Wanna save money? Let our professionals show you the benefits of refinancing today! Apply http://globalhomefinance.com/apply.php !
Who says that folks in the mortgage business can't rhyme and rap
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=zy6u9cdab&et=1109019318003&s=8721&e=001jO96TH
b7I2K9kAx5DcybWLBNYSfN70JT6Sq4sfB3oCROHbirCcQUmebIw7GN4FeNM1XWrxC59Nq4T-1iBi
W493amX-YVQBPoypY1NIghmlRRqJNlDihjH4oTfHMFaEDqFuxKQxcanJSfBXAZglsiwQ==]?
If you're away from your home, and you come back and find that a pipe has
burst, and the place is flooding, do you a) fix the leak, or b) raise the
roof? I realize that the situation is more complex than that, but the White
House plans to ask Congress for an increase in the government's debt ceiling
to allow the United States to pay its bills on time. Didn't we just go
through this? The approval is expected to go through without a challenge,
given that Congress is in recess until later in January and the request is
in line with an agreement to keep the U.S. government funded into 2013. The
debt is projected to fall within $100 billion of the current cap by December
30, when the United States has $82 billion in interest on its debt and
payments such as Social Security coming due. President Barack Obama is
expected to ask for authority to increase the borrowing limit by $1.2
trillion, part of the spending authority that was negotiated between
Congress and the White House this summer. Under the agreement struck in
August during the showdown over the government's debt limit, the cap is
automatically raised unless Congress votes to block the debt-ceiling
extension.
I mentioned this before, but wanted to mention it again: it seems that MI
will stop being deductible in 2012 unless Congress acts - and they're on
recess into January.
I received this note from a reader on the west coast: "From my
understanding, the PMI deduction will be completely eliminated and will not
be available to any taxpayer.
This is definitely something I have an issue with, as it next to impossible
for a first-time buyer to get a home anywhere without paying PMI, but
unfortunately, I don't make the rules. Since there doesn't appear to be any
last minute tax battles in Congress like there was last year, I don't
foresee this changing at least for the 2012 tax year."
And speaking of Congress, a year and a half has gone by since the Dodd-Frank
financial reform act was signed into law, "but barely a quarter of the rules
in the legislation have been finalized, though federal regulators are
rolling out key components of the bill
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=zy6u9cdab&et=1109019318003&s=8721&e=001jO96TH
b7I2Kq2erREmVjBFqPIXzn3ucw7BiqTvBcjmqVU4d1DAGUa3R1qlw08lIsCldGIRtVer_cT4gtpp
HghhzGUN_KJs_uvtTU2RHwvqs58s7o7jQP3FdaISMNZW-po5Pc9KeJErfMUX8PlM8NRDevzQlLmq
PFaWvlyH1ABmO3rbfoNyzZ-C62b6EibXAjhsseOm_FKqpW1If4lwWtpghyt0ftVarMdCciGQk0gd
pQ3XVIc8SzG_Z-XeXYw_Y0ShF_JgStoam8msQjYM9DEA==]."
Holistic financial counseling - counseling that focuses on a borrower's
entire financial situation - can prevent both foreclosures and re-defaults,
according to a recent White Paper study sponsored by Florida-based special
servicer, Outreach Financial Services, and authored by STRATMOR's Dr. Matt
Lind. According to the white paper, servicers avoid net losses of about
$3,894 on an average $210,000 loan for each borrower who receives basic
counseling. However, this figure increases to between
$5,754 and $7,147 when borrowers receive holistic counseling aimed at their
total debt and spending patterns. Read it at Counseling
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=zy6u9cdab&et=1109019318003&s=8721&e=001jO96TH
b7I2KsFivK3OZRBvEkCuVxdHUi-HVkg8mRXCZBLz5Oo7OlDiKo9DMLsIq3F5nQT_H6PPcx-dmSdz
omd4kWPZk2jEzLYk4_IeEbA6D8-BP6sKR0ReX-fRwDBZn75raCR6w7_XZgCDorVXxGbA==]
or contact Matt Lind at Matt.Lind@Stratmorgroup.com
if you have questions.
And here's another study to read over the upcoming 3-day weekend: the MBA
and the Research Institute for Housing America (RIHA) released of a new
exclusive report:
"The Great Recession and Attitudes Toward Home Buying." "The report finds
that almost
80 percent of American households believe that now is a good time to buy a
home, despite high unemployment, slow economic growth and problems plaguing
the economy.
This positive attitude is attributable to low house prices and low mortgage
interest rates. The data shows that the pattern of home-buying sentiment
during the current recession looks similar to that of past recessions and is
consistent with the long-run average level." This is good to know, and it is
good to know that it is free at and available for download at
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=zy6u9cdab&et=1109019318003&s=8721&e=001jO96TH
b7I2Jg6vgDQhQS7HLOq6707eTVBeIUxcGCEagJjkkwfUPAFBopNz4KAkc12FuvN_g__TC6cPt-TQ
k4H1SdzIiqZAG9wjRPUPSRXty3FdL7jbbbgFKlGKxKEULy].
Most lenders have resigned themselves to not seeing any HARP 2.0 business
until March (although see below!), when it is incorporated into the
automatic underwriting systems and the market figures out where the loans
should be priced. But investor chatter continues, with some examining the
exact percentage of loans being processed through DU Refi Plus, and whether
rep and warrants related to "ability to repay"
falls under "underwriting" or "employment/income". We know that Fannie Mae
has reported that around 30% of their HARP refinancings have used automated
appraisals, which were only available through DU Refi Plus until recently.
Given this statistic, it is reasonable to assume that DU Refi Plus
applications consist of at least 30% of HARP refinances but the true number
is actually higher since the coverage for automated appraisals for Fannie
Mae is somewhat limited. Although it is difficult to gauge the exact number,
analysts put the number at around 30-50% of total HARP refi applications.
The second question investors are interested in answering is whether the
"ability to repay" putbacks would fall under "underwriting" or
"employment/income". Note that buyback statistics are not restricted to HARP
putbacks and trends across originators may vary. In the context of this
information, the Mortgage Bankers Association states the following trends in
"Employment/Income" related claims: both Fannie and Freddie verify
employment (VoE) on stated income products, Fannie makes use of bankruptcy
documents to identify income issues, and Freddie uses outside investigators
to locate past employers. So the "employment/income" related claims are
related to employment verification (whether the borrower has a job) or
income inconsistencies (i.e., reported and actual income are different). The
"ability to repay" is ascertained after income and employment information is
gathered and buyback requests related to this specific issue thus falls
under "underwriting".
United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=zy6u9cdab&et=1109019318003&s=8721&e=001jO96TH
b7I2IMwV95tOdZHJQ4dF5cSR8QHtYZCm4Erzsj2Mr7153RT5HDvVv2Ub8qVo4nKT5tXIy7i_wp9S
qnjBQVF5_WQz5YcMqyA-6mj9U=])
has announced that it has successfully implemented the government's
enhancements to the HARP 2.0 that went into effect Dec. 1, 2011. Mat
Ishbia, president of UWM said, "There are very few lenders that have
implemented HARP 2.0 thus far, and we don't expect to see immediate adoption
because of the technology, staffing and liquidity implications. At UWM, we
are committed to offering our customers the products they need to satisfy
marketplace demands and grow their business." The press release noted, "UWM
added HARP Phase II to its broker portal, EASE (Easiest Application System
Ever), where brokers can price and determine eligibility via EQ (Easy
Qualifier).
The primary changes to HARP are the reduction of pricing adjustments on all
HARP loans which allows borrowers to save more money than they could have
before, removing the 125 percent CLTV restriction, and the ability to not
require appraisals on many loans. Notable is that Fannie Mae and Fannie
Mae's Desktop Underwriter (DU) system will not be updated to accept
unlimited loan-to-value applications until March of 2012, and UWM will roll
out that enhancement once Fannie Mae's system is ready."
And rates are certainly good! Yesterday the yield on the 10-yr shot down
through 2.00% and closed at 1.91% on thin holiday volume and a lack of
economic news. Numerous investors had price improvements, certainly helped
by continued Fed MBS buying.
Thomson Reuters noted, "When volume is as low as it is, fewer people (and
fewer
dollars) are required to move market levels such as stock indexes, bond
yields, or MBS prices."
The economic calendar for today includes Jobless Claims at 8:30am (expected
higher to +375k but came in +15k to 381k), 9:45AM EST brings December
Chicago Purchasing Managers index (expected 61.0 vs. 62.6 previously) and
10AM EST Pending Home Sales for November (only +1.5 vs. +10.4 prior print).
Ahead of all that rates are pretty much unchanged from Wednesday's close
with the 10-yr at 1.92% and MBS prices "unched".
A man had just settled into his seat next to the window on the plane when
another man sat down in the aisle seat and put his black Labrador Retriever
in the middle seat next to the man.
The first man looked very quizzically at the dog and asked why the dog was
allowed on the plane.
The second man explained that he was from the Police Drugs Enforcement
Agency and that the dog was a 'sniffing dog'.
"His name is Sniffer and he's the best there is. I'll show you once we get
airborne, when I put him to work."
The plane took off, and once it has leveled out, the Policeman said, "Watch
this."
He told Sniffer to 'search'.
Sniffer jumped down, walked along the aisle, and finally sat very
purposefully next to a woman for several seconds.
Sniffer then returned to his seat and put one paw on the policeman's arm.
The Policeman said, 'Good boy', and he turned to the man and said, "That
woman is in possession of marijuana, I'm making a note of her seat number
and the authorities will apprehend her when we land."
"Gee, that's pretty good," replied the first man.
Once again, the Policeman sent Sniffer to search the aisles.
The Lab sniffed about, sat down beside a man for a few seconds, returned to
its seat, and this time he placed two paws on the agent's arm.
The Policeman said, "That man is carrying cocaine, so again, I'm making a
note of his seat number for the police."
"I like it!" said his seat mate.
The Policeman then told Sniffer to 'search' again.
Sniffer walked up and down the aisles for a little while, sat down for a
moment, and then came racing back to the agent, jumped into the middle seat
and proceeded to defecate all over the place.
The first man was really disgusted by this behavior and couldn't figure out
how or why a well-trained dog would behave like that. So he asked the
Policeman, "What's going on?"
The Policeman nervously replied, "He's just found a bomb."
If you're interested, visit my twice-a-month blog at the STRATMOR Group web
site located at www.stratmorgroup.com
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=zy6u9cdab&et=1106435366068&s=4179&e=001SVt-lj
bp53436QjxD9vbwURtIPPjV05jEcEKyBN3SjS2forXe0C_foO8RjEV-Uye0N7Z_Sh1il0SRXPx6P
jQauayNXQjni-Hc9Sseu-hhZcR1ujeZyAEpw==]
. The current blog discusses the time frames for borrowers returning to
A-paper status after a short sale or foreclosure. If you have both the time
and inclination, make a comment on what I have written, or on other comments
so that folks can learn what's going on out there from the other readers.
Rob
(Check out
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=zy6u9cdab&t=txvhl8iab.0.epg7qedab.zy6u9cdab.8
721&ts=S0720&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mortgagenewsdaily.com%2Fchannels%2Fpipelinep
ress%2Fdefault.aspx]
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=zy6u9cdab&t=txvhl8iab.0.v7uif6dab.zy6u9cdab.8
721&ts=S0720&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thebasispoint.com%2Fcategory%2Fdaily-basis].
For archived commentaries, go to www.robchrisman.com
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=zy6u9cdab&t=txvhl8iab.0.fpg7qedab.zy6u9cdab.8
721&ts=S0720&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.robchrisman.com%2F].
Copyright 2011 Rob Chrisman. All rights reserved. Occasional paid notices
do appear.
This report or any portion hereof may not be reprinted, sold or
redistributed without the written consent of Rob Chrisman.)
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Chrisman Inc. | 326 Mission Ave. | 326 Mission Ave. | San Rafael | CA |
94901
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