the rules in a way doing something that could make metro Phoenix’s many home investors very happy.
The new program that allows homeowners with mortgages held by those government-owned mortgage giants to refinance, no matter how underwater they are, now will include investors. When the expanded Home Affordable Refinancing Program, or HARP, was announced in October, investors weren’t going to...
New-home sales across the Phoenix area in 2011 hit their highest level at the end of the year, according to the “Phoenix Housing Market Letter.”
In December 855, new homes sold. That’s nearly double the monthly rate in Phoenix for most of 2011. It could be that the supply of foreclosure- and resale homes is at a seven-year low, or the near-record low interest rates.
RL Brown and Greg Burger, publishers of the report, are pres...
Floyd Norris High & Low Finance column notes that short selling has become drastically less common following ban in European markets and strict regulation in the United States; contends there is evidence that short selling roots out fraud and prunes overvalued companies, and that practice may have become scapegoat for financial turmoil it did not cause. Photos
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