Refinance Home Mortgages » new york times

Bailing Out The Irresponsible

Luke Ford — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 19:10:37 +0000

The Treasury has a plan to help out those who are late on their mortgage payments. But what about those who are on time with their mortgage payments? Why should those people who bought more home than they could afford get a subsidy? Why is the government giving money to people who made bad decisions?

North Carolina's Plan To Help Struggling Home Owners

Luke Ford — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 03:20:32 +0000

From the New York Times:

Mortgage providers also would have to inform the state about delinquent borrowers. That notification would give the state's banking commissioner time to work with homeowners and lenders to try to hammer out a new payment plan to stave off foreclosures.

Small Increase In Home Sales

Luke Ford — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 05:43:11 +0000

From the New York Times:

Sales of previously owned homes, which make up most of the nation’s housing market, increased 2 percent in May, reversing two months of declines. “Buyers still face significant disincentives as home prices continue to drop in most markets.”

American Home Prices Plunge

Luke Ford — Wed, 28 May 2008 02:02:42 +0000

The New York Times reports:

America’s home-buying season, when for-sale signs sprout like dandelions, is shaping up to be even worse than expected this year, with prices falling, sales slowing and few signs of a turnaround emerging.

Housing Crisis Swamps Auto Industry

Luke Ford — Tue, 27 May 2008 00:32:20 +0000

From the New York Times:

The auto industry is getting sideswiped by the housing crisis.

Auto lenders and banks, closing their wallets, have prevented hundreds of thousands of consumers from getting the financing for a car. Not only is the car a consumer’s second biggest purchase after the home, but the auto industry remains one of nation’s most important economic engines. Auto lenders like Chase, Capital One and GMAC are finding it harder and more expensive to obtain money for loans. Car dealers and manufacturers will probably face months of weaker profits as they offer more incentives to sell new vehicles. Luxury car sales, which provide outsize profits for auto companies, are off 13 percent from last year, according to the Autodata research firm. And consumers, facing potentially higher mortgage payments and $4-a-gallon gas, are delaying purchases of midmarket cars.

Profiting From Foreclosures

Luke Ford — Mon, 26 May 2008 21:56:03 +0000

From the New York Times:

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The house on East 24th Street was the worst of the six that David Law and Trey McCallister worked on the other day here. Trash littered the front and back yards. Mortgage companies hire contractors like these men to inspect and maintain houses that once-proud owners can no longer afford and no one else wants. The longer a home sits vacant, the more vulnerable it becomes. The home on East 24th Street has been vacant for several years, said Gloria Roberts, a next-door neighbor. The problem of vacant homes is all the more striking when considered against predictions by economists that a couple of million more homes will enter foreclosure in the next two years, said Cheryl Lang, president of Integrated Mortgage Solutions, a company based in Houston that contracts with Mr. McCallister and Mr. Law on behalf of mortgage companies.

Refinance Bailout

Luke Ford — Wed, 21 May 2008 15:31:56 +0000

From the New York Times:

When the Senate Banking Committee approved on Tuesday legislation to help suffering homeowners refinance costly loans, lawmakers said they had found a way to rescue the housing market without requiring taxpayers to foot the bill.

How One Woman Got Messed Up By Easy Loans

Luke Ford — Sun, 18 May 2008 15:05:47 +0000

The New York Times reports:

With the profits, according to her plan, she hoped to pay off a $645,000 mortgage she had meanwhile obtained to buy her dream home in quiet, rural Redding.

FHA's Deficit Hurts Attempts To Heal Subprime Crisis

Luke Ford — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:18:33 +0000

From the New York Times:

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration and Democratic leaders in Congress are counting on the Federal Housing Administration to rescue hundreds of thousands of homeowners from foreclosure by helping them refinance from risky subprime loans to stable government-backed mortgages.

Freddie Mac's Accounting Tricks

Luke Ford — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:15:30 +0000

From the New York Times:

Freddie Mac beat Wall Street's expectations in the first quarter, but the mortgage finance company didn't vanquish concerns about its ability to weather the housing bust.

Federal Mortgage Rescue Plan Puny

Luke Ford — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:13:16 +0000

From the New York Times:

WASHINGTON — Fewer than 2,000 homeowners at risk of foreclosure have been helped by a Federal Housing Administration program that President Bush promised would help homeowners who had fallen behind on their mortgage payments, federal housing statistics show.

Refinancing With A Fixed Fee

Luke Ford — Thu, 15 May 2008 22:19:11 +0000

Bob Tedeschi writes for the New York Times:

FOR many borrowers, adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, are too risky, even though the interest on such loans is usually fixed for 5 or 7 years at a rate lower than that offered on 30-year fixed mortgages.

Refinance Blues: Owing More On Your Home Than It Is Worth

Luke Ford — Sun, 11 May 2008 05:32:08 +0000

About nine million Americans owe more on their home than it is worth.

Only a small portion of these people are walking away from their homes.

Those who do may get a lot of media attention. Jose Canseco for one.

Refinance Blues: Losing Home & The Storage

Luke Ford — Sun, 11 May 2008 05:26:49 +0000

You lost your home to foreclosure?

So you've put your stuff in storage?

But what if you can't keep up with those payments.

Your stuff goes on the auction block.

That's more common.

U.S. Federal Government Investigates Mortgage Industry

Luke Ford — Mon, 05 May 2008 04:59:15 +0000

The FBI and the IRS are looking into whether mortgages made loans without any effort into inquiring whether borrowers can repay their loans.

What's wrong with letting the free market deal with this stuff?

American Economic Confidence Limp

Luke Ford — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:15:34 +0000

Will the tax rebate and a coming mortgage bail-out be the viagra the economy needs?

Or will lower interest rates help businesses stand tall?

Consumer confidence is way down notes this New York Times article.

The Big Federal Bail-Out

Luke Ford — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:16:27 +0000

Not big enough?

Not enough government intervention? Not enough subsidizing of bad decisions?

This New York Times article says only about 2,000 homeowners near foreclosure have been helped by President Bush's plan arranged last August.

Read more on The Big Federal Bail-Out…

Where Do Small Businesses Go To Raise Money?

Luke Ford — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:24:59 +0000

The New York Times reports on a recent conference in Southern California for small businesses seeking capital.

Surprisingly, the mood was upbeat.

The market for venture capital is nowhere as overheated as a few years ago.

Will The Bell Of Responsibility Never Sound?

Luke Ford — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:57:46 +0000

The Heritage Foundation blogs about the Senate's new “Foreclosure Enhancement Act.”

So what will the House do? It is holding hearings now on the housing “crisis.” As the Christian Science Monitor reports, “at the heart of the emerging consensus is a bigger role for the Federal Housing Administration in helping borrowers refinance loans they cannot afford to pay. … [A]ll competing plans require an FHA that is up to the task of dealing with a crisis that industry experts say is uncharted territory.”

Who's Watching The Books Of These Risky Lenders?

Luke Ford — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 17:31:28 +0000

When Enron collapsed, Arthur Anderson, its accounting firm, went bankrupt with it.

Now various mortgage lenders have gone broke.

Were their accountants minding the story?

Did they do their due diligence?

Subprime Crisis Over?

Luke Ford — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:47:06 +0000

The New York Times reports that Wall Street thinks happy days may be here again.

The stock market had a great day today and this means something significant.

Stocks started the second quarter with a soaring rally on Tuesday that sent the Dow Jones industrial average up nearly 400 points, its best performance in two weeks, as investors found reasons to take heart in a fresh round of mortgage-related write-offs at UBS and Deutsche Bank and a capital infusion at Lehman Brothers, the brokerage firm.

Will Equity Loans Be Next?

Luke Ford — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:29:25 +0000

The New York Times reports on the next credit crisis — equity loans.

Over the past years, home owners borrowed a lot of money confident that rising home values would keep them OK.

Justice Department Report Says Accounting Firm KPMG Enabled Fraud

Luke Ford — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:26:55 +0000

It was a five month investigation that held the accountants guilty.

The New York Times says New Century Financial was one of America's largest subprime lenders. The company went broke a year ago.

Hillary Wants To Throw $30 Billion At Mortgage Crisis

Luke Ford — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:30:06 +0000

The New York Times notes that Hillary Clinton has offered more specifics than any other presidential candidate about the credit mess.

In a speech at the University of Pennsylvania, Mrs. Clinton proposed several other moves to deal with foreclosures, like tapping two former chairmen of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan and Paul A. Volcker, and former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin, to lead a “high-level emergency working group” to recommend ways to restructure at-risk mortgages to help avert more foreclosures.

Memo To Mainstream Media

Luke Ford — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:24:59 +0000

If you want to constantly attack payday loans, then abandon any pretense to journalistic objectivity. The articles recently published about this matter, all of them vilifying the practice of payday lending, fail even the most basic standards of decent reporting. Where are the testimonies – yes, such accounts readily exist – from people who need these short-term loans? This evidence in support of payday loans, narratives from people of diverse economic backgrounds (additional memo to MSM: payday loans are a source of relief for individuals of all incomes), never seems to make it into articles from, say, the New York Times or Washington Post. The reason: the proverbial media establishment wants to destroy payday lending. Save that agenda for the editorial page. In the meantime, reporters need to uphold the standards of their profession — which means writing balanced pieces that respectfully offer data from the other side. And here's another "radical" suggestion: newspapers should spend less time on this blatantly political cause, and focus their energy on some genuinely incompetent financial institutions. A crazy idea, I know.

Read more on Memo To Mainstream Media…

America's Two Largest Mortgage Finance Companies Get A Break

Luke Ford — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:14:04 +0000

The New York Times reports on something that will mean easier and cheaper mortgages for many:

WASHINGTON — With the blessing of the Bush administration, the regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the nation’s two largest mortgage finance companies, eased a major restriction on the companies on Wednesday in an effort to unfreeze credit markets and stabilize housing prices.

Understanding The Credit Crisis

Luke Ford — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:42:21 +0000

David Leonhardt from the New York Times writes that if you don't understand the subprime meltdown and the accompanying credit crisis you are not alone.

Yes, it has been going on for seven months. But why?

Should You Refinance?

Luke Ford — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:49:34 +0000

Financial journalists have been writing about this topic for decades.

The New York Times tackled it July 20, 2006:

Whenever interest rates change even slightly, many homeowners hear the whispers of their financial conscience, nagging them to consider refinancing the mortgage. But for first-time homeowners in particular, the question of when to refinance, and how, can be particularly vexing.

Financial advisors point to a few easy guidelines to follow when considering a new mortgage, but they warn against oversimplifying the process. “If done inappropriately, a re-fi can really mess you up,” said Michael Beriss, a senior financial advisor with Ameriprise Financial, a consulting firm. “So you have to do it within the context of your overall, long-term financial plan.”

Fannie Mae offers additional loan for those with illness or job loss, not people who simply fall behind

Luke Ford — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 01:59:20 +0000

Bob Tedeschi writes for the New York Times that a less expensive loan may stop a foreclosure.

Fannie Mae has an alternative: an additional loan.

Fannie props up the mortgage market by buying loans from lenders and reselling them in bulk to investors, announced the HomeSaver Advance late last month. This program will enable borrowers to take out an unsecured personal loan to cover missed mortgage payments quickly.

Republicans Talking Bailout

Luke Ford — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:14:24 +0000

From the LAT:

News item: Republican Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri (pictured) today proposed a $10 billion-plus housing bailout plan that includes $15,000 tax credits for buyers of foreclosed homes and tax breaks for mortgage companies that have lost money recently.