Mortgages – 5 posts
FHA: Reaching Out to Condo Buyers – By BOB TEDESCHI – But last year, the federal government raised the maximum F.H.A. loan amount to $729,750 from $362,790 for high-cost areas like Manhattan and northern New Jersey. … Lenders can now approve condos without applying to the government, if they believe the condominium complies with F.H.A. lending policies. … The government also relaxed rules that had limited the number of condominiums that would qualify for F.H.A. loans. Under the old rules, if more than 50 percent of a new development was unsold, the F.H.A. would deny a loan. Now, just 30 percent of a development must be sold before an F.H.A. borrower can qualify. … – NY Times
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New rules might be cutting home values – Dian Hymer – Are appraisals hurting home values? If financing is involved, the answer is probably yes. Ever since May 1, when Fannie Mae’s new appraisal guidelines for home mortgages went into effect, buyers, sellers, real estate agents and loan originators have complained about the new process. It’s inefficient, often inaccurate and time-consuming. In some cases, it could be contributing to lower home prices. – SF Gate.com
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FDIC on REO Sales: Keep’em in the Dark! – Submitted by Bruce Krasting – … The answer is that the REO problem for the D.C. lenders and the FDIC is reaching a crisis level. … There are approximately 55 million mortgages outstanding today. At least 10% will/have gone into default before this is over. Of those half will result in foreclosure. These numbers create an estimate of the Federal share of REO at about 1.5 mm homes. Depending on unemployment and the economy going forward that number could be much higher. Before this is over the Feds could own up to 5% of all residential RE. … – Zero Hedge Blog
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Combined Loan to Values Swell to 107% in July 2009: Equifax – By JON PRIOR – … The average CLTV, a ratio used to determine the risk of default when more than one loan is used, for current Alt-A loans ballooned from 75% in July 2005 to 107% in July 2009 … – Housingwire
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Freddie Mac says TBW losses ‘could be significant’ – Mortgage finance company Freddie Mac on Monday put its initial loss estimate related to the bankruptcy of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. at $500 million, and noted the figure could be much higher. – AP Yahoo
Government: 2 posts
Bullard Favors Extending Fed Asset Buying – BY MICHAEL DERBY – Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard wants the Fed to continue to buy mortgage-backed securities beyond the March 2010 cutoff to give policy makers more flexibility as they seek to shepherd the economy toward recovery. – Wall Street Journal
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Jamie Dimon seen as good fit for Treasury – By MARK DeCAMBRE – As support for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner wanes on Capitol Hill amid frustration with the Obama administration’s handling of the economy, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is emerging as a potential replacement. Sources tell The Post that a number of policy makers have begun mentioning Dimon as a successor to Geithner, whose standing in Washington has suffered because of the country’s high unemployment rate, the weakness of the dollar, the slow pace of the recovery and the government’s mounting deficit. – NY Post
Life: 2 posts
Trading: Tiger Wood’s Secret is really the key to your success – Adam Hewitt – INO.com
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Runners and joggers increase in this recession – The Upside of the Downside? – Michael Panzner – In a country often lampooned as being populated with obese soda-swilling TV junkies, around 9.2 million people completed a certified foot race in the United States in 2008, up from 3.7 million in 1987. … Why the growth? … But that’s only part of the answer. We live in a financially uncertain, violence-scarred world, and running “gives you something to control – you can’t control the stock market or the economy, but you can control your health,” said Lamppa. … – Financial Armageddon
Resources and Economy: 4 posts
Is that a Bubble in Your Natural Gas? Interview with Jim Lucier – Chris Whalen – The Institutional Risk Analyst
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Sulfur emissions – 16 Cargo Ships Worse than the World’s Automobiles – … Apart from the usual environmental rhetoric I ran across a rather startling article that claims that the 16 dirtiest cargo ships emit more sulfur per year than all of the cars on the planet. ... – Surly Trader
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on the future of oil – Oil’s Expanding Frontiers – By George Will – What city contributed most to the making of the modern world? The Paris of the Enlightenment and then of Napoleon, pioneer of mass armies and nationalist statism? London, seat of parliamentary democracy and center of finance? Or perhaps Titusville, Pa. – Real Clear Politics
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NABE Panel: Recovery Soon to Lose “Jobless” Label – … Reaffirming last month’s call that the Great Recession is over, NABE panelists have marked up their predictions for economic growth in 2010 and expect performance to exceed its long-term trend. “While the recovery has been jobless so far, that should soon change. Within the next few months, companies should be adding instead of cutting jobs,” said NABE President Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Point Loma Nazarene University. … – National Association for Business Economics