Underwater homeowners without FHA loans will have a new refinancing option starting in September of this year courtesy of that organization. The FHA is going to offer qualified borrowers who are underwater but current on their mortgages the opportunity to qualify for an FHA-insured mortgage – if the borrowers can convince their current lender to write off at least 10 Read full article »
Tag archives for Incentives
How Stupid Can They Be? Government Offers Financing For Overleveraged Properties Through FHA
category: Editorial
tags: Borrowers, Credit Score, Department Of The Treasury, Existing Mortgage, Fha Loan, Fha Loans, Fha Mortgage, Fha Refinance, Housing Market, Incentives, Insured Mortgage, Lien Holder, Lien Holders, Lifeline, Mortgages, Negative Equity, Principal Balance, Refinancing, Unpaid Principal, Value Ratio
Timothy Geithner Lets HAMP Have It
Last week, Timothy Geithner laid into mortgage servicers participating in HAMP during prepared comments before the Senate Subcommittee on Financial Services. “I want to be clear,” he said, “that we do not believe servicers are doing enough to help homeowners, not doing enough to help them navigate the difficult and often frightening process of avoiding foreclosures.” He then went on Read full article »
category: Real Estate News
Pay to Play: When Can INVESTORS Start Offering Incentives for Short Sales?
It’s one of the cardinal rules of short sale transactions: the homeowner cannot profit from the transaction. (Aside, of course, from the debt relief and the fact that they no longer are in a home that they cannot afford). Now, I’ve heard plenty of ways around this, such as buying items inside the home from the homeowner, but part of Read full article »
category: Main Content, Real Estate News
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
- Western States Working Through Foreclosure Backlog Quicker than Eastern
- 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
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.