In Connecticut, How to Win Votes and Influence People – by PAUL JACKSON - Do you live in Connecticut? Has your home been foreclosed upon, but you want to stay there for a little while longer? For free? Then Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has the offer a lifetime for you: don’t answer the door when your lender comes knocking, and you’ll get at least 90 days free of charge. It’s a message that seems to go against the tide of both Congress and the Obama administration—which have repeatedly asked homeowners to work with their lenders in times of trouble … – HousingWire
Survey Finds Short Sales Outnumber REO in January Purchases – by DIANA GOLOBAY – HousingWire
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How Big Is the Threat from Option ARMs? – By BARBARA KIVIAT – … How worried should we be? Perhaps very, according to a chart from a recent report by Amherst Securities. … By the middle of next year, more then $10 billion worth of option ARMs will reset higher each month, according to data from mortgage tracker Loan Performance. … – Time.com
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US CMBS Delinquency Rate Not Likely to Peak Until 2011 – Despite an improving economy, Standard &Poor’s expects delinquencies on loans backing commercial mortgage-backed securities to keep rising until job numbers meaningfully improve and employers feel confident that a recovery is firmly underway. “In 2010, we expect higher vacancies and lower rents to continue to fuel delinquencies, especially for underperforming properties,” S&P says in its latest CMBS Quarterly Insights. – Has selected excerpts – Research Recap
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Mortgage Crunch Coming – John Lounsbury – … I’m talking about new mortgages. The graph below shows the problem, courtesy of David Rosenberg, chief economist at Gluskin Sheff (Canada). The spread is now under 0.4% between the average 30-year mortgage rate and the 30-year Treasury bond. This is more than 1% less than the historical norm, which Rosenberg says is around 1.5%. That means that if the market returned to normal rates, a 30-year mortgage would come in around 6% … – Seeking Alpha
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Jumbo mortgage market is beginning to thaw – By E. Scott Reckard – … In addition to lower rates, down-payment requirements are being relaxed in some cases. For example, to write a jumbo loan in coastal areas of Los Angeles and Orange counties, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage looks for a 20% down payment or that percentage of equity, down from 25% last year, said Brad Blackwell, a national mortgage sales manager at the lender. The reason: Wells believes high-end home prices are stabilizing in those coastal counties. But the bank still requires higher down payments in the Inland Empire and other battered housing markets such as Florida, Nevada and Arizona, where prices for jumbo-size homes don’t appear to be stabilizing, he said ... – LA Times