St Louis Mortgage Blog

St Louis Home Mortgage and Refinancing News -

News:  HARP gets extension for 12 months

The Obama administration introduced the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) last year to help about 4 to 5 million borrowers who have little or no equity in their homes.

The program, administered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, refinanced 190,180 mortgages in 2009 with loan-to-value between 80% and 125%.  The program which was set to expire June this year has been extended by 12 months.

Edward DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said the program has been extended to June 2011 in order to "support and promote market stability and to encourage lenders and other mortgage market participants to fully adopt the HARP program, including the implementation of the October 2009 expansion of loan-to-value ratios to 125%."

Analysts have been critical of the program and say it has had a limited impact so far. "The overall volume last year was an embarrassingly small amount. I don't think it will make a big difference" to have the program extended," said Thomas Lawler, a housing consultant.
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St Louis Home Mortgage and Refinancing News -

News:  So much for "job creation"

Labor Department data showed that US employers unexpectedly cut 85,000 jobs in December, even though analysts polled by Reuters had expected nonfarm payrolls to be unchanged last month and the unemployment rate to edge up to 10.1 percent. 

For the whole of 2009, the economy shed 4.2 million jobs, the department said.  Still the job market continued to show broad improvements last month, with a number of sectors showing gains. 

Professional and business services added 50,000 positions, while education and health services increased payrolls by 35,000. Temporary help employment rose by 47,000. 

Manufacturing payrolls fell 27,000 after dropping 35,000 in November. The construction sector lost 53,000 jobs, while the service-providing sector shed only 4,000 workers. 

The average workweek was unchanged at 33.2 hours, while average hourly earnings increased by $18.80 from $18.77 in November. 

Unemployment remains the Achilles heel of the economic recovery that started in the third qu arter of 2009 following the worst recession in 70 years.

Creating jobs is critical to sustaining the economic recovery when government stimulus fades. It's also critical to Democratic ambitions.

Obama's popularity has steadily fallen, knocking his approval ratings down to around 50 percent.  This could dim the election prospects for his Democratic Party in the November congressional elections.

St Louis Home Mortgage and Refinancing News -

News:  Credit Card Delinquencies = Mortgage Delinquencies?

According to Transunion, credit card delinquency rates in the July-September quarter were highest in states with the highest rates of foreclosure filings.

The highest credit card delinquency rates occurred in Nevada, where the
delinquency rate was 1.98 percent; in Florida, where the card default rate was 1.47 percent; and Arizona, where the rate was 1.35 percent.

These three states also topped the foreclosure rate chart in the July-September quarter. Nevada was first in the chart, with a foreclosure ratio of one in 23; Florida was fourth, with a ratio of one in 56; and Arizona was second, with a foreclosure rate of one out of every 53 housing units.

This shows that this foreclosure epidemic is getting worse every day and if you are sitting on the sidelines, you are wasting your time. You need to get in now.

Based on an analysis by the Mortgage Bankers Association, these three states, together with California, accounted for 43 percent of all foreclosure filings and bank repo houses throughout the U.S. in the July-September quarter. 

So we've now determined that mortgage delinquencies are directly related to credit card delinquencies and we can assume that it's directly related to personal (non-mortgage) debt.

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Consumers who are facing high-interest debts and want financial relief, a St. Louis refinancing loan may be the answer.  Call the home loan and refinance experts at 314-698-4092. 

Liberty Lending Consultants will be happy to give you personalized lending service and answer any questions you may have.  Ask for Steve Swan or Doug Stahlschmidt.

St Louis Home Mortgage and Refinancing News -

News:  FHA loans getting more expensive?

Currently, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans comprise more than 30% of the entire home-loan market. But as some of those insured loans have defaulted, the FHA loan-guarantee fund has slipped below the Congressionally mandated 2% level.

As a result, some lawmakers are suggesting that FHA loans need to be more expensive to obtain.  A House bill, the FHA Taxpayer Protection Act of 2009, would increase the minimum down payment required to obtain an FHA loan to 5% from 3.5%. That, sponsor Rep. Scott Garrett, R, N.J., believes, would make borrowers more committed to maintaining their mortgages. 

Almost 90% of FHA purchase loans issued between January and August 2009 had loan-to-value (LTV) ratios of 96 or higher, according to written testimony from Robert Story, chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association.  That amounts to a very small commitment on the parts of buyers. 

"We have made the decision to exercise our authority to increase the up-front cash that a borrower has to bring to the table in an FHA-backed loan -- to make sure that FHA borrowers have more 'skin in the game' and a stronger equity position in their loans," said Housing and Urban Development secretary Shaun Donovan.  Still, he added, "FHA is not 'the next subprime' as some have suggested."

St Louis Mortgage and Real Estate News brought to you by Floyd Tapia and Liberty Lending Consultants.  Call the home loan and refinancing experts at 314-698-4092 and ask for Steve Swan or Doug Stahlschmidt.

St Louis Home Mortgage and Refinancing News -

News:  More support for Fannie and Freddie

The U.S. Treasury said in a Christmas Eve press release that it would provide unlimited capital to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for the next three years, effectively opening its checkbook  to the government-controlled companies in a bid to reassure investors in their debt. 

After December 31, the Treasury would need the consent of Congress to make such changes.  So, it's no surprise it moved a week before its authority to change the terms of its agreements with the companies that were set to expire. 

So far, the government has pumped $60 billion into Fannie Mae and $51 billion into Freddie Mac.  The new terms announced yesterday would allow the cap on Treasury's support to increase by the amount of the total net loss the firms experience over the next three years, beginning on January 1, 2010.

The cap in place at the end of 2012 would apply thereafter.  Of course, the changes come come as Fannie's and Freddie's regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, on Thursday approved multimillion pay packages for the firms'
top executives.

The pay announcement and the sweeping increase in the government's commitment to backstop the companies are certain to stoke anger from the companies' critics on Capitol Hill. 

"The Obama administration's decision to write a blank check with taxpayer dollars for the continued bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is appalling," said Rep. Scott Garrett (R., N.J.). 

He argued the timing of the announcement, on Christmas Eve, was "designed to try and sneak the bailout by the taxpayers."

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All St. Louis mortgage and real estate news sponsored by LibertyLendingConsultants.com and are not necessarily the views of Liberty Lending Management or owners. 

Good news for consumers:  Take advantage of the home buyer's tax credit for your next home loan by calling 314-698-4092.  Ask for Steve Swan or Doug Stahlschmidt.

St Louis Home Mortgage and Refinancing News -

News:  About half of homeowners to have negative equity by 2011

Analysts at Deutsche Bank say that the number of homeowners whose home value is less than what they owe on mortgage loans will double to 48% by 2011; currently 26% of homeowners have negative home equity.

"We project the next phase of the housing decline will have a far greater impact on prime borrowers," said Karen Weaver and Ying Shen, analysts at Deutsche Bank.

Among prime loans - which conform to underwriting and size guidelines of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - about 41% will be "underwater" by the first quarter of 2011 from 6% at the end of the first quarter of 2009.

As for prime Jumbo loans, about 26% will be underwater by 2011. "The impact of this is significant given that these markets have the largest share of the total mortgage market outstanding," said the Deutsche Bank analysts.

Among subprime loans, 61% will be underwater by 2011. The drop in home prices is leading to negative home equity and incentivizing borrowers to walk away from their mortgage commitments.

In regions such as Las Vegas and parts of Florida and California about 90% of homeowners are likely to see negative home equity by 2011. "For many, the home has morphed from piggy bank to albatross," the analysts said.

All St. Louis mortgage and real estate news sponsored by LibertyLendingConsultants.com and are not necessarily the views of Liberty Lending Management or owners.  Consumers: Enjoy personalized service for your next home mortgage or refinancing loan by calling 314-698-4092 and ask for Steve Swan or Doug Stahlschmidt.

St Louis Home Mortgage and Refinancing News -

If you have been watching the financial news for the past 4 weeks, you've probably seen mortgage rates rise to it's highest level since the first week of November.

Bankrate.com reported that "mortgage rates are advancing along with rates and yields on other long-term debt.  For example, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury is up more than 40 basis points compared to four weeks ago. Over the same period, the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has risen 24 basis points."

Surprisingly, home resales seemed to have surged in November although prices were down.  To the contrary, new home sales plummeted as reported by news blog StLouisRefinancingGroup.com most recently.

Most analysts readily agree that fewer homeowners are purchasing now due to the home buyer's tax credit deadline being extended till April 2010.  As expected, mortgage brokers and lenders are now preparing for the large influx of applications after the new year.

But how is this good news for home shoppers?  Since fewer consumers are applying for St. Louis refinancing loans at this particular time and even fewer homeowners are purchasing new homes, mortgage brokers have more time on their hands to deliver even more personalized service.

Those wanting to enter the home market should take this into consideration as lenders will be much busier as thousands will try to take full advantage of the home buyer's tax credit marathon by April 2010.

Liberty Lending Consultants are available to help guide you in the right direction by selecting the best home mortgage or refinancing loan to help meet your financial goals.  Call Liberty Lending at 314-698-4092 and ask for Steve or Doug.