Do Not Call List Content Index - Page 4

A home buyer purchased a home using an installment contract for deed. She paid an escrow company, which then paid out her mortgage, taxes, insurance and homeowner association dues - or so she thought. Now she finds out that the escrow company/mortgage broker hasn't been making any payments, and the house could be foreclosed upon. Is she a victim of mortgage fraud? What should she do now?

Jumbo mortgage loans used to be much easier to get. Today, it's a lot harder to qualify for a jumbo mortgage. One factor that still influences your ability to get a jumbo loan is a good credit history and a credit score well into the 700s. You can expect to pay higher fees for a jumbo mortgage, as well as a higher interest rate. Closing on a jumbo mortgage ight also require additional time and documentation.

Falling home values have sure hurt homeowners. As interest rates have come down, these same homeowners are trying to refinance their loans but are having trouble due to the lower value of their homes. Recent Obama administration proposals are attempting to help homeowners. Before, if your loan was up to 105 percent of the value of your home you could take advantage of the Obama Making Home Affordable program, this past week that amount was raised to 125 percent. We'll see if the continued slide in home prices and the new plan can help homeowners.

In the midst of the housing crisis, Americans' attitudes toward homeownership is changing. Being a homeowner used to be thought of as a safe way to build your personal wealth. According to a recent survey, almost half of Americans don't think owning a home is a good way to build wealth, and almost one-third don't think they will ever own a home.

Today on the Ilyce Glink show, Ilyce discussed her trip last week to Washington, DC for the National Association of Real Estate Editors (NAREE) meeting. We had a number of questions about long-term care insurance. Long-term care insurance is expensive, but it can be a lot more affordable if you buy it in your early 50s or 60s rather than waiting until you're in your 70s or 80s, when it can be unaffordable.

Today on the Ilyce Glink Show, we're discussing the following:

Consumer Confidence Rose Again

US. Consumers' mood is the strongest in 9 months. Consumer confidence rose to a nine-month high, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers. The preliminary index of confidence for…

Prepaying your mortgage may not be right for you. For some homeowners, they can refinance once, twice or many times during the time they own a home. If they are about to retire, they certainly have financial choices and decisions to make. One of the choices might be to ensure that they are debt free for retirement. For some people, having more money to spend is better than being debt free. This reader believes he will outlive the term of his loan so he shouldn't worry about the debt. He doesn't need to be debt free. He can borrow today, spend today and have someone else worry about the debt later.

It appears that only those borrowers who are late with their mortgage payments are getting help with a loan modification. Why is that? The Obama administration has made it clear that borrowers who are in financial difficulty but who are current on their payments should be able to qualify for a loan modification. If you have a mortgage and are on the verge of going delinquent, you should be able to get help with a loan modification. Contact a HUD-certified housing counselor at 888-995-HOPE for assistance with a loan modification.

If you're desperately looking for a job, especially a job you can do from home, you may easily become a victim of a money mule job scam, fraud investigators say. A money mule job is one where you're hired to receive hundreds of packages and reship them to places in Eastern Europe. You may or may not have top put up your own cash to ship these packages (sometimes pre-paid labels are given to you), but you'll be trafficking in stolen merchandise. This story looks at what a money mule job scam is and how you can recognize one, so you don't become a job scam victim.

On May 29, 2009, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan issued guidance that allows first-time buyers who get an FHA loan to "monetize" the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit. In short, you can now apply the $8,000 tax credit to your FHA loan closing costs. This page reprints the FHA's Mortgagee Letter that describes the program and tells what lenders have to do before they allow first-time buyers to monetize the tax credit. The letter is signed by Brian Montgomery, Assistant Secretary for Housing-Federal Housing Commissioner.