Pressuring Appraisers Could Land You In Court
With the housing crisis well under way, both lenders and home sellers are trying to squeeze as much value out of homes as they can. This has driven some lenders to pressure appraisers to inflate their assessments.
Now it's not just an industry issue -- it's become a legal issue as well. New York…
We had a call this morning on the show about selling a timeshare. You should know a couple of things about timeshares:
Some people like 'em, some people don't use 'em, but timeshares are really difficult to resell or unload. They're even tough to give away.
Buying a timeshare is not like buying real…
Today on the Ilyce Glink Show -- September 23, 2007
Well, we're officially into Fall -- and in many parts of the country, the summer weather continues unabated .... unless you live in Los Angeles which is experiencing drenching rains and mud slides.
On the show today:
The government continues to collect all sorts of information about how you…
If you're facing foreclosure, learn as much as you can about your options first.
Some of the same people who helped you to buy your home may be able to help you save it.
Here are some resources from the Federal Reserve:
www.federalreserveeducation.org/pfed/foreclosure/
This second link lists federal…
House Passes FHA Revitalization Bill
As the Federal Reserve's Open Markets committee was meeting, the House of Representatives was busy working in Washington, DC.
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed HR 1852, the "Expanding American Homeownership Act 2007," which will revitalize FHA. Some of the highlights of the bill…
Taking Personal Responsibility for Your Home Purchase
Much of the mortgage crisis comes back to personal responsibility. In the heat of the moment, buyers rushed out to purchase homes they really couldn't afford. In some cases, those in the mortgage industry may have sweet-talked them into thinking they could afford their loans. Agents earned their…
Mortgage Lender Cuts Jobs, Shuts Offices
In another sign of the housing market's woes, First Horizon National Corp. is cutting 1,500 jobs, or 50% of its mortgage sales force, and shutting 50 offices, according to the American Banker.
The company's Web site says it employs 12,000 in 40 states. Its stock traded at $29.52 just before noon ET…
Countrywide To Eliminate Up To 12,000 Jobs
Countrywide Financial (CFC) released the news after the closing bell today, and everyone was wrong. Instead of 5,000, 6,000 or even 10,000 jobs being lost, CFC announced that up to 12,000 of 60,000 jobs would be eliminated in order to keep the company afloat. That's on top of the 1,400 jobs it had…
Job Cuts Jump on Mortgage Mess
Challenger, Gray and Christmas, an international outplacement firm based in Chicago, announced this morning that planned job cuts zoomed 85 percent in August to 79,459, after falling to a 12-month low of 42,897 in July. This is the second-highest total of the year, according to the press release…
Lehman Brothers announced today that it was shutting down BNC Mortgage, the subprime mortgage company that it bought in 2004. A note on the BNC Mortgage site says that the company will be honoring all of its loan commitments -- so don't panic yet. Lehman says it will lay off 1,200 people. That's in…
The news this morning that Countrywide has borrowed about $11 billion from 40 banks is enough to give anyone pause.
While that sounds like a lot of cash, it will only fund about 36,000 $300,000 loans. Countrywide then has to turn around and resell those loans on the secondary mortgage market. Which…
A fairly sophisticated money guy I know, who regularly pulls down nearly 7 figures a year, sent me an interesting email this morning.
He wanted to know what would happen to the mortgage on his vacation home if Countrywide Financial should file for bankruptcy. Countrywide gave him his mortgage.
The…
Unfinished Business From Last Week's Show
I've received several emails reminding me that I said I was going to talk about the new equity-sharing mortgage that's been unveiled in 9 states. Unfortunately, we ran out of time. Here's one of the letters I got and the answer:
I heard you cover the new no closing costs mortgage from Bank of…
I was hosting my WSB radio talk show this morning (tune into www.thinkglink.com/radiio to listen or go to iTunes to download it next week) and was taking calls from first-time buyers who wanted to know what kind of financing to get.
This isn't unusual. During the course of a 2 or 3-hour radio show, I…
Freddie Mac Announces Loan Limits Will Stay The Same in 2007
After years of rising higher, Freddie Mac announced this morning that conventional mortgage loan limits will stay the same in 2007. Loan purchase limits are the maximum original loan amounts allowed on single-family conventional mortgages purchased by Freddie Mac. Look for Fannie Mae to follow…
If you're buying a home, making a mistake on the mortgage can cost you thousands of dollars.
Ted Janusz confesses his sins of being the kind of mortgage lender all of the good folks in the industry dread on the Business Week website. He talks about how easy it is for mortgage lenders to rip people…
One of the biggest complaints consumers have about the loan process is that the good faith estimate (GFE) is so often wrong -- and wrong in a big way. Instead of the closing costing less than anticipated, or even the same, it often costs a lot more than what the lender had estimated on the GFE.
For…
My friend, Jon Lansner, is a business columnist at the Orange County Register. He's been blogging about exotic mortgages lately - -by exotic I mean either interest-only or negative amortization loans like pay-option ARMs (adjustable rate mortgages).
The OC Register did an analysis of exotic mortgages…
Today's Show On Newstalk 750 WSB
On today's show, we'll take a look at some of the new scams that popped up this week, and follow up on some issues relating to Identity Theft. I'm continually amazed that Congress is fighting patient privacy (www.patientprivacyrights.org).
I'm getting ready to leave for London and Cambridge to give a…
I'm often asked how I choose topics for columns.
Honestly, sometimes I'll read something in a newspaper, magazine or online and it sparks an idea. Or, one of the many readers of ThinkGlink.com or my nationally-syndicated column will write me an email suggesting an idea. Or, in describing a situation…
One of the black spots in the decade long housing boom has been the rise in mortgage fraud.
There are all kinds of mortgage fraud out there:
Bad apple lenders who draw up fake documents or encourage applicants to falsify applications;
Lenders who promise to help homeowners with their financial…
