Loan Modification

Details on the Home Buyer Tax Credit Extension

Posted on November 19, 2009
Home sales got a needed boost because of the Obama administration?s $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers. With the national economy and housing market still fragile, the government recently decided to extend the tax credit through June 2010. The government also rolled out a new tax credit aimed at existing homeowners...

Is Strategic Foreclosing The Best Loan Modification For You

Posted on November 19, 2009
Last week I received a very interesting comment on one of my articles on loan modifications. The comment claimed that for most underwater borrowers (homeowners that owe more on their property than it is worth) a ?strategic default? is smartest way to go...

Loan Modifications: 3 Reasons They Are So Slow

Posted on November 17, 2009
The Mortgage Crisis or Credit Crisis as many are more accurately describing it has left millions of Americans (and Earthlings worldwide for that matter) in or at the brink of foreclosure. Banks and Government have launched an ongoing set of increasingly aggressive programs to solve this terrible problem...

Loan Modifications: The Loan Workout Formula To Accelerate Your Modification

Posted on November 15, 2009
The News is littered with horror stories of homeowners that have been taken for a red tape ride, paperwork is lost, or applications are dropped because a vital piece of paperwork that was never actually requested is missing, all while homes are ultimately and tragically lost...

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Loan Modification Companies, Why Doesn?t Government Want You To Use Them

Posted on November 14, 2009
One of my latest articles suggested that the best advice you can get on loan modifications is free and supplied by  the Government and that the Government has a vested interest in loan modifications to work, that is to stop families from losing their homes...

Loan Modifications Are They Just A Big Scam

Posted on November 13, 2009
Preparing mortgage aid programs and loan modification schemes is not easy. Not as hard as struggling with a mortgage you can?t afford and trying to get a loan modification from heartless corporations that simply want to milk the proverbial consumer cow, so I am not expecting any sympathy, but nevertheless it is hard...

Loan Modification Alternatives: Wells Fargo Interest Only Loans

Posted on November 09, 2009
Big Banks are in trouble as more and more families are unable to pay their mortgages. The problem is that troubled homeowners are no longer the ?typical? borrower with subprime loans with high interest rates. High unemployment is creating a whole new demographic of troubled borrower with ?good? loans they can simply not afford anymore...

Loan Modifications Back To Basics

Posted on November 07, 2009
Loan Modifications can seem complicated to many of us. Especially when we are dealing with the stress of losing our home and we are presented with a seemingly endless list of requirements and forms to cope with. It is easy when writing many articles on a specialized subject to assume that everyone knows what you are talking about, that everybody is familiar with what HAMP, TARP, a servicing company, short sales and foreclosures are...

Loan Modifications Scrutinized, 1340 Loan Modifications Investigated in California

Posted on November 05, 2009
The numbers of loan modifications, foreclosures and bankruptcies we are dealing with in this credit crisis are so large they are too often hard to understand and digest. A good solution is often to downsize and see if more sense can be put into smaller models...

Loan Modifications, 5 Things the Government Is Not Doing But Should

Posted on November 04, 2009
Mortgage foreclosures are increasing steadily as home values plummet and layoffs are becoming ever more common while homeowners crumble under the weight of mortgages they can no longer afford. The administration is working hard to increase the number of loan modifications to help out struggling homeowners...

Loan Modifications, Servicers and Who Is Profiting From the Credit Crisis

Posted on November 04, 2009
The news is full of loan modification horror stories describing how homeowners have struggled for months with lost documents, changing standards, unreasonable loan modification agents and the slow tides of bureaucracy. Bad news does always seem to travel faster and further so you don?t hear half as much about the hundreds of thousands of loans that have been successfully modified...

Disappointed Homeowners Torture Loan Modification Agents

Posted on October 31, 2009
Loan Modifications have become loaded words politically and economically and as things get worse they get much more personal. Nationwide efforts have been made to educate homeowners in their search for the right loan modification for their home before they fall into foreclosure...

Loan Modification Fantasy League, How Bad Did Your Bank Do

Posted on October 29, 2009
As part of the Obama?s administration Making Home Affordable Program (HAMP) name and shame (or praise) initiative, every month a list of banks and mortgage providers is issued. The good banks are praised the bad ones are marked. The idea is to provide an extra incentive for providers to speed up their loan modification procedures...

Obamas Loan Modification Success Explained

Posted on October 27, 2009
Last Thursday the big news was Obama?s Loan Modification program, Making Home Affordable. The first target the program set out for itself, reaching 500,000 trial loan modifications by November was reached nearly a month early. Critics stated that the target was of little importance in the big picture of things with foreclosures continuing to affect more and more homeowners...

Loan Modifications For Borrowers With Two Homes What Are The Options

Posted on October 25, 2009
Loan Modifications are a very emotionally charged issue. If you are a homeowner in trouble and want information on your chances of getting a much needed loan modification it can be a nightmare to get the right information for your specific situation...

Loan Modifications And Balloon Payments What Is The Cost

Posted on October 23, 2009
Reading the news for the last two weeks you would either think the government has the credit crisis in control after hitting its 500,000 trial loan modifications or that there is no hope after seeing the rise in prime mortgage foreclosures and the rise in unemployment...

Loan Modifications, Story Of Struggle For Banks And Borrowers Alike

Posted on October 21, 2009
If you have been watching the business or economy sections of newspapers, news or blogs you will have got your fair share of loan modification horror stories. At the same time banks are increasing their capacity for loan modifications and seem to be keeping up with government targets, at least for now...

Loan Modifications: Why Is Citigroup Optimistic About Future Loan Delinquencies

Posted on October 19, 2009
Loan modifications seem like a pretty simple concept. You can?t pay your mortgage so the government ?encourages? your mortgage provider to give you a break. The break can come in the form of lower interest rates, a longer tenure, deferring a part of your loan or even ?forgiving? a chunk of your loan (that doesn?t happen all that often)...

Loan Delinquencies Fall As Banks Get Serious With Loan Modifications

Posted on October 16, 2009
Last week?s big news in loan modifications was that HAMP, Obama?s administration?s program to get troubled (i.e. 60 days behind their payments) loans back in line with ?aggressive? modifications made its first target of 50,000 trial loans before November...

U.S Loan Modifications Hit Obama?s target Early But Nobody?s Impressed

Posted on October 15, 2009
When HAMP started functioning just a few months ago everybody said it was working too slow that it would never come close to Its ambitious goals. Last Thursday nearly a month before the deadline self imposed by the administration HAMP has enrolled 50,000 troubled home loans for trial loan modifications...

500,0000 Loan Modifications: Nobel Prize Not The Only Target Obama Hits Early

Posted on October 11, 2009
While everybody is deciding if Obama deserves the Peace Nobel prize on effort and good intent or not, another achievement is not receiving half as much attention.  This month (October 09) more than 500,000 troubled home loans have joined a trial modification program, the Obama administration announced this Thursday...

Creative Ways a Loan Modification Lowers Your Monthly Payments

Posted on October 09, 2009
 Creative is probably not the first word that comes to mind when you think about loan modifications. There doesn?t seem to be many new ideas in the loan modification department. The Government is definitely doing its best to reach the borrowers that need the help, especially those that reach those that can pay affordable mortgage payments...

HAMP, Way Out For Delinquent Borrowers And Those Without Fannie

Posted on October 07, 2009
It seems Obama?s administration has a program for every issue. If you are struggling with your mortgage but are keeping up with your payments (wouldn?t that be 90% of us) you can get help with HARP. If you are delinquent (behind in your monthly mortgage payments) you can try your luck with HAMP...

TARP, Loan Modification And Other Disaster stories.

Posted on October 05, 2009
The Credit Crisis of the last two to three years has changed the whole face of the economic landscape. The knee jerk reaction of the government didn?t take long to appear in the form of HARP, HOPE and other cute acronyms. A program that hasn?t received half as much attention has been TARP...

Loan Refinance Simple Answers: Profitable Refinancing and Underwater Loans

Posted on October 03, 2009
If you ask a question about a complicated subject like loan refinances you want a simple answer that gives you the information you need not one that creates more questions. This is the goal of this series of articles here at www.blownmortgage.com. Loan Refinance Question 4...

Loan Refinance Simple Answers to Important Questions

Posted on October 01, 2009
Homeowners in the United States have all asked themselves questions about loan refinance. Whether they are in serious financial trouble or not they all wonder if they could benefit from the governments eagerness to spend taxpayer dollars on loan refinance...

Loan Modifications: 6 Ways Not To Become A Statistic

Posted on September 29, 2009
Loan Modifications have been put forward as the great savior of the current credit crisis. Whether this is true or not is a matter of debate. I personally feel that dealing with a credit crisis by trying to fix mortgage issues is not going to deal with the big picture...

Loan Modifications Eligibility Criteria, The Rules Explained.

Posted on September 27, 2009
Providing loan modifications to those that need them and are eligible according to the current criteria is the goal of the cash happy loan modification aid program. The goal is to keep out scammers and those who wish to take advantage of the system while not letting the ?deserving? fall through the cracks...

Mortgage Requests Continue To Drop Despite Mortage Relief

Posted on July 10, 2009
Mortgage Requests Continue To Drop Despite Mortage Relief   The efforts of Governments worldwide to rescue the credit and Housing industry from the pit they have dug for themselves are truly amazing. Banks have been bailed out, loans are  guaranteed, interest rates are kept low, mortgage refinancing relief programs are set up...

Freddie Mac educates borrowers via YouTube

Posted on July 09, 2009
A new video posted on YouTube on Wednesday shows borrowers how taking the time to gather a few financial documents before calling a mortgage servicer can speed the process of determining eligibility and applying for loan modification under the Making Home Affordable program or Freddie Mac’s other workout initiatives...

Home Loan Refinancing Anti-Foreclosure Effort Results Disclosed

Posted on July 07, 2009
Home Loan Refinancing Anti-Foreclosure Effort Results Disclosed   A lot has been said of the efforts of the Obama administration to curve the drop in the credit and real estate sector. You can love it or hate it but you can?t argue that an effort is being made...

Mortgage Refinancing For Underwater Borrowers Now Available

Posted on July 07, 2009
Mortgage Refinancing For Underwater Borrowers Now Available   The Obama administration is furthering its efforts to jumpstart the credit and real estate sector by widening and softening the requirements for home loan borrowers to qualify for mortgage refinancing relief...

Requirements to Qualify For An Obama Mortgage Refinance Loan

Posted on July 07, 2009
Requirements to Qualify For An Obama Mortgage Refinance Loan Are you in trouble with your Mortgage, Loan or would just like to take advantage of the current Government?s desire to give borrowers a break on their mortgage? If that is the case you are far from alone...

Bucking the mortgage modification trends

Posted on July 07, 2009
Mortgage modifications are supposed to be a win-win situation. Homeowners lower their monthly payments and get to keep their homes. Mortgage lenders, minimize loss by allowing the homeowner to hold onto their property than they would if the property went into foreclosure...

Fed study: Obama mortgage plan should give money to borrowers, not banks

Posted on July 07, 2009
A study by the Boston Fed has found that the administration?s mortgage rescue plan has failed to provide that all important profit incentive. According to today?s Boston Globe: Mortgage lenders don?t try to rework most home loans held by borrowers facing foreclosure because it would probably mean losing money...

More than half of homeowners have remodeling plans this year

Posted on July 03, 2009
It looks like it going to be a busy year for do-it-yourselfers. A new poll from Consumer Reports reveals that 54 percent of homeowners participating in the poll plan some type of remodeling project during the next 12 months. Sixty-five percent of them plan to do the work themselves...

HUD Expands Making Home Affordable Eligibility

Posted on July 02, 2009
On July 1, 2009, U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan announced an expansion of the Making Home Affordable Refinance Program to include borrowers who are current but up to 125 percent underwater on their mortgage. The announcement was made while the Secretary toured a Las Vegas neighborhood with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Congresswoman Dina Titus...

Is Trust Returning to the Mortgage Industry?

Posted on July 01, 2009
“The economy is based on trust,” said Dean Johnson, associate professor of finance at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan. In situations like the recent housing bubble, or even the stock market collapse of 1929, where markets were driven by debt and fueled by the false expectation that values can only increase, trust can be a very fragile thing...

Recovery? Mortgage apps down, prime delinquencies up

Posted on July 01, 2009
Today is the day the recovery starts, at least according to those peering into the rosiest-colored crystal balls. The Wall Street Journal dug up these great examples: Most forecasters seem to expect growth to be weak for a few quarters, but then rebound back to trend in the second half of 2008? ?Lehman Brothers research note, Dec...

New Report Links Foreclosures and Homelessness

Posted on June 30, 2009
?Local reports indicate that homelessness is on the rise and this report [Foreclosure to Homelessness] gives us insight into the role that foreclosures may be having on that increase,? said Nan Roman, president of the National Alliance to End Homelessness...

Subprime Bananas

Posted on June 28, 2009
A great post from Homegrown Evolution on one of the surprising benefits of the housing meltdown: fresh fruit. That’s right. The blog thanks Mr. Mozilo for creating our very own ‘Banana Republic’ as rundown homes and unmanned irrigation systems create the perfect environment for the growth of amazing tropical delights...

Why is Citigroup still in business?

Posted on June 26, 2009
It?s been quite a week for Citi. Tuesday it walked into a feces storm of its own making by announcing it would raise salaries by 50% to offset cuts in bonuses. To be fair to Citi, they are taking (well-deserved) crap for the entire industry on the salary issue...

41 Charged as Mortgage Fraud Hits Condos & Suburbs

Posted on June 24, 2009
Federal law enforcement officials recently announced charges have brought against 41 defendants in five separate cases in Chicago. The cases involve more than $48 million in fraudulently obtained mortgages for dilapidated homes in urban areas as well as deals involving million dollar condominiums in a Chicago high-rise and sprawling homes in affluent suburbs like Wheaton and Glenview...

Roubini: No confidence in government exit strategy

Posted on June 24, 2009
In this Bloomberg segment Dr. Nouriel Roubini shares his thoughts on why pundits proclaiming the stabilization of the housing market are wrong and why the current policy path is unsustainable and likely to have a messy exit. My favorite part? The idea of our debt ballooning from 40% GDP to 80%...

Goldman bonuses largest in firm?s 140-year history

Posted on June 22, 2009
The Guardian is reporting that Goldman Sachs staff can expect the largest bonuses in the firm’s 140 year history as the investment bank has leveraged (pun intended) dwindling competition and the brokering of US debt issuances to massive first quarter profits...

No ?green shoots? in employment

Posted on June 21, 2009
Unemployment rose in nearly every state in the nation in May, with many reaching record unemployment levels not seen since 1976. So much for green shoots. If 70% of our economy is driven by consumer spending, and more and more consumers are out of work, how exactly are we coming out of this mess? Where is the driver going to come from? Even with the government doing everything it can to keep the printing presses pumping out money there isn’t a viable way to easily replace that massive consumer spending...

Roubini: Obama banking reforms get it 75% right

Posted on June 20, 2009
Nouriel Roubini thinks that the new Obama banking reform plan gets it 75% right.  This in a video interview on Yahoo! Finance.  His one caveat is that the previous Fed under Greenspan had all the power, but didn’t care about managing risk, they wanted innovation at any cost...

Don?t bet on the consumer

Posted on June 17, 2009
All this green shoot talk and pronouncements that the worst is over fails to take into account the sorry state of the US consumer.  Sure indicators may be turning (are they really?) but the fact remains that the US consumer, the same people responsible for 70% of our nation’s GDP are still in a world of hurt...

From the obvious dept - regulators incompetent

Posted on June 16, 2009
USA Today, playing Captain Obvious, has an article that highlights how federal regulators failed to properly oversee banking institutions and missed key warning signs of the meltdown as early as 2005.  The FDIC blames the OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) and other regulatory bodies for incompetence and indifference in the face of mounting problems at small banks that should have been the canaries in the coal mine for broader systemic issues...

Student loans make living with debt a harsh reality for college grads

Posted on June 15, 2009
Great visualization of the average student loan debt carried by students coming out of college across the country.  Amazing that most states’ averages are more than $15,000 per student.  It’s tough to bash people for not saving enough when going to school automatically puts you in the hole as you enter the workforce...

California Foreclosure Prevention Act goes into effect tomorrow

Posted on June 15, 2009
The state of California is imposing a 90-day moratorium on all foreclosures as part of the new California Foreclosure Prevention Act that goes into effect tomorrow.  The law requires that lenders prove they tried to modify a borrower’s loan before initiating foreclosure proceedings...

Largest Bankruptcies in History

Posted on June 14, 2009
GOOD Magazine has a great graphic representation of the biggest bankruptices in history. (click link for bigger size) Check out Lehman bro’s $691 billion BK, more than 7 times the size of GM’s recent bankruptcy. (h/t Boing Boing for the image)

Abracadabra Obama

Posted on June 12, 2009
I remember going through a phase where I wanted to learn how to do card tricks to impress my friends and members of the fairer sex.  I read several books on the subject and the number one thing to learn is to get the observer’s eyes off the deck of cards...

California 50 days from government meltdown

Posted on June 11, 2009
California has 50 days until the government melts down under the pressure of the $24.3 billion budget gap. That according to the state’s controller, John Chiang. And the problem isn’t getting any better. State revenues were off nearly 18% in May the state was off an additional billion dollars from the current budget...

Where?s Wells Fargo in the TARP repayments?

Posted on June 10, 2009
We reported earlier that 19 banks were OK’d by the Treasury to pay back the TARP funds that were injected in to them during the first round of the bailout. According to the naked capitalism here are the banks that passed stress tests and will get to pay their TARP funds back: The institutions are the following: Passed the stress tests: JPMorgan Chase & Co...

Incoming! 19 banks to repay TARP funds

Posted on June 09, 2009
The Treasury announced today that 19 banks have been allowed repay a total of $68 billion in TARP funds. The banks, who remain nameless were granted permission to buy back the warrants that the Treasury holds in each company at “fair market value...

Long-term unemployment woes increasing rate prime mortgage foreclosures

Posted on June 09, 2009
As the unemployment rate continues to grow it is hitting an increasing number of people who had prime mortgages. The result is a huge increase in foreclosures among primes. In the first three months of the year, prime fixed-rate loans accounted for nearly half of the increase in foreclosure proceedings, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association...

Stay or Go? Freddie Mac changes offer homeowners more refinancing choices

Posted on June 08, 2009
?We are responding to consumers’ desires to have more refinancing options,? said Freddie Mac Executive Vice President Don Bisenius. ?As an added benefit, we are expanding the program and providing greater flexibility in financing closing costs. Freddie Mac is committed to doing everything we can to bring the benefits of the Administration’s Making Home Affordable program to as many borrowers as possible...

Lewis: We?ve arrived at a point of madness

Posted on June 07, 2009
Excellent interview with Michael Lewis who talks about his days at Solomon and how the 1980’s were really the start of this era of greed and malfeasance that led to the economic calamity we’re currently going through.  He goes on with the following insight regarding the players in the game that portends future disaster (h/t HuffPo): …one of the things that’s odd about the current situation is that the people who created the problem are so powerful in deciding what the solution to the problem is going to be...

The Tale of Two Countrywides & Maybe Bank of America

Posted on June 04, 2009
?This is the tale of two companies,? Robert Khuzami, Director of the Security and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Enforcement explained in a public statement announcing the filing of financial fraud charges against Countrywide Financial CEO Angelo Mozilo and two other former executives...

Texas Blames Federal Government for Mortgage Crisis

Posted on June 03, 2009
The majority of Texans surveyed voluntarily blame the federal government for causing the current economic crisis. Results from a survey of 800 Texas registered voters released by the  Texas Credit Union League (TCUL), Texans point the finger at some aspect of the federal government more than they do at private business or individuals...

California trys to deter loan modification and foreclosure rescue scams

Posted on June 03, 2009
California foreclosure consultants and loan modification companies must post a $100,000 bond and register with the state to legally operate, effective July 1, 2009. This according to a news release by California Attorney General Jerry Brown. The move is aimed at bringing some transparency and accountability to a cottage industry filled with scam artists and ripoff shops who prey on homeowners desperate to save their homes...

GM to file bankruptcy tomorrow

Posted on June 01, 2009
?What is good for General Motors is good for America? Charlie Wilson, CEO of GM, 1955. Maybe the country will follow GM in to bankruptcy as well… The storied American car maker, which by some estimates employs one out of every ten Americans will head to bankruptcy tomorrow morning...

One million foreclosure landmark a boon for some buyers

Posted on June 01, 2009
The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) estimates that one million new foreclosures have been filed so far in 2009. The news comes on the heels of the release of the first quarter 2009 National Delinquency Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) which reveals that 12 percent of all mortgages are now delinquent, the highest level in the 37 years the MBA has been measuring delinquency rates...

AIG wants donations back to pay bonuses

Posted on June 01, 2009
The sickening feeling in my stomach continues to worsen. AIG is looking to clawback a $490 million endowment and the $27 million in donations already made to charities to pay employee bonuses instead. The New York Post has the details on this underhanded, disgusting move by a company and board that has long been disgraced...

Blame it on Reagan

Posted on June 01, 2009
Economist Paul Krugman is any way in a New York Times Op-Ed. Krugman blames Reagan and his advisors for planting the seeds that would has become the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Krugman points to the 1982 signing of the Garn-St...

Is drop in home values nearing terminal velocity?

Posted on May 26, 2009
The best that can be said about S&P/Case-Schiller numbers out today is maybe home prices can’t fall any faster. Prices for Q1 of this year dropped at 19.1%, .9% more than they dropped in the last quarter of ‘08. The 20-city index dropped 18...

Would One Mortgage Regulator Work?

Posted on May 21, 2009
The housing crisis has caused a re-evaluation of the current system on a number of fronts, from how mortgages are serviced to lending to the government?s role in financial markets. One area in particular that?s come under intense scrutiny of late is financial regulation, and Uncle Sam has launched a number of efforts to overhaul the regulation of the financial system...

Homeowners Lack Savings Amid Growing Job Loss Fears

Posted on May 20, 2009
Twenty-four percent of homeowners do not have any savings to cover their living expenses in the event they lose their job, according to the latest quarterly survey from Wells Fargo and Company. Although only 23 percent of survey respondents have managed to increase their savings during the past year, 60 percent indicate they want to increase their savings, up from 53 percent during the fourth quarter of 2008...

New Commercial Real Estate Lending Index Introduced

Posted on May 18, 2009
?Commercial Real Estate lending conditions will likely deteriorate further after a sharp drop in the first quarter of 2009, creating both new opportunities and challenges for community banks,? said Chris Nichols, CEO of Banc Investment Group the capital markets group of Pacific Coast Bankers’ Bancshares...

Do Homebuyers Need More Encouragement?

Posted on May 18, 2009
Here we are, well into the aftermath of the financial crisis that torpedoed home values across the country, sent mammoth financial institutions into the poor house, and drove unemployment numbers toward the double digits. The government, for its part, has taken increasingly drastic steps to put the real estate market right again, to mixed effect...

As vacancies soar, commercial space owners fight cutting rents

Posted on May 14, 2009
A bad time to sell things is an even worse time to own property where things get sold. Thus the news that retail sales dropped “unexpectedly” in April means retailers are dropping as well. Here in Boston take a walk down posh Newbury Street and you will see many storefront “for rent” signs...

Freddie Mac Up Next for Additional Aid

Posted on May 13, 2009
When it comes to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, good news is hard to come by. If you?ve been following the blog, you probably already know that Fannie Mae reported a rather large loss in the first quarter, but what about Freddie? Unfortunately things aren?t much better there, either, although arguably not quite as bad with the firm reporting a loss of $9...

Meet the Biggest Mortgage Originators & Servicers in the U.S.

Posted on May 12, 2009
The mortgage industry changed in the last year. Most companies have found themselves under significant financial pressure. Some mortgage firms have disappeared. Others have grown and expanded their market share by acquiring struggling competitors. The number of mortgage loan originations has also been on the rise, allowing lenders to add to the growth from mergers and acquisitions...

Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act H.R. 1728 Implications

Posted on May 11, 2009
While there?s plenty of finger pointing to go around as to who?s to blame for the current recession and widening crisis, most would agree that predatory lending practices played a role in the damaging of financial markets. As a result, we?ve quietly awaited steps that will lead to tighter restrictions on lenders and how they?ll be able to operate in the future...

Fannie Mae Continues to Bleed

Posted on May 08, 2009
I, like many individuals out there, have a hard time really wrapping my brain around large numbers. This isn?t to say that I can?t do math, just that after a certain denomination, I tend to lose sight of the impact that amount of money can have. So when Fannie Mae recently reported that it lost $23...

How much is RefinanceRates.com worth?

Posted on May 08, 2009
Domain names are an integral part of business in the 21st Century. Some are perpetually popular. Most rise and fall in popularity, influenced by a variety of factors. One domain name that is currently enjoying an upsurge in popularity is RefinanceRates...

Playing the Crisis Blame Game

Posted on May 07, 2009
Ahh, the time tested method of deflecting blame is alive and well when it comes to resolving the roots of the financial crisis. One of the most aggravating parts of constantly reading about the ?starting? point as it were of the mortgage mess is that everyone has their own story to tell...

Declining home values sink one-fifth of homeowners

Posted on May 06, 2009
U.S. home values fell for the ninth consecutive quarter during the first three months of 2009 leaving one in five American homeowners with negative equity in their homes.  The first quarter Zillow Home Value Index fell to $182,378, a decline of 14.2 percent over the same period in 2008...

Unintended Conquences: Housing Discrimination Spikes as Crisis Continues

Posted on May 05, 2009
?Fair housing advocates have been warning the federal government for a decade, to no avail, about the damage that abusive lending would bring,? said Shanna L. Smith, President and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA). ?For too long, HUD and the Justice Department have stood by while people and neighborhoods of color have been targeted for predatory loans and stripped of equity...

Some Good Housing News

Posted on May 04, 2009
If you?re an optimist like myself, you?ve probably grown tired of the constant hum of negative or depressing news as it relates to the housing market. More delinquencies here, higher foreclosures there, falling prices over there. After months of terrible news with no end in sight, we?ve seen some hints that things are, at the very least, not world-endingly bad...

Seven charged in Indianapolis mortgage fraud scheme

Posted on May 01, 2009
Seven people have been charged with crimes related to nearly $20 million in fraudulent mortgage loans in the U.S. District Court of Indianapolis. The charges, announced  April 30 by Timothy M. Morrison, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, include wire fraud and money laundering as well as fraud and conspiracy...

New Fed plan will help with 2nd mortgages, home equity loans

Posted on April 28, 2009
The Obama administration has announced a new program to help borrowers with second mortgages stay out of foreclosure. Under this program, the government will pay mortgage servicers $500 upfront and $250 a year for three years if they successfully modify a second mortgage, such as a home equity loan...

The End Of Countrywide

Posted on April 28, 2009
It isn?t easy being Bank of America these days. The bank had previously thought to be in decent standing up until it acquired struggling firm Merrill Lynch, and since that point things have been..well?awful. The flow of bad press has been non-stop, between Merrill Lynch?s crumbling balance sheet, questionable bonuses, and giving former Executive John Thain the axe, the firm simply can?t escape the ongoing drama...

The ups and downs of mortgage fraud

Posted on April 27, 2009
The FraudBlogger Index climbed to 1427 during the first quarter of 2009, double what it was in the first quarter last year. Already in April a federal grand jury has indicted four individuals as part of a massive â??Dream Homesâ? mortgage fraud scheme and 24 individuals in a Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) conspiracy in a mortgage fraud scheme based in San Diego, CA...

The Impact of Freddie Mac?s CFO Suicide

Posted on April 23, 2009
If you happened to be a conspiracy theorist, you?d almost have to be salivating at a story like this. Freddie Mac, which has been at the center of attention in regards to the nationwide housing crisis, had their Chief Financial Officer die in an apparent suicide...

Deflation is real and it?s spreading

Posted on April 23, 2009
So far Spain, Ireland and the UK are already seeing it and Japan is teetering on the brink. “Ireland, struggling with a ballooning budget deficit and record unemployment, has been at the vanguard of Europe?s economic collapse. Now deflation threatens to push the country deeper into its worst recession in eight decades...

Cities in the Sunbelt see the most foreclosure activity in 1Q 2009

Posted on April 22, 2009
?The metro areas with the highest levels of foreclosure activity in the first quarter of 2009 paint a picture of concentrated problems in a relative small number of hard hit areas,? explains James Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac, a leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties...

The Blame Game Part V: Transparency

Posted on April 21, 2009
?Stimulus funds need to be infused into the economy as quickly and efficiently as possible in order to stimulate growth,? said David Williams, leader of Deloitte’s Financial Advisory Services practice. ?However, the legislative process as well as the public’s desire for transparency surrounding how stimulus funds are allocated do not bode well for getting stimulus funds into the economy quickly...

A big thank you

Posted on April 17, 2009
Hi Folks, Morgan here. I wanted to take a minute of our day to recognize a member of the Blown Mortgage family who has done yeoman’s work over the last several months. Cindy Lopez has been the powerhouse behind the “quickie’s,” the afternoon and morning links to the other pertinent news in the world of finance happening out there on the web...

Afternoon Quickie 04/16/2009

Posted on April 16, 2009
Financial Times - JPMorgan feels stress of being in ?limbo-land’ Huffington Post - Stiglitz Says White House Ties To Wall Street Doom Bank Rescue Huffington Post - The Rating Agencies, A Key Reason For The Recession, Get Primed For An Overhaul Public Integrity - The Appraisal Bubble: In Run Up to Real Estate Bust, Lenders Pushed Appraisers To Inflate Values Telegraph - Anti-Goldman Sachs blogger Mike Morgan tries to turn legal tables

Foreclosure activity sets records in 1Q 2009

Posted on April 16, 2009
One in every 159 U.S. housing units have received a foreclosure notice already this year.  Foreclosure filings during the first quarter of 2009 increased 24 percent over the same quarter in 2008, according to the U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. The pace also appears to be increasing with 17 percent more default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions reported in March than in February...