Article Archive for July 2012
By Tory Barringer | 07/31/2012
Freddie Mac announced Tuesday its plans to expand on its Relief Refinance Mortgage Program by aligning separate mortgage requirements. The GSE announced that it will align requirements for mortgages with loan-to-value ratios that are equal to or less than 80 percent with those for mortgages with LTV ratios greater than 80 percent. The alignment is expected to eliminate many of the lender’s selling representation and warranty responsibilities on loans being refinanced. Details are scheduled to be announced to lenders by mid-September.
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By Krista Franks Brock | 07/31/2012
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently passed its one-year anniversary. On Monday, the agency released its semi-annual report for 2012 to highlight achievements in the first half of this year. What do the numbers say? For starters, the consumer bureau has received more than 55,300 complaints between July 2011 and June 2012, according to the report. The greatest single source of complaints, making up 43 percent of all complaints made to the CFPB, fell on mortgages and problems encountered by consumers with their monthly payments.
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By Abby Gregory | 07/31/2012
Uganda's leading mortgage lender, Housing Finance Bank Limited, has established a new partnership with Polaris Financial Technology Ltd. Housing Finance Bank selected Polaris' Intellect CBS platform to support its business and IT needs. Currently, Housing Finance Bank holds approximately 60 percent of all mortgage accounts in Uganda, and the entity is the ninth largest commercial bank in the country.
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By Abby Gregory | 07/31/2012
Aspiring Upper East Siders have the opportunity to purchase a Manhattan townhouse owned and designed by famed interior decorator, Juan Pablo Molyneux. The sophisticated New York City pad has been listed for $48 million, according to Realestalker.com. The six-story home features 15 rooms that encompass five master bedroom suites, a fitness facility, media room, staff quarters, and a rooftop terrace with a therapeutic pool.
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By Abby Gregory | 07/31/2012
In Chicago, Illinois, Solidifi is set to welcome a new company leader. Solidifi recently announced that Andrew Bough would join the organization as its chief valuations officer. Bough, an industry veteran, has accrued nearly two decades of experience in the real estate, banking, and mortgage sectors.
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By Mark Lieberman, Five Star Institute Economist | 07/31/2012
Personal income rose $61.8 billion in June but consumers held on to it as personal spending fell 1.3 billion in the month, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. The increase in income – 0.5 percent – topped expectations of a 0.4 percent boost, but the 0.01 percent decline in spending fell short of the 0.1 percent increase economists had expected. Disposable personal income – essentially after-tax income – rose $52.4 billion in June. Personal savings as a percentage of disposable (after tax) income rose to 4.4 percent in June from 4.0 percent in May.
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By Mark Lieberman, Five Star Institute Economist | 07/31/2012
Home prices rose sharply in May cutting the year-over-year drop in prices to 0.7 percent from 1.8 percent in April, Standard & Poor's reported Tuesday in its Case-Shiller Home Price Index. Prices in the 20 cities surveyed rose 2.2 percent month-over-month, the strongest such gain since the 20-city index began in January 2000. The 10-city index also improved 2.2 percent in May, shaving the year-over-year decline in price to 1.0 percent in May from 2.2 percent in April. The month-over-month increase fell short of the 2.3 percent gain registered in June 2004.
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By Carrie Bay | 07/30/2012
Former President Bill Clinton will make a stop at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Charlotte, North Carolina, before continuing on to Dallas, Texas, to deliver the closing keynote at the mortgage industry's Five Star Conference and Expo. The DNC announced Monday that Clinton will formally nominate President Barack Obama as the Democratic party's presidential candidate during its convention on September 5, just two days before he speaks to thousands of mortgage default servicing professionals at the 2012 Five Star Conference.
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By Krista Franks Brock | 07/30/2012
The Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, a federal bank aimed at providing affordable residential mortgages, recorded increasing income and an increasing annualized return on equity in the second quarter of 2012, according to information the bank released to the public Monday. The bank released highlights from the second quarter in an unaudited release and will file a full report with the Securities and Exchange Commission.. The Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta reported a net income of $60 million for the quarter, up $22 million from the same quarter last year.
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By Ryan Schuette | 07/30/2012
State regulators shuttered a bank in Georgia this weekend, raising the bar to 39 for bank failures nationally this year. Jasper-based Jasper Banking Company fell dark with about $216.7 million in total assets and $213.1 million in total deposits. Stearns Bank National Association swooped in to sign a purchase-and-assumption agreement with the FDIC, as well as a loss-share transaction on $106 million of the assets. The acquirer assumed essentially all of the assets and deposits, along with three branches, which reopened under new management on Saturday.
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By Krista Franks Brock | 07/30/2012
Following the recent month’s change in the national Pending Home Sales Index from the National Association of Realtors, pending home sales declined month-over-month in June in Miami-Dade County, but went up year-over-year. While the national index moved down 1.4 percent from May to June, Miami's pending home sales declined 13 percent, according to the association and Miami’s Multiple Listing Services system. Miami’s change in pending sales year-over-year was also more exaggerated than the change reported in the national index.
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By Abby Gregory | 07/30/2012
The chairman and CEO of ION Financial, Inc., John D. Koch, has a new title to boast about, having been named to the advisory board of LTVtrade. The company announced Koch's appointment in preparation for the upcoming launch of a new trading initiative for LTVtrade Marketplace.
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By Ryan Schuette | 07/27/2012
Higher asking prices drove off foreign homebuyers and investors over the last year, with real estate firm citing a 10 percent decline in foreign interest for the U.S. housing market. Releasing its International House Hunter Report Thursday, Trulia found that asking prices rose 0.3 percent year-over-year, nixing helpful influence from still-falling home prices. The housing bust attracted a number of foreign and cash buyers interested in low prices and the safe haven of U.S. real estate investment, according to Trulia.
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By Tory Barringer | 07/27/2012
As global investor activity picked up in the second quarter, a number of U.S. cities saw more than half a billion dollars each in foreign real estate investment. Jones Lang LaSalle revealed in its most recent Global Capital Flows Report that global transactional volumes rose to $108 billion in Q2 2012, up 24 percent from a worrying dip in activity in Q1. The Americas posted the most activity, contributing $47 billion to the second quarter's overall total. Activity levels in Q2 still fell 1 percent from the same period in 2011.
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By Mark Lieberman, Five Star Institute Economist | 07/27/2012
The nation's homeownership rate rose to 65.5 percent in the second quarter, according to the Census Bureau. The rate for the first quarter, however, was revised downward from the originally reported 65.5 percent to 65.4 percent, the lowest since Q1 1997 when the rate was also 65.4 percent. The Census Bureau also reported the number of housing units for sale fell to 1,595,000 in the second quarter, a drop of 364,000 from a year earlier. Over the same period, the number of housing units held off the market increased 265,000 to 7,612,000.
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By Mark Lieberman, Five Star Institute Economist | 07/27/2012
The U.S. economy grew at a disappointing 1.5 percent in the second quarter, the Labor Department reported Friday, down from an upwardly revised 2.0 percent growth rate in the first quarter but better than expected. Economists had forecast GDP to grow at 1.2 percent in the second quarter. A drop in government spending – primarily at the state and local level – held growth down. The growth pace is below the 3.0 percent level need to add jobs to make a dent in the nation's unemployment rate. Between 2008 and 2011, real GDP increased at an average annual rate of 0.3 percent, Labor said.
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By Tory Barringer | 07/26/2012
Lingering worries about the European debt crisis continue to drive investors to U.S. government bonds, sending fixed mortgage rates down to another record low. According to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.49 percent (0.7 point) for the week ending July 26, down from 3.53 percent the previous week. At the same time in 2011, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.55 percent. Adjustable rate mortgages actually saw a small boost, with the 5-year ARM averaging 2.74 percent (0.6 point), an increase from 2.69 percent the previous week.
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By Mark Lieberman, Five Star Institute Economist | 07/26/2012
First time claims for unemployment insurance fell 35,000 for the week ended July 21 to 353,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected 380,000 initial claims. The prior week’s total was revised up to 388,000 from the originally reported 386,000. The surprisingly strong report came just two weeks after initial claims had plunged to a four-year low – 352,000 – reflecting seasonal adjustments to account for annual auto industry furloughs as car makers retool for a new model year.
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By Krista Franks Brock | 07/26/2012
The Aloha State recently passed three new bills related to mortgage servicing and mortgage origination. All three went into effect at the beginning of this month. The first requires the Office of Consumer Protection to educate consumers regarding fraud schemes aimed at homeowners facing foreclosure. The second offers adjustments to loan originator registration fees and amends Hawaii's Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act to comply with a host of recent changes to federal law.
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By Mark Lieberman, Five Star Institute Economist | 07/26/2012
In another sign the housing sector may be languishing again — the Pending Home Sales Index dipped 1.4 percent in June to 99.3 from a downwardly revised 100.7 in May, the National Association of Realtors reported Thursday. Economists had expected a 0.9 percent increase to 101.6. The original May report had the index at 101.9, returning to its level of March. Even after a jump in starts and a pop in the median price of an existing home, housing statistics have faltered with a drop in sales in both new and existing homes.
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