Tag: income property investing
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Reverse Mortgages: Feeding the Foreclosure Market?
Although “reverse” mortgages make up a relatively small part of the mortgage market, they default at a rate much higher than that of regular mortgages. Because these loans are typically marketed to retirees and older homeowners, loopholes in the loan structure are sending more homes into foreclosure – and changing the dynamics of the housing…
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The QM Rule: Coming Soon to a Lender Near You
A busy housing market and encouraging stats on employment offer some optimistic news about the economy. But even with a rosier financial outlook, tighter lending standards are keeping many borrowers from qualifying for mortgages and other loans. And those standards will tighten even more come January 2014, when the new Qualified Mortgage Rule takes effect.…
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What’s Behind the Lending Slowdown?
Interest rates are still low, the housing market is rebounding, and employment stats are better – so why are loan approval rates down and fewer applications being processed? Financial experts point to a combination of factors stemming from the freewheeling days of the pre-crash housing market and the lawsuits and legislation that followed. As more…
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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: Zombie Stocks and an Uncertain Future
The fortunes of quasi-governmental mortgage superlenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have swooped from post-housing collapse bailout projects to a hot stock option – and back down again. As stock prices for both agencies reached gains of up to 150 percent, only to fall by 40 percent a day or so later, financial experts are…
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How Can Foreclosures and Short Sales Affect Credit?
Over the last few years, record numbers of homeowners have lost their houses to foreclosure or short sales, leaving a blot on their credit report that can linger for nearly a decade. But that blot may not be the obstacle to getting back into the housing market that it once was. Because foreclosures and short…
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Major Lenders Face New Complaints
Like the endlessly looping rerun of a really bad television show, the nation’s top five banks behaving badly are still stalling and misleading customers, even after a string of lawsuits, settlements and accusations of mismanagement. According to a new report in The Washington Post, new complaints charge the main players in the “robosigning” foreclosure abuse…
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Green Homes Mean Greenbacks
Green is still in. More and more businesses large and small are jumping on the bandwagon of environmentally friendly products, services and community planning initiatives. And now, the demand for energy saving features and earth-sensitive practices appears to be providing a not-insignificant boost to the recovering housing market: green homes command not just higher purchase…
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College Degrees: A Waste of Four Years?
Is a college degree worth the cost? According to a new survey reported by Forbes, a majority of “millennials” – new and recent college grads – say no. They wish they’d worked and saved instead. And as spiraling student loan debt takes a toll on Hot enough company They was bought limited canadian pharmacy pyrithione…
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Job Growth Changes Bond Buyup Plans
In a recent series of intermittent posts on the Federal Reserve’s massive buyup of mortgage backed securities, we’ve been following the plan’s fast forward/slo-mo progress in response to the ebb and flow of activity in various sectors of the economy, particularly housing. Now, just after some regional Fed presidents voiced concerns over the scope of…
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Can Rising Home Prices Signal Another Housing Collapse?
Everything old is new again. For many financial analysts and real estate experts, that old saying may explain fears that the stars are aligning for another housing collapse, thanks to current trends in the market that echo all too clearly the signs that led to the last one. Along with the reappearance of a variety…