My Mind on Mortgages

The Financial Overhaul Bill which will be signed into law soon when President Obama pens his name on the legislation.  The bill is over 2,300 page long and includes new rules for nearly all facets of the financial economy.  Although much of the attention thus far has been on provisions focused on limiting large bank’s [...]

If you’ve been a regular reader of “My Mind on Mortgages” over the years then you know that I am a big fan of the Economist magazine.  I appreciate their global perspective and use of economic theory in explaining current events.  From time to time they publish special reports on hot topics that are very [...]

I like to provide hyperlinks to articles when Portland is mentioned in the national and international press.  The Economist (my favorite news periodical) recently published THIS ARTICLE in which Portland is compared to other international cities such as Vancouver BC, Stockholm, and Freiburg, Germany.  It’s worth a read.

The WSJ is reporting in this post that an amendment to the financial overhaul is bill is expected that would end the government’s subsidy of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac in the future.  If you’ll recall the two quasi-governmental agencies that secure somewhere around 70% of all conventional mortgages in the US were taken into [...]

Barclay’s Capital released a study yesterday indicating that, according to their calculations, there are currently fewer banked-owned properties for sale than previously thought.  This might come as a surprise to those who work in the real estate industry.  Their numbers show that at the end of February there were 480,000 homes for sale nationwide that [...]

Many housing market analysts remain concerned about the impact that foreclosures will have on the housing in the next few months.  The pace of foreclosure remains high and that means a banks will be bringing REO to the market for months and probably years to come.  However, we received good news today that may be [...]

This article appeared in today’s online WSJ.  Portland gets some major love.  Here are a few excerpts:
*Alex Payne plans to move to Portland with his wife next month, while keeping his job at San Francisco-based Twitter Inc. Last October, Mr. Payne caused a stir when he blogged about his frustrations with San [...]

I don’t pretend to be an expert on land use planning but anytime Oregon is featured in the WSJ I like to check out the story.  This morning there is a feature article about Oregon’s land-use laws and the impact it is having on pear farmers in Jackson County (Southern Oregon).
As a resident of Portland [...]

Rob Chrisman wrote in yesterday’s edition of the “Pipeline Press” (a great blog if you want to stay abreast of the changes in the mortgage industry) that new accounting rules may make covered bonds more common with regard to securing mortgages.  I originally blogged about covered bonds back in 2008 when the subprime mortgage crisis [...]

On February 8th I provided an industry update to a group of real estate professionals.  The subject of the presentation was focused on providing realtors with the essential information they should be aware of when working with buyers and sellers who are using mortgage financing.  Here are the slides for your learning pleasure:

Launch your own [...]