My Mind on Mortgages

Do you remember that HUGE increase you got in your pay-check last year when Congress implemented the payroll-tax cut as a way to stimulate the economy?  I ask that sarcastically. The 2% cut in payroll taxes for employees equates to about $30 per week for a household making $80,000 per year.  Well, it’s time to [...]

In 2011 Fannie Mae eased it’s cash-out refinancing restrictions to allow home-buyers who purchase a home with all cash to replenish their funds with a “cash-out” refinance as soon as a day after closing on the original purchase. Background: Prior to this home-buyers were not eligible to apply for a cash-out refinance inside the first [...]

Congress approved an appropriations bill that amongst other things restores the FHA loan limits that have been in place the past 2 years and extends them through 2013.  For the Portland-Metro area this means the maximum FHA loan amount goes back to $417,000.  If you’d like to check another location you can do so at [...]

Fannie Mae has released some details regarding the revised “DU Refi Plus” program that falls under the government’s Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP).  You can read the press release HERE.  At this point I am not aware of any lenders who have actually implemented these updates into their published underwriting guidelines so as far as [...]

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) unveiled a new HUD-1 settlement statement recently which provides a clue as to what the new Good Faith Estimate (GFE) will look like in the future.  I’m not aware of the timeline for implementation of these new mortgage disclosures but I suspect it will be in the next 12 [...]

I was quoted in this morning’s Oregonian again in an article about President Obama’a announcement yesterday about expanding qualifying guidelines for the Home Affiordable Refinance Program (HARP).  You can see the article HERE.

President Obama unveiled “looser” guidelines for the government’s Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) over the weekend.  Here are a couple highlights from the WSJ article on the topic: *”The overhaul will, among other things, let borrowers refinance regardless of how far their homes have fallen in value, eliminating previous limits.” (previous limits were 125% loan-to-value) [...]

The website Mortgage News Daily (which is one of the sources I consult when creating my ‘rate update’ posts) has a great article today advising consumers on how to show for a mortgage.  Here is an excerpt from their post: “Shop For Loan Agents, Not Rates Every consumer shops for mortgages and they should. But [...]

I was fortunate to be interviewed and quoted in THIS ARTILCE about the increase in households that pay more than 30% of their income towards their mortgage.  The author pointed out that do to the economic downturn incomes have fallen while mortgage payments have remained constant.  I added that there are also many households who [...]

Sorry for the late post on this topic.  As of October 1st, 2011 FHA loan limits for most areas of the country have declined as a result of expiration of stimulus legislation.  Currently, the  FHA loan limit for a single family residence in the Tri-county area (Portland, OR) is $362,250.  This figure can adjust as [...]