The federal government’s beleaguered Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) fell to impressive new lows in August after a summer of progress with only 33,000 homeowners receiving a permanent loan modification that month. That is 33 percent lower than in September. While those who did manage to get their loans converted were able to reduce their loan payments down to about a Read full article »
Tag archives for Mortgage Payment
HAMP Conversions Plummet in August
category: Real Estate News
Scapegoat Alert: Defaulting HAMP Homeowners Not to Blame – Credit Card Debt and Car Loans at Fault!
According to a recent U.S. Treasury report, nearly half of all HAMP loan modifications either fail during the trial period or default soon after conversion to permanency. The treasury indicated in its report this was largely because HAMP modifications did not provide sufficient incentive for underwater homeowners to continue to make monthly mortgage payments even after their payments were reduced. Read full article »
category: Editorial
Responsible Homeowner Reward Program Incentivizes Making Your Payments
The Responsible Homeowners Reward (RH Reward) program in New Jersey just celebrated its 4-month birthday by offering tens of millions of dollars to incentivize homeowners to make their mortgage payments rather than accepting a strategic default. That’s right. They’re paying them to make their mortgage payments. Of course, there is more to it than that. Participating homeowners do see a rising balance Read full article »
category: Real Estate News
tags: Banks In New Jersey, Borrowers, Bs, Commercial Real Estate, Commercial Real Estate Investors, Disconcerted, Do The Right Thing, Estate Business, Fallacy, Foreclosure, Gold Rush, Lending Institutions, Monday Night, Mortgage Balance, Mortgage Payment, Mortgage Payments, Negative Equity, Real Estate Investors, Reward Program, Rh
Owning is Cheaper than Renting?
While the news is certainly not all good, based on John Burns Real Estate Consulting’s (JBRC) latest “report card” for the housing industry, released this week by the consulting firm that grades various aspects of the housing market and industry each month, the low grades spell great news for renters who are in a position to buy. “Affordability is so good Read full article »
category: Real Estate News
tags: Affordability, Alterations, Attractive Rates, Consulting Firm, Distressed Properties, Fannie Mae, Fixed Mortgage, Foreclosure, Foreclosures, Great News, Housing Industry, Housing Market, Individual Investors, Inflation, John Burns, Market Experts, Median Price, Mortgage Payment, Pat On The Back, Personal Credit History, Preforeclosures, Real Estate Consulting, Rents, Variable Rate
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.