08.20.2008 New York Versus Freddie Mac: Round One
It’s fight time in New York. On one side is newly-passed state legislation which sets tough standards for subprime and “high cost” loans and on the other is Freddie Mac. |
08.20.2008 National Registration For Loan Officers Becomes Reality
What do you know about your loan officer? |
08.19.2008 Can “Appreciation Sharing” Solve The Mortgage Mess?
We’re about to see something new in the mortgage marketplace: The government is going to insure huge numbers of shared-appreciation mortgages, a type of home financing rarely seen in the U.S. |
08.05.2008 Are Fixed-Rate Loans About To Vanish?
For decades the surest and safest mortgage has been the quiet and dull fixed-rate loan. With fixed-rate loans, the monthly payment never changes and the loan balance declines every month. |
08.03.2008 Capitalizing on a Cooling Market
When the South Florida housing market entered into a nosedive last year, Harry Andrade saw an opportunity. |
07.27.2008 FHA Gives Up Billions To U.S. Treasury
Can you name a federal agency that has banked more than $13.5 billion in mortgage insurance profits during the past few years? |
07.16.2008 Do New Mortgage Rules Make Borrowers Safer?
You could hardly miss the headlines this week: More than 1,000 news outlets covered new rules from the Federal Reserve designed to “protect” America’s mortgage borrowers. |
07.08.2008 Tech-Savvy Foreclosures Seekers Flock to the Internet
Two female foreclosure investors on opposite sides of the nation recently discovered a new and refreshing way to purchase foreclosure properties — online. |
07.03.2008 High-End Foreclosures Rising Among Top Tier Homes
Seven-figure foreclosures — once a rarity in 2007 — are starting to pop up with more frequency in some of the wealthiest communities nationwide. |
07.02.2008 Wachovia Changes The Lending Game
With assets of more than $800 billion, Wachovia is the nation’s fourth-largest banking institution. |
06.25.2008 New States Rules Begin To Impact Foreclosure Numbers
In April, according to RealtyTrac.com, Maryland ranked sixth in foreclosures among all the states but just 30 days later it fell to 22nd for the month of May. |
06.23.2008 How to Sell Your House Quickly When Facing Foreclosure
If you are currently in foreclosure, strongly consider selling your property as a backup plan. |
06.19.2008 Top 7 Foreclosure Stories of Past Year
The euphoria that surrounded six years of escalating home prices, record levels of home sales and rock-bottom interest rates crashed and burned in 2007. |
06.18.2008 Beyond the Foreclosure Blame Game
Real estate investors are becoming a convenient scapegoat for many looking to assign blame for the recent surge in foreclosures and faltering real estate market. |
06.17.2008 How to Sell a Property via Online Auction
The Internet allows potential buyers to search for properties all over the world, view photographs and due diligence materials online, and participate in auctions all across the country. |
06.03.2008 Online Real Estate Auctions: 12 Tips for First-Time Bidders
Online auctions offer both novice and experienced real estate buyers a way to obtain under-valued properties. |
05.26.2008 Crapshoot on the Courthouse Steps
Monday through Friday, a small group of people assemble around the steps of the Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana, Calif., for the nation’s ailing real estate market: public foreclosure sales. |
05.18.2008 Who's Hurt With Declining Market Labels
“The issue of labels is important,” says James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer at RealtyTrac.com, the nation’s largest source of foreclosure properties. |
05.14.2008 A Foreclosure Bargain for Their “Forever House”
Karen Krynen saw an opportunity. Nestled at the top of a hill with a long private driveway, the bank-owned property sitting on a huge 40,946 square foot lot was exactly what she was looking for. |
05.13.2008 FORECLOSURE ACTIVITY INCREASES 4 PERCENT IN APRIL
Foreclosure filings were reported on 243,353 properties, a 4 percent increase from the previous month and a nearly 65 percent increase from April 2007, according to RealtyTrac. |
05.08.2008 Online Auctions: Good for Buyers and Sellers
It’s no secret that more people are buying more products through online auctions, and real estate is no exception. |
04.28.2008 Washington Profits From Foreclosures
There’s a new initiative on the table in Washington, one that could do a lot to reduce foreclosures nationwide while actually generating a profit for Uncle Sam. |
04.20.2008 Will The Paulson Plan Reduce Foreclosures
“A major concern regarding the Paulson Plan is that it would take months and years to implement,” says James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer at RealtyTrac. |
04.15.2008 Going Against the Grain, Investor Finds Bountiful Bank-Owned Bargains
Despite the abundance of negative buzz surrounding the real estate market, Kirk Leipzig decided to pursue foreclosures as investment properties. |
04.15.2008 FORECLOSURE ACTIVITY INCREASES 5 PERCENT IN MARCH 2008
Foreclosure filings were reported on 234,685 properties nationwide in March, a 5 percent increase from the previous month and a 57 percent increase from March 2007. |
03.30.2008 Should We Go Back To The Future With HUD
“The federal government has attempted to stem the mortgage crisis, by extending aid and concessions to big firms and huge investors on Wall Street,” says James J. Saccacio, Chairman and CEO at RealtyTrac. |
03.27.2008 Just A Little Help For Our Friends
“We’ll need to wait until later in the Spring to see what results are produced by the Fed’s $200 billion loan program,” says James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer at RealtyTrac. |
03.27.2008 Special Video Report: Renters in Foreclosure
CBS Evening News investigates the issue of renters being unexpectedly forced out of the homes they are living in because the owner has been foreclosed on. |
03.13.2008 As Bank Seizures Swell, Investors Seek Elusive Prey
Soaring foreclosures are raising the prospects that the worst housing slump in 16 years could drag on — and investors are waiting for the bottom to hit so they can snatch up bank-owned properties. |
03.12.2008 Politicians Ponder Foreclosure Intervention Policies
Should the federal government mandate a six-month moratorium on all foreclosures around the country in order to give affected homeowners a chance to “work it out?” |
03.09.2008 Secrets of Pre-Foreclosure Investing
One pre-foreclosure expert says a new federal law will change everything, and short sales and short payoff sales will become the new trend in the marketplace. |
03.09.2008 Whatever Happened To Savings
With all the headlines and debate regarding soaring foreclosure rates, it’s sometimes forgotten that most foreclosures can be easily prevented with a low-tech, unregulated, private solution. |
03.06.2008 Walking Away From Foreclosure Becoming Socially Acceptable
If walking away from a mortgage becomes socially acceptable then lenders will have more risk, interest rates will rise, monthly mortgage costs will increase and foreclosure levels will shoot up. |
03.06.2008 The Next Financial Crisis — Alt-A Mortgages
If prime mortgages are the holy grail of real estate financing then Alternative-A (Alt-A) financing can been seen as something of a step below. |
03.04.2008 Help Programs Grow, But Foreclosure Levels Remain High
You could hardly miss the attention given to the latest figures from Hope Now, the all-volunteer effort to rescue homeowners facing foreclosure. |
03.02.2008 The Bank of America-Countrywide Merger
The Bank of America’s $4 billion purchase of Countrywide Financial Corporation is now being scrutinized by just about every Wall Street analyst and financial columnist. |
02.29.2008 Project Lifeline: New Name, Old Story
It was on August 31st when President Bush introduced Hope Now, a plan to reduce foreclosures nationwide. |
