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The Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) is designed to assist homeowners in refinancing their mortgages – even if they owe more than the home’s current value.
The primary expectation for Home Affordable Refinance is that refinancing will put responsible borrowers in a better position by reducing their monthly principal and interest payments, reducing their interest rate, reducing the amortization period, or moving them from a more risky loan structure (such as an interest-only mortgage or a short-term ARM) to a more stable product (such as a fixed-rate mortgage).
I’m sure you are still wondering “Well how does it work?”. You have to qualify for a HARP Mortgage and this means that you have to be current on your mortgage, verifiable income and your home has to be owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. There’s a simple tool on our website at www.mymtgsolution.com that will help you find out if your home is owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
If you have tried to refinance in the past but were un-able there may still be some options for you. Don’t throw in the towel yet, with mortgage interest rates low, now is the time to take advantage. Contact one of our Utah HARP Mortgage Refinance Experts to learn how you can take advantage today!
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Equator is in Dallas this week drumming up business for its new REO segmentation product, which is coming to market in the wake of the Obama administration’s recent proposal for REO bulk sales.
John Vella, chief operating officer of Los Angeles-based Equator, said the segmentation — still in the testing phase — is an overlay for Equator’s existing REO module. The REO module automates the REO process for servicers, outsourcers, real estate agents and vendors. It tracks things like vendor management, pre-listing valuations, inspections and occupancy management.
The segmentation overlay will allow mortgage servicers, investors, hedge funds, mortgage insurers and governmental agencies, among others, to determine “what’s the best marketing strategy for your REO portfolio,” Vella said in an interview with HousingWire.
It looks at losses, costs and timelines and could be useful to investors buying and managing bulk REO portfolios. It is meant to be a risk management, pricing and operational tool for the mortgage industry, Vella said.
The software will parse out specific information. For example, it can look at the expected return on a portfolio if it is held for 90 days, for example, or it could be used to look at prospective returns for a variety of time frames.
Still, Vella expressed some skepticism about whether bulk REO sales will take off in any grand way.
“Bulk REO sales sounds good but no one knows the bottom of the market yet,” he said. “You don’t want to be the first one out there to price a bulk REO.” Buyers, meanwhile, will be asking, “am I buying at the right time?” he said.
Vella said key interest in the REO segmentation at this point is coming from servicers that Equator has met with while in town for the Five Star Default Servicing Conference & Expo.
Morgan Stanley (MS: 15.54 +3.26%) said investors are interested in acquiring distressed properties in bulk to rehabilitate them into rentals, if the government approves such a plan.
Analysts expect investors would only buy into the program if they are able to charge market rents and obtain tax breaks or deferrals, however.
The delinquency rate for U.S. mortgages more than 30 days past due but not in foreclosure hit 8.34% in July, up 2.4% from the previous month, according to Lender Processing Services (LPS: 15.72 -0.57%).
LPS said 4.4 million properties were classified as more than 30 days past due in July, the most recent data available, while 1.89 million were listed as more than 90 days past due.
Bud Bruening
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Utah’s Lowest Mortgage Rates
Posted by Bud Bruening,Tuesday, September 13th, 2011
Notice of default filings jumped nearly 70% in California from the previous month, led by renewed activity from Bank of America (BAC: 7.00 -0.71%), according to the data provider ForeclosureRadar.
Foreclosure starts, which is the first notice filed whether it’s an NOD or a notice of trustee sale, increased in five West Coast states from the previous month: California, Arizona, Washington, Oregon and Nevada.
BofA foreclosure starts more than doubled in August, jumping 116% from the previous month. Wells Fargo (WFC: 24.36 +1.08%) and U.S. Bank (USB: 22.96 +2.73%) also showed increases but fell short of the BofA restart, according to ForeclosureRadar, which monitors West Coast states.
“While it can’t be said for every state in the nation, we are seeing continued improvements in foreclosure volumes in many areas of the country, and that is a potential harbinger for housing market recovery,” a BofA spokesperson said. “Strong gains like that from July to August demonstrate our progress – primarily in non-judicial states like California and Nevada – clearing more volume to advance to foreclosure once we pass the numerous, improved quality controls we have in place and only after all other options with homeowners have been exhausted.”
Bank of America along with many others froze the foreclosure process in the fall of 2010 to sort out mishandled foreclosure documentation in a scandal that became known as robo-signing. The 14 major servicers signed consent orders with federal regulators earlier this year. After a review of 2,800 foreclosure files – roughly 200 per bank – regulators found “insufficient processes” and ordered more in-depth third party look backs.
“Bank of America appears to be primarily responsible for the surge in foreclosure starts this month,” said Sean O’Toole, CEO of ForeclosureRadar. “Since their average time to foreclose has recently increased to more than a year, it is unclear that these foreclosure starts will lead to an increase in foreclosure sales anytime soon.”
In California, it takes an average 333 days to complete the foreclosure process, which is 49 days more than one year ago.
Properties sold back to the bank, or REO, increased 243% in Oregon for the month as Recontrust, a subsidiary of BofA, began clearing 2,800 foreclosures that began in April, according to ForeclosureRadar.
“The industry has not yet returned to normal or necessary foreclosure activity levels, but progress is certainly being made,” the BofA spokesperson said.
posted by Bud Bruening
SALT LAKE CITY — Time is running out for homeowners to receive cash rebates of up to $2,000 for making energy efficiency upgrades.
State officials say the Utah Home Performance program has helped hundreds of residents make cost-saving improvements. They say residents still have a chance to participate on a first-come, first-served basis, although much of the funding has already been distributed.
Officials say households that get a Home Performance Assessment and implement the recommendations typically reduce their annual energy use by 20 percent or more. Homeowners can still sign up for a Home Performance Assessment even after rebates run out.
More information about the program and rebates is available online at utahhomeperformance.com or by phone at (877) 298-4675.
The Texas economy continues to outpace the nation with modest gains in employment and home sales in July, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
Existing home sales in Texas rose 1.5% in July and are 22% higher than a year earlier, the Dallas Fed said.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency said the state’s housing price index, which includes only purchase mortgages, inched up 0.3% in the second quarter from the first three months of 2011. Prices are down 2% from a year earlier.
House prices across the nation dropped 0.6% in the second quarter and remain 5.9% below a year earlier, according to the FHFA.
The Dallas Fed said single-family permits in Texas decreased 3.4% and housing starts slid 0.1% in July from the prior month, when starts rose nearly 30%.
The Lone Star State added 25,900 jobs in July after tacking on 33,000 in June, although the unemployment rate rose to 8.4% from 8.2%.
Still the rate is lower than the 9.1% nationally and the U.S. economy did not add any nonfarm payroll jobs in July, according to the Labor Department.
Get the latest Mortgage and Real Estate news at www.mymtgsolution.com
There’s good reason that over half of all Americans are homeowners. Social and financial benefits are key factors when it comes to deciding to buy. Homeownership allows people to grow wealth slowly over time, to hold assets that build equity, and to bring stability into chaotic lives.
Despite these facts, homeownership rates have taken a hits since the recession in 2009. Falling home prices along with reduced access to credit has kept many would-be buyers from entering the market. According to Morgan Stanley, the current homeownership rate is around 59.2%. This is lowest rate since the Census Bureau began tracking in 1965. Has this reduction been a fear-based one?
The top benefits of homeownership haven’t changed, even in the face of a down economy. Here are the top five:
1. Savings: Be sure to check out the calculator at the end of this article. You’ll find that long-term homeownership is still a way to get big savings.
2. Tax Breaks: They’re not on the chopping block just yet. Many homeowners are still able to take the mortgage interest deduction (MID) each year, along with great rebates and credits associated with upgrades made to your home.
3. Equity: When you pay a landlord, it’s money down the drain. When you pay on a mortgage, you are paying towards owning a piece of something. You may still owe $100,000, but perhaps the home is worth $200,000. This means you have $100,000 worth of equity you’ve built up over time.
4. Budgeting: Unless you live in a rent-controlled apartment (and not many do), then each lease renewal could mean a jump in prices. A fixed-rate mortgage, however, means your monthly payment is the same amount for the life of the loan. A $1,000 a month payment on a 30-year mortgage is that same now as it will be in 30 years!
5. Security: When you own, it’s yours. You can paint, improve, and decorate. The trees and flowers are yours to enjoy — for a lifetime if you wish. Most homeowners are in neighborhoods with other homeowners, meaning more time to build relationships and friendships. Recent studies have also shown that homeowners rank themselves as healthier than their renter counterparts.
Experts have recommended for years that if you’re planning on staying put for 5+ years, buying becomes an increasingly better deal. You have time to recoup any extra expenses found in closing costs and are now making an investment in your future through home price appreciation. Once your mortgage is paid off, you’ll have a real asset. That brings real stability.
Home affordability is at near record highs. Now is a good time to run the numbers and see if buying makes good financial sense. If it does, then you’re in store for a wealth of benefits that only homeowners can experience.
According to CNN – Home prices made a comeback during the second quarter, but the struggling housing market isn’t out of the woods yet.
Prices rose a substantial 3.6%, compared with the three months ended March 31. But home prices are still down 5.9% compared with the second quarter of 2010.
The rise in home prices came after three consecutive quarters of drops, as reported by the S&P/Case-Shiller national index — an influential gauge of residential real estate markets.
The year-over-year decline was a bit more than the than the drop of 4.7% that had been forecast by a consensus of experts at Briefing.com.
A separate monthly index of home prices in 20 major metro areas also reported a month-over-month gain of 1.1% for June, and a drop of 4.5% year-over year.
