It’s taken some time to get off the ground, but the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) may finally be gaining some traction. According to a new report released yesterday by the U.S. Treasury Department, 910,000 homeowners have now received a permanent HAMP modification and 83 percent of eligible homeowners that signed on with HAMP since June 2010 have gotten permanent Read full article »
Tag archives for Commercial Real Estate
HAMP Success Tally Slowly Growing
D.C. Housing Inventory Lowest Since 2005
Not since 2005 has the Washington D.C. housing inventory been so sparse. According to a report by Real Estate Business Intelligence, 22 percent fewer homes were for sale in December 2011 than during the same month in 2010. Of that available inventory, only one in 20 of those homes is a foreclosure, also a steep decline from the 16 percent Read full article »
Investors Wonder If Profits Can Continue Rising in Face of Slow Economic Growth
Though you might not know it from the tone of the media these days, business is booming in the corporate sector. In fact, later this week fourth quarter profits are due to be released and analysts predict that they will have risen 7.2 percent over this time last year. In fact, corporate profits as a percent of GDP are near Read full article »
Cold, Hard Numbers: 20
The percentage down payment on a loan proposed by federal regulators from the FDIC, the U.S. Treasury, HUD, the Federal Reserve, the SEC and the FHA. Lenders have protested that requiring this much of a down payment would “suffocate” the housing industry because borrowers will simply be unable to come up with that large a sum of money. Read full article »
Training & Education: Housing Planning and Retirement
One of the most complicated aspects of retirement is planning how and where to live. In the past, many people simply focused on building as much equity in their home as possible so that the home could be sold to finance a move in retirement. However, in today’s real estate market, this traditional plan is often no longer viable. With Read full article »
The Politics of Real Estate
Few industries are as profoundly impacted by the political machinations in Washington as the real estate industry. Whether it's old legislation like Jimmy Carter's Community Reinvestment Act or Barack Obama's massive mortgage bailouts, the U.S. political machine has a huge impact (usually bad) on the business of real estate.
Ideally, we could ignore politics. But here at the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter, we insist on seeing the world with clarity - including the reality of Washington's aggressive involvement in every facet of our business, from mortgage lending to real estate sales license; from loan modification regulations to appraisal requirements... every piece of our business is profoundly impacted by politics. So rather than stick our heads in the sand and ignore reality, readers of the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter choose to be informed and prepared.
Mortgage Industry News
Few things change more rapidly than the mortgage market, and with the increasing dominance of GSE's Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the mortgage business, it's more important than ever to keep up. Here are a few recent mortgage news updates:
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Mortgage News
- HAMP Success Tally Slowly Growing
- Biggest Down Payments in the Country Found in New Jersey
- President Bypasses Congress, Appoints Director of the Consumer Protection Bureau
- Federal Reserve Recommends Expanding GSEs to Turn Housing Market Around
- Mortgage Rates Likely to Remain Low for a While Longer
- Top Former FDIC, Wells Fargo Execs Say Fannie and Freddie Must Go
- FHA Continues to Extend Anti-Flipping Waiver
- More Homeowners Using Delaying Tactics to Slow Down Foreclosures
- Now that It’s Passed: The True Cost of the Payroll Tax Cut
- Minnesota Cities Limit Rental Volumes
About Bryan Ellis
Bryan Ellis is an Atlanta-based real estate analyst and publisher of the widely read newsletter "The Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter". With over 200,000 subscribers - including real estate investors, agents, brokers, appraisers and other real estate professionals - the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter is among America's largest sources of unbiased coverage of politics and public policy for the real estate industry.
Bryan Ellis serves as editor in chief for the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter and is assisted by an extraordinary staff of writers, researchers and editors who are each real estate experts in their own right and who assure that the news we report is well researched, factual, and highly relevant to today's real estate industry.
Bryan is very happily married and has two wonderful daughters. He makes his home in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. You can contact the team at the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter here.