Mixed Messages on the Fed’s Securities Buyup

Since it began in the fall of 2012, the Federal Reserve’s large-scale plan to buy up billions of dollars in mortgage backed securities every month to stimulate the housing recovery has waxed and waned, depending on the health of the market. Now, as the program rolls...

Applying for Credit Can Damage Your Credit

According to the arcane rules of credit scoring, being in debt makes you a better candidate for more debt and paying off your debt hurts your borrowing power. Now another irony of the credit system undermines the efforts of applicants to qualify for mortgages and...

Mortgage Brokering – Another Real Estate Scam?

For many mortgage seekers the tried and true route to a loan is through a bank or perhaps a credit union. But faced with an often bewildering array of loan products and interest rates – as well as the potential for being turned down by one or more lenders – potential...

Are Major Banks Choking the Housing Recovery?

After the string of lawsuits, settlements and legislative actions related to lax and fraudulent mortgage and foreclosure practices, the nations major lenders are taking a new stand. With stricter lending standards, more transparency and better accountability, these...

Can Owning a Home Hurt Economic Growth?

For decades, the “American Dream” of owning a home has created some of the most enduring icons of the culture: white picket fences and happy children playing in a well kept yard, serene old couples rocking on a porch. But a new study by two university economists casts...

More Apologies from the Fed to Mortgage Settlement Victims

Rust Consulting isn’t exactly a household name – but for many victims of the robosigning scandal of 2009-2010, it may become a dirty word. Yet another apology issued by the Federal Reserve for Ruts’ handling – or mishandling – of settlement checks issued this year...

Beating the Money Trap: Tips for New Investors

As the housing market regains its footing after the crash and subsequent slump of the last few years, increasing numbers of people in all age groups are considering buying homes as investments for a healthier financial future. But, say some industry watchers, for...