The U.S. Treasury Department is stepping in where the current housing crisis left off with a new “fair lending unit” that demands that once again, banks make loans not based on credit scores or worthiness, but based on race and ethnicity. “The foreclosure crisis…disproportionately touches communities of color,” explains Thomas Perez, head of the department’s civil rights division. He explains Read full article »
Tag archives for Treasury Department
Department of Justice’s Fair Lending Unit Could Create a New Housing Mess
tags: BEREL, Bryan Ellis, Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter, carole vansickle, Credit Score, Down Payment, Draft, fair lending unit, fairness in lending, housing crash, housing crisis, Housing Market, housing market news, lending, lending discrimination, Real Estate, Real Estate Investing, Real Estate Investing News, Real Estate Investors, real estate investors news, Real Estate Market, Real Estate News, red lining, thomas perez, Treasury Department, unfair lending practices, us treasury department
Mortgage Interest Deduction Escapes Debt Compromise Unscathed
Although many politicians have been toying with the unpopular idea of eliminating the mortgage interest deduction that allows citizens to deduct their mortgage interest payments from their taxes, the deduction made it through the latest round of negotiations unscathed. Some lawmakers had hoped to cut this deduction as part of the debt ceiling compromise and had included language in an Read full article »
tags: 2012 fiscal year, BEREL, Bryan Ellis, Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter, budget cuts, carole vansickle, debt ceiling, debt ceiling bill, debt ceiling compromise, debt compromise, deficit cuts. deficit spending, Draft, Lawmakers, mid, Mortgage Interest Deduction, Real Estate, real estate industry, Real Estate Investing, Real Estate Investing News, Real Estate Investors, real estate investors news, Real Estate News, spending cuts, super committee, Tax Deductions, taxes, Treasury Department
Loan Modification: Don’t Start Saving or You’re OUT
According to Treasury Department data release Friday, March 12, nearly 90,000 “distressed borrowers” will be losing their mortgage aid under the government’s foreclosure prevention plans, and many more currently paying modified, lower payments on their loans will lose those modifications despite the fact that they are up to date. While some of these losses are due to a failure to prove Read full article »
category: Real Estate News
tags: 99s, Borrowers, Foreclosure Prevention, Government Foreclosure, Government Programs, Lenders, Loan Modification, Losses, Mandates, Mortgage Relief, Paperwork, Participants, Peril, Prevention Plans, Private Enterprise, Private Mortgage, Relief Efforts, Retirement, Saving Money, Treasury Department, Wells Fargo
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.