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Home financing to get 'creative' in '09

By Tom Kelly, Thursday, January 8, 2009.

Searching for a home can be draining in "normal" times. When inventory is high and home mortgages are more difficult to obtain, the process of finding a property and securing financing can be downright exhausting.

"Creating financing" is one of the items that is "in" for 2009, according to an annual survey conducted by Mark Nash, a Coldwell Banker broker and real estate author who uses a network of 839 Realtors in all 50 states and eight Canadian provinces to acquire consumer responses to a variety of housing questions. more...

Big-name lenders come tumbling down

By Tom Kelly, Wednesday, December 31, 2008.

What is the top real estate story of 2008? Fannie Mae? Lehman Brothers? Washington Mutual?

A year ago, we discussed how the excessive extension of credit that led to defaults, foreclosures, home prices and more expensive mortgage money was the most talked-about story of 2007.

Everyone in the home buying and refinancing process was complicit, including brokers, bankers, securitizers on Wall Street, wide-eyed consumers and real estate agents. more...

Future of mortgage finance

By Tom Kelly, Wednesday, December 24, 2008.

Will the lessons learned from the real estate slowdown spark genuine creativity in marketing and lending to push more sales?

What are the chances that the residential mortgages bought and sold in the secondary markets will revert to the conservative portfolio business that existed before the first securitizations in the early 1980s?

The real estate industry will recover, but it will be different. more...

International referrals give agents hope

By Tom Kelly, Wednesday, December 17, 2008.

While housing analysts continue to paint a rather anxious and uncertain picture for residential property in the near future, one emerging source of business for agents has been foreign buyers investing in the U.S. -- and another is Americans buying abroad. more...

'False bottom' for housing ahead?

By Tom Kelly, Wednesday, December 10, 2008.

Where's the housing bottom?

While nobody seems confident in a prediction, Lawrence Yun, the National Association of Realtors' chief economist who last year predicted the turnaround would begin in late 2008, tried to throw his 1.2 million-member trade group a bone by showing that pending home sales slipped 4.6 percent nationwide in September from August but remained 1.6 percent higher than a year earlier. He also stated that some of the areas hardest hit by the slowdown, including Florida and California, showed "consistent, solid gains" and that NAR's housing affordability index is averaging 19 percentage points higher this year than in 2007. more...

Is predatory lending a thing of the past?

By Tom Kelly, Wednesday, November 26, 2008.

Predators have come to the party wearing a variety of hats, yet their intent clearly is common.

Webster's gives the definition of "predatory" as "relating to, or practicing plunder, pillage or rapine … showing a disposition to injure or exploit others for one's own gain … "

In the home mortgage business, predators historically have jockeyed to the most vulnerable rung of the housing ladder, seeking to "dine and dash" with the least suspecting group of borrowers having to pay the bill. more...

Modify my home in THIS market?

By Tom Kelly, Wednesday, November 19, 2008.

With many areas of the country now in a down sales cycle, it makes a lot of sense to consider some changes that will make your home more comfortable -- for you but not necessarily the next potential owner.

In fact, aging-in-place renovation work is expected to provide one of the bright spots for residential construction as the industry eventually begins gaining ground, according to panelists at the recent National Association of Home Builders' remodeling show. more...

HUD hikes reverse mortgage loan limit

By Tom Kelly, Wednesday, November 12, 2008.

One of the most significant developments in the history of reverse mortgages occurred recently when FHA Commissioner Brian Montgomery announced that a new single national limit had been reached, eliminating critical geographical boundaries for many seniors in the country's most popular reverse mortgage program.

Loans insured by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, known as Home Equity Conversion Mortgages, or HECMs, now have a common ceiling of $417,000, regardless of where the home is located. more...

Is rate lock wise in today's market?

By Tom Kelly, Wednesday, November 5, 2008.

Loan rates have been as staccato as the stock market. After the longer process of loan approval, when do you lock the loan rate? Will your 6.5 percent fixed-rate loan go up if you don't lock it today or should you gamble on the hope of a possible tick downward?

There was a time, not long ago, when rate locks were not a part of the conventional loan package. Borrowers had to pay for a lock, in addition to the loan origination fee. more...

What happens when reverse mortgage isn't repaid?

By Tom Kelly, Tuesday, October 28, 2008.

In a recent column, we addressed the possibility of using an Individual Retirement Account to purchase investment real estate. more...

Small lenders fill niche for Mexican mortgages

By Tom Kelly, Tuesday, October 21, 2008.

The residential mortgage meltdown in the United States not only has devalued investors' significant assets but it has stymied their ability to create and explore potential future business.

New York-based Lehman Brothers Resort Home Lending abruptly ended its four-month entry into the Mexican and Costa Rican mortgage markets even as many destinations in those two countries continue to appreciate and draw second-home, retirement and investment buyers. more...

How option ARMs killed WaMu

By Tom Kelly, Tuesday, October 14, 2008.

(This is Part 2 of a two-part series. Read Part 1, "WaMu failed to heed lesson learned in '80s.")

Kerry Killinger, the former strategist at the brokerage firm Murphey Favre, became Washington Mutual's chief executive in 1990. He made his first significant money by flipping investment homes in eastern Washington state and deeply believed in the power of the housing industry. more...

WaMu failed to heed lesson learned in '80s

By Tom Kelly, Tuesday, October 7, 2008.

Twelve years ago, Washington Mutual was on a can't-miss roll.

The Seattle-based thrift had made 22 bank buys since 1983 and increased its lead over the competition in mortgage lending in all Northwest states. It was riding high on the commercial success of the "Rodeo Grandmas," a television advertisement featuring four women aged 68-92 who adoringly yodeled and roped viewers into "corralling" WaMu's new concept of free checking for its customers. more...

Can lender challenge loan data after closing?

By Tom Kelly, Tuesday, September 30, 2008.

The mortgage meltdown has brought a return to the process of proper verification of a borrower's assets. But just how long is the information stated on your home-loan application considered valid? If you retire or lose your job after your loan closes, can the lender demand payment in full?

Those questions, and others like them, were raised recently by a longtime nurse whose lender demanded that a "reverification form" be signed at closing. She was especially concerned because she had already given financial information -- bank deposits, stocks, income -- at the time of application. more...

Why consumer confidence is key to recovery

By Tom Kelly, Tuesday, September 23, 2008.

I don't know what was more exasperating: the number of commercials during recent sporting events telecasts or the fact that most of the paid interruptions were approved by political candidates. Can the pace possibly slow before November? more...

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