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Home Sales to be Tested this Winter

Despite recent figures showing that house prices have increased for the last three months, concerns for this winter are starting to appear that housing may be in for a deep freeze. Three main factors are at the focal point of the debate: the tax credit expiration, default and distress sales and artificially low interest rates.  One or a combination of the three could slow down home sales and shift home prices downward.

In the Tri-Valley of Northern California, the area that Loan Mitigation Advocates has our headquarters, default and distress properties have been waning. The last few months have seen less foreclosure and short sale properties come on to the market.  Six months to over a year ago, these default and distressed homes where primarily found in the lower to middle price ranges. Many of the homeowners in this price range had secured subprime mortgages which later resulted in big problems and consequently led to foreclosures and short sales. Now, things are beginning to shift away from the lower to middle priced homes.  More homes at the middle to upper price ranges are expected to become default and distress sales according to a recent New York Times article.  “Plenty of pain yet to come,” said Joseph Shapiro, chief United States economist for MFR.

At Loan Mitigation Advocates, we are always trying to stay abreast of current market trends.  In talking to homeowners, we have identified that some homeowners at the higher price points have been more equipped financially to survive the downturn in the market.  Despite job losses or reduction in income, they have been able to live off savings or the liquidation of stock for a longer period of time.  Some have been able to adjust their lifestyle while others have found jobs to replace lost income. However, for those who have not been able to overcome their hardship, they are faced with the grim reality that their life savings is being wiped out.  They may be left with no choice but to consider giving up their home to short sale or foreclosure.

On top of the potential for more default and distressed sales, another factor that could weigh in on home sales is a rise in Read more

Focus your attention on CREDIT

Credit has been making headlines recently and is quite a serious subject.  With many homes turning to short sales and foreclosures, some homeowners don’t realize the huge impact that a short sale or foreclosure can have on their credit and subsequently their future buying power.

In a recent article by Strategic Equity, Dave Muti, author of “Mortgages:  What You Need to Know,” was asked how a credit score is calculated and tips for increasing it. The Fair Isaac Corporation created the most common credit score used today – the FICO score.  It ranges between 350 and 850.  The higher the score, the better the interest rate you can secure.  720 is the credit score threshold that you don’t want to drop below in order to secure the best rates.  If you drop below 500, you may not even be able to secure a mortgage.

The following are five critical credit criteria reported in the article:

1. Payment History – This pertains to your track record for paying your bills. It makes up 35% of your score. Essentially, this means paying your bills on time. A mortgage “late” is much more serious than a credit card “late”
2. Credit Ratio – How much you owe is 30% of your score. Just because you owe less does not translate to having a better score.  This score is determined between the various types of credit you have opened (see #3 below). There needs to be a balance between how much you owe and how much you have available to you.  Having too many credit cards can be a negative and having only one could be as well. The goal is to have a lot of credit available to you, and to then use that credit, while at the same time not maintaining a high balance.
3. Credit Type – The type of accounts you have makes up Read more

Is the Housing Market Set for a Rebound?

Some experts argue that the worst is behind us and others are predicting the worst is yet to come.

Here are a few recent reasons in support of a market recovery:

New Home Builds

• Based on a government report, new home building increased in August.  The Census Bureau reported that builders broke ground for 598,000 new homes during August, up 1.5% from a revised 589,000 in July.
• Building permits rose 2.7% to 579,000.
• The National Association of Home Builders reported their index of homebuilder confidence had risen a point to 19, its highest level since May 2008.

Resale Homes

At Loan Mitigation Advocates, part of our job is to stay abreast of trends in the real estate market.  We pay particular attention to inventory numbers and the ratio of normal sales to REO/short sale transactions.  In our local area of Northern California, inventory numbers are reaching staggering low numbers in some areas.  There have been cases of multiple offers and homes selling for more than their asking price.  We have also noticed less foreclosures and short sales coming on to the real estate market over the past few months.

On the flip side, there are some potential pitfalls in the near future that could put a damper on the recovery:

Recasting Loans, Foreclosures and Short Sales

According to CNNMoney.com, a large number of non-conventional mortgage loans, including interest-only mortgages and option ARMS, will reset over the next year or so. These resets will lead to increases in the monthly mortgage payments for homeowners. Many people will not be able to afford the increases.

The interest-only loans specifically pose a large threat.  These are homeowners who are paying only the interest payment for a fixed number of months.  Once the number of fixed months is up, the payment is based on principal and a new interest rate, resulting in a much higher payment in most cases.  There were a number of these type of loans created back in 2005 that are set to recast in 2010.

Besides the threat of interest-only loans, option ARMs could create problems as well.  The option ARM loan has provided a borrower the ability to Read more

Mortgage Rate Update Ending 08/19/09

Bankrate.com conducts a weekly national survey on the interest rates for the five most common consumer banking products.  Here’s this week’s outcome:

• 30 Year Fixed Rate: 5.52 percent
• 30 Year Fixed Rate Jumbo: 6.44 percent
• 15 Year Fixed Rate: 4.84 percent
• 5/1 ARM (Adjustable): 4.86 percent
• 1 Year ARM (Adjustable): 5.19 percent 

Mortgage applications were higher for the week for new purchases and resale.  Refinancing activity also rose, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

According to RealtyTrac, foreclosure activity was up 7 percent during July. One in every 355 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure notice during the month.

Why Getting a Loan Modification May Not be a Speedy Process

A great new article was just written from CNNMoney explaining some of the reasons why troubled homeowners are not getting mortgage modifications. Many of you will find the items discussed below to be absurd and ridiculous. These are some of the pitfalls we face everyday, here at Loan Mitigation Advocates, when trying to help our clients get a loan modification granted by the lender.

The top Five Reasons for why the loan modification process is slow are a byproduct of the lenders’ inability to get ahead of the shear volume of loan modification requests.  Essentially, they are always playing catch up and here are 5 reasons adding to this deficiency (see the more defined list at CNNMoney):

#1 – The Fax Machine
Everything from lost pages to warped pages to no acknowledgement that the fax has been received to incorrect fax numbers.

#2 – Multiple Forms
Seemingly endless amounts of documentation are required for a loan modification.  To compound the issue, each lender has its own set of requirements and each borrower’s situation is different which demands a different set of requirements.

#3 – Outdated Information
The time it takes to process a loan modification could be weeks to months.  Information gets outdated and lenders want to make sure that your situation does not change during the time they are considering granting you a loan modification.  In many instances, they will ask for updated information two or three times (i.e., pay stubs, bank statements, etc.)

#4 – Poorly Trained Personnel
I can tell you first hand that there are some people working for the lenders that are rude and unable to assist.  Most of the time, these individuals do not acknowledge receipt of the initial loan modification packet and if you are calling to obtain a status, they have no history of where the loan modification is in the process. You would assume that all individuals working in the loan modification department would be able to obtain a current status on a borrower’s file.  Not the Read more

Obtaining a Second Loan Modification – is this Possible?

This is a common question that we field here at Loan Mitigation Advocates from prospective clients. These calls typically come from borrowers who went through the loan modification process with another modification company or used the lender directly and had insignificant results.  In most cases, these borrowers were unhappy with the result of the granted modification.  The modifications created little to no impact on their monthly payment and in some cases raised the monthly payment. We do receive a smaller percentage of calls that come from individuals who received just an adequate modification.  However, since the time of the granted modification these individuals have fallen under more dire circumstances and need a further reduction to take place.

The bottom line answer to the question of whether another loan modification is possible is that it depends.  All loan modification agreements are not created equal.  They are different and the need to thoroughly understand your contract is critical. Primarily, you are looking for any verbage that restricts your ability to obtain another loan modification.  If there appears to be nothing in writing within the contract, the next step is to contact the lender directly to see if they have any internal policy that prohibits a second loan modification within a certain period of time.  If a restriction exists, the period of time that needs to elapse before another modification can be granted is typically around 1 year.

At Loan Mitigation Advocates, we do not accept advanced fees and we would be happy to look into this situation for you. We are focused on working with the lender to obtain a long-term solution that benefits you, the borrower.  The mediocre quick fix or a temporary band-aid for your financial situation is not what we are after.  As an operating goal at Loan Mitigation Advocates, we seek to secure a loan modification for our clients that is impactful enough to alleviate the need for a second modification down the road.

Mortgage Rate Update Ending 07/01/09

Bankrate.com conducts a weekly national survey on the interest rates for the five most common consumer banking products.  Here’s this week’s outcome:

• 30 Year Fixed Rate: 5.7 percent
• 30 Year Fixed Rate Jumbo: 6.91 percent
• 15 Year Fixed Rate: 5.07 percent
• 5/1 ARM (Adjustable): 5.17 percent
• 1 Year ARM (Adjustable): 5.17 percent 

Additional news centered around the government’s plan to expand the number of people who will be eligible for mortgage refinancing.  Under the Making Home Affordable plan, homeowners will now be allowed to refinance for up to 125 percent of their homes’ values (previously set at 105 percent of value).

Mortgage Modifications Get Trial Period

There is an interesting new twist to the whole loan modification procedure.  Mortgage modifications may require a three-month trial period in order to test the borrower’s ability to make payments under the modified loan structure.  If the borrower meets the requirements during this trial period then the loan modification will be finalized. During the trial period a loan could be reported as delinquent and in most cases the foreclosure process will be suspended.

For the most part, this trial period is specific only to the federal government’s Home Affordable Modification program.  However, expect modification programs that fall outside of the federal government’s program to implement the trial period as well.

In a recent article by Marcie Geffner of Bankrate.com, she describes 10 things that a borrower needs to know about the trial period. To read more about those ten items, please click on this link, Modifying Mortgage Trial Period

Obama Plan for Modifying Mortgages Has Slow Start

According to a recent NY Times article, about 55,000 homeowners have been extended loan modification offers after two months of the Obama loan modification program going into effect.  This is not an encouraging number. Under the Obama plan, the goal is to lower monthly payments to 31 percent of the borrower’s gross income. This will occur first by reducing interest rates to as low as 2 percent.  If the interest rate reduction is not sufficient to hit the 31 percent level, extending the loan term or deferring principal will be another option.

At Loan Mitigation Advocates, we have direct interaction with numerous lenders and we can concur that the U.S. plan for modifying mortgages has started very slowly.  One reason we see as the cause of the slow start is that many lenders are still in the process of revamping their computer systems and altering their process in order to accommodate the new rules and regulations.  Prior to the new regulations, lenders already had a significant backlog of files needing to be processed.  The new rules have just compounded the issue.

Another cause to the processing delays is that some lenders do not have their different departments effectively broken out. We have interacted with lenders who in some cases have their foreclosure, short sale and loan modification departments flowing to the same location.

However, the NY Times article discusses that experts feel a larger issue is the continuing deterioration of the economy. The longer it takes to get the program in gear, they say, the fewer people may qualify for modifications. The expected rise in unemployment and the ending moratorium on foreclosures may directly keep a number of homeowners out of the program.

On a positive note, the article does mention that the administration remains confident that the program will Read more

Mortgage Rate Update Ending 05/06/09

Bankrate.com conducts a weekly national survey on the interest rates for the five most common consumer banking products.  Here’s this week’s outcome:

• 30 Year Fixed Rate: 5.27 percent
• 30 Year Fixed Rate Jumbo: 6.68 percent
• 15 Year Fixed Rate: 4.78 percent
• 5/1 ARM (Adjustable): 5.07 percent
• 1 Year ARM (Adjustable): 5 percent 

Mortgage application activity rose slightly for the week ending May 1 according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Refinancing activity edged up 1.2 percent while applications for new purchase rose 5 percent. Pending home sales for March rose 3.2 percent, according the National Association of Realtors.

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