mortgage

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Congress Weighs Wider Home Tax Credit

$8K for first-time buyers may jump to $15K, apply to all sales

(Newser) - With the tax credit for first-time homebuyers set to expire in November, congressional efforts to increase it and broaden its reach are ramping up, reports USA Today. Chris Dodd, who leads the Senate Banking Committee, supports a proposal to raise the credit to $15,000 and extend it to all...

Burgeoning Interest Rates Threaten to Stifle Recovery

Demand for refinancing shrivels as 30-year rates hit 5.75%

(Newser) - The steady rise in interest rates over recent weeks is threatening to trample the green shoots of recovery in the housing market, the Wall Street Journal reports. Rates on 30-year mortgages hit 5.79% yesterday, more than a point above the 4.75% "trigger" level analysts say spurred the...

Housing Market Woes Hit Home for Geithner

Treasury secretary can't sell, stuck renting out his NY home

(Newser) - Housing market troubles are getting personal for Tim Geithner, the AP reports. The Treasury secretary bought his five-bedroom suburban New York Tudor for $1.6 million in 2004; after moving to Washington, he tried to sell it for $1.635 million. The price later dropped to $1.575 million, but...

Home-Sale Index Skyrockets, Boosting Recovery Hopes

(Newser) - Pending sales of existing US homes soared in April, posting their largest jump since October 2001. Combined with a 3.2% jump in March, the 6.7% increase in April—far more than the forecast 0.5%—suggests a longer-term upward trend, the Wall Street Journal reports. Dipping prices, low...

New Foreclosure Legislation May Not Be Enough

Congressional aid to homeowners may need overhaul, not 'patches'

(Newser) - Congress’ Hope for Homeowners plan was aimed at fighting the foreclosure epidemic, and it’s been a success for exactly one person. Now, lawmakers have put “patches” on the legislation—but some worry the fixes aren’t going to do the job, ProPublica reports. Instead, it needs “some...

Credit Crisis Traps NYT Economics Scribe
 Credit Crisis Traps 
 NYT Economics Scribe 
Perspective
May 16, 2009 6:55 PM CDT

Credit Crisis Traps NYT Economics Scribe

(Newser) - New York Times economics reporter Edmund Andrews was smart enough to avoid a financial disaster like the mortgage crisis. But “I had two utterly compelling reasons for taking the plunge,” he writes: “The money was there and I was in love.” With a new fiancée—...

Foreclosure Crisis Wallops Minority Neighborhoods

Lenders accused of 'redlining' black neighborhoods for subprime loans

(Newser) - The national foreclosure crisis is battering minority neighborhoods with disproportionate force, the New York Times reports. Few areas in the New York region have been untouched by the crisis, but 85% of the worst-hit neighborhoods have a majority of black and Latino homeowners. Experts blame the trend on subprime lenders'...

Top Subprime Lenders Owned by Bailout Banks

Analysis of gov't data reveals sources of the economic meltdown

(Newser) - Some 21 of the top 25 subprime lenders that triggered the global economic collapse were either owned or financed by banks that ended up needing bailouts, an analysis by the Center for Public Integrity finds. Among the backers, who make huge profits on the subprime business, were Lehman Brothers, Merrill...

1 in 5 Homeowners Underwater
 1 in 5 Homeowners Underwater 
May 6, 2009 7:09 AM CDT

1 in 5 Homeowners Underwater

Negative equity spikes to 21.9% as prices keep dropping

(Newser) - More than one in five American homeowners owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, according to a new study. The increase in negative equity has been accompanied by new signs that first-time buyers are taking advantage of lower prices in the housing market. But as prices continue...

Banks Launch Mortgage Refinancing Program

(Newser) - The country’s top lenders are slowly implementing the Obama administration’s plan to help otherwise ineligible borrowers to refinance their mortgages at the current bargain-basement rates, the Wall Street Journal reports. The program is open to those with mortgages owned by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae who are current...

Frank Targets Fannie, Freddie Execs' Bonuses

(Newser) - Executives at government-owned mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are scheduled to receive six-figure retention bonuses, but Barney Frank wants the payments canceled, MarketWatch reports. “In this troubled economy, and in this job market, it is difficult to imagine that the companies would not be able to find...

Mortgages Won't Go Any Lower
 Mortgages Won't Go Any Lower 
Analysis
Mar 20, 2009 8:48 AM CDT

Mortgages Won't Go Any Lower

(Newser) - The extraordinary measures the Fed has taken to reduce long-term mortgage rates may have hit their limits. Lenders are now quoting an average rate of 4.75% on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, and that’s probably as cheap as it’s going to get, says James Hagerty of the Wall Street ...

Dodd Weakened by Outcry Over AIG Bonuses

Confusion over Conn. senator's role adds to mounting woes

(Newser) - The financial crisis has exacted a political toll on Sen. Chris Dodd few would have seen coming. The veteran senator, elected in 1980, now trails his challenger by 1%, reports the Hill. Resentment of VIP mortgages he received was already hurting him. Dodd’s fumbled explanations of his role in...

Plummeting Mortgage Rates Near Record Low

Rate for 30-year mortgage again below 5%

(Newser) - Interest rates for fixed-rate mortgages decreased this week, with the rate for a 30-year mortgage falling 0.05% to an average 4.98%, near January’s record low of 4.96%, MarketWatch reports. Thirty- and 15-year mortgage rates are down nearly a full percentage point from a year ago. The...

Playgrounds of Rich and Famous Hit the Skids

What would Jay Gatsby say?

(Newser) - Even crème de la crème communities are curdling in the current crisis, reports the Telegraph. Take the Hamptons, where nearly as many homes were being foreclosed last week as the number of places sold. Residents in the super-affluent towns on Long Island's east end are struggling to meet...

Freddie Seeks $31B in Aid After Posting Big Loss

(Newser) - Freddie Mac said today it will ask the government for nearly $31 billion in additional aid after posting a gargantuan loss of more than $50 billion last year as the US housing market worsened. The mortgage finance company posted a loss of $23.9 billion, or $7.37 per share,...

Banks Have Gotten a Bum Rap: BofA Chief Ken Lewis

The steps already taken are working, so let the market sort it out

(Newser) - Banks have been unfairly tarred by misconceptions about the current financial crisis, Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis argues in the Wall Street Journal. It's not true that banks aren't lending, he writes. They are just doing so more responsibly, as they should. And it's not true that bad banks...

Borrowers Now Flocking to the Feds to Default on Loans

Same cause of subprime mess blamed for new threats to taxpayers

(Newser) - History is repeating itself, and taxpayers will be footing the bill for it: Flawed lending practices are enabling borrowers to receive mortgage loans they can’t repay—but this time, Washington’s involved, the Washington Post reports. Many of the loans provided by the Federal Housing Administration default after just...

House Homeowner Bill Lets Judges Reset Mortgages

Measure would allow bankruptcy judges to ease mortgage terms

(Newser) - The House has passed a homeowner rescue bill over the strenuous objections of the financial industry that would allow bankruptcy judges to change the terms of mortgages, the Washington Post reports. Judges could cut the principal on mortgages, extend terms and reduce interest rates under terms of the "cramdown"...

White House Starts Mortgage Rescue Plan

(Newser) - The White House today kicked off its $75 billion plan to curb mortgage foreclosures, the Wall Street Journal reports. The federal dollars will both push lenders to lower monthly payments and help homeowners keep paying. “Today, we are providing servicers with the details they need to begin helping eligible...

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