Buyers, Start Your Engines!

I read this morning that the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that new mortgage applications fell 11.1% this week. We have seen traffic fall off a little over the same period but there are a few things that anyone who can buy a house today needs to realize:
1. Assuming we get the quarter point rate cut [...]

Read Full Post »

Walk away and you will be singing the Blues for a long time

The country’s two largest sources of mortgage money have a blunt warning for anyone thinking about joining the growing “walkaway” trend in which homeowners stop making payments and months later send the house keys back to their lender: You will feel the pain.
“Jingle mail” will most certainly come back to haunt you (”Jingle Mail” is [...]

Read Full Post »

Los Angeles Times is Spinning Fear Again

“Southland Home Prices Tumble Fast” was the headline that greeted me today as I picked up my morning paper. The thrust of the story was that home prices have slid an average of 19% in the last year.
For those of you who know me well, this kind of reporting drives me crazy. I realize that [...]

Read Full Post »

Okay, HUD announced the new limits. Now what?!?

As many of you know, the new loan limits were announced by HUD on Wednesday. These market-specific loan limits will provide significant opportunity to us in many markets, and we know you are anxious to begin applying for both FHA and GSE (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) loans using these new loan [...]

Read Full Post »

What does the mortgage side of the Stimulus Package mean for you?

 
 

For the immediate future, not much. While this is not the answer most of us want to hear, it is the reality we are facing. Higher limits will certainly help both the refinance and purchase areas of real estate but there are still a lot of details to be taken care of.
Below is the best [...]

Read Full Post »

Banks tighten lending standards at record pace

More banks tightened standards on residential and commercial real estate loans during the final quarter of 2007 than at any time in the 17-year history of the Federal Reserve’s quarterly survey of loan officers.A record 55 percent of loan officers at domestic banks surveyed in January said they’d tightened standards on prime residential mortgages [...]

Read Full Post »

Scary, scary housing market!

We hope that headline causes you to read further……

Headline greetings like the above from us are similar to the press having their field day in scary headlines. Foreclosures up, Amgen layoffs, sales units down, Countywide layoffs, economists doom and gloom! All are eye-catching, paper selling headlines!

The reality of the huge slow down [...]

Read Full Post »

The Countrywide Letter (Part II)

Dear Colleague:
Nearly 40 years ago, when Countrywide was founded, we were primarily an FHA/VA lender. Back then, as today, our mission was to provide the opportunity of homeownership to individuals and families who had historically been shut out. Since our humble beginnings, we have labored year after year to stay true to our mission and [...]

Read Full Post »

What Countryside is saying to the Wholesale Broker Community

August 28,2007
 
To Countrywide Brokers,
This is unquestionably one of the most challenging times in the annals of mortgage lending. As such, this communication is the first of a series that will outline how Countrywide , America’s
Wholesale Lender is navigating through this challenging market. Additionally, it is my desire that these ongoing communications will share some [...]

Read Full Post »

6 Excellent tips for Countrywide

Here is part of a great story I came across from FORTUNE magazine writer Peter Eavis:
1) What investors want most of all is hard, honest data out of Countrywide. The numbers, if revealed, can be bad (but not nightmarish). After all, the market is already pricing in a massive slowdown in earnings, so dependable clarity [...]

Read Full Post »