Last week, a federal jury in Texas imposed a nearly $93 million penalty against Allied Home Mortgage Capital Corp. and Allied Home Mortgage Corp. (now known as AllQuest Home Mortgage Corp.) and CEO Jim Hodge for issuing thousands of bad loans and leaving the Office of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on the hook for [...]
How did home prices change in April? What do you need to know about home appraisals? Get answers to these questions by listening to this week’s Ilyce Glink Show. You can click the audio link below to listen to the full show, or download the podcast via iTunes. On this week’s show I talk to two guests: Bob Walters, [...]
Whether you’re purchasing a home or refinancing your current mortgage, your lender may have given you the option of taking out an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM). ARMs can be great options, but it’s important to understand how they work before making your decision. ARMs have interest rates that change over the life of the mortgage. [...]
Buyers and real estate agents alike have discovered that fall can be a great time for buying a home. Sellers are more willing to negotiate, and the combination of eager sellers and bargain-hungry buyers has created a home buying season that rivals the active spring season. This year’s fall season is shaping up to be [...]
Here are a few of the topics covered on this week’s radio show. Caller question: I’m moving to a new city for five years—should I buy a new house in cash or take out a mortgage? [3:22] Consider a 10-year mortgage. The interest rates are so low that you can borrow money cheaply, while keeping [...]
Recently, FICO introduced a new scoring model that could potentially make a big impact on housing—if mortgage lenders ever use it. The FICO 9 score would limit the impact of paid medical collections on a consumer’s credit score, potentially lifting scores by 25 points on average, the company says. That’s good news to anyone who’s [...]
For many older homeowners, increasing mortgage debt is dulling the sheen on their golden years. Approximately 33 million Americans over the age of 65 own their homes, making them the age group with the highest homeownership rate. But according to a study by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released in May 2014, that asset [...]
Bankruptcy filings increased nearly 30 percent at the height of the Great Recession, and many Americans are still recovering. Fortunately, some of my listeners are rebuilding their lives and moving on from bankruptcy. Others wonder why their mortgage payments aren't being reported after bankruptcy. On last week’s radio show, one listener said her bank told her [...]
Crushing student loan debt is making it harder for some Americans to buy a house. With the cost of a college education growing much faster than average salaries and inflation rates, it’s no wonder families are struggling to participate in the housing market as early as they’d like. Student loan debt is usually considered a [...]
Among all the paperwork that is exchanged during the home buying process, the Good Faith Estimate is arguably the most important piece of information a mortgage lender will give you. A Good Faith Estimate, or GFE, is a document your lender gives you that describes the basic terms of the loan and estimates how much [...]
