Lenders Court Delinquent Borrowers With “Streamlined Modification”

Even though indications are that the housing market is looking up after the disastrous crash a few years ago, the mortgage lending industry is still digging itself out of some very deep holes. Among the numerous problems facing major lenders both private and federal...

Rising Home Prices: Setting the Stage for Another Crash?

For every positive sign of a housing comeback, there seems to be a chorus of anxious market watchers ready to find ominous signs of a new collapse looming on the horizon. Those gloomy predictions may be overstating the concerns, but a number of financial analysts and...

The Fed’s Bond Buyout: More Harm Than Good?

It’s going forward. No, it’s slowing down. No, wait, it’s picking up speed. The Federal Reserve’s rollercoaster ride of buying up mortgage backed securities and treasury bonds has been going on since last fall, with often-changing plans to scale it back or ramp it up...

Mortgage Brokers — Another Kind of Scam?

For most prospective investors or residential buyers, the route to a mortgage loan typically begins with a bank or credit union – the tried and true way to finance a property purchase. But as the loan process becomes more complex and buyers with iffy credit remain...

Banks Tighten Standards — And Harm the Housing Recovery?

After the housing crash of a few years ago exposed the shifty underbelly of lending practices at the nation’s major banks, those institutions have been – albeit reluctantly – cleaning up their act with greater accountability and tighter lending standards aimed at...