Mortgage News

Use this article to help educate your customer on what they will need to do to Refinance.

"Prepare Now for the next mortgage refinance"
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-re-lew27apr27,1,5468163.story

Congressman Outlines Support for Plan to Help Ease Mortgage Crisis
http://originatortimes.com/content/templates/standard.aspx?articleid=3097&zoneid=5

ECONOMIC, HOUSING & MORTGAGE MARKET OUTLOOK from RMIC
http://www.rmic.com/productsandservices/marketanalysis/specialreports/Documents/ECOutlook2%204-22-08%20FINAL.pdf

Mortgage News

The Mortgage Market This Week http://originatortimes.com/content/templates/brm.aspx?articleid=3067&zoneid=2

The trillion-dollar mortgage time bomb Risks are rising that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may need a government bailout that could cost far more than previous rescues http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/21/news/economy/fannie_freddie/?postversion=2008042103

UPDATE 1-Fed's Kroszner urges clearer mortgage standards http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN2145220320080421?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

Agency News (FHLMC)

You are reading key updates from Freddie Mac Today's News... In our April 22 Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide (Guide) Bulletin, we are announcing changes to our credit requirements that reflect current market conditions. We are also updating our requirements to capture additional capabilities recently made available through the selling system, including the sale of mortgages under the fixed-rate Mini Guarantor execution, and the expansion of the life cap range for certain adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs). Please refer to the April 22 Guide Bulletin, now posted on FreddieMac.com, for complete details on these changes and more.
In the Bulletin, we are making the following changes to our selling requirements:
Revising our requirements for second home mortgages to limit the number of 1- to 4-unit financed properties in which a borrower may have an individual or joint ownership interest (including the subject property) to four
Revising our requirements for investment property mortgages to reduce the number of financed properties in which a borrower who owns more than one financed investment property may have an individual or joint ownership interest (including the subject property) from 10 to four
Revising our “no cash-out” and cash-out refinance mortgage requirements as follows:
Mortgages that are originated as cash-out refinance mortgages, held by the Seller for less than six months, and then refinanced as “no cash-out” refinance mortgages must be sold to Freddie Mac as cash-out refinance mortgages
The borrower on a cash-out refinance mortgage must have owned the subject property for at least six months prior to the note date of the new refinance mortgage
Announcing that we are enhancing the Freddie Mac selling system to:
Permit the sale of mortgages under the fixed-rate Mini Guarantor Program
Expand the life cap ranges for certain ARMs
Providing clarity on how Freddie Mac calculates and rounds loan-to-value (LTV) ratios
We are also updating the Guide to reflect the changes to credit requirements announced in our special February 21, 2008 Bulletin, and refining those requirements to provide that also effective for mortgages with Freddie Mac settlement dates on or after June 1, 2008:
Section 184 Native American Mortgages with LTV/total LTV (TLTV)/home equity line of credit TLTV (HTLTV) ratios greater than 97% remain eligible for purchase, in addition to Home Possible® Mortgages with a minimum Indicator Score of 700, FHA/VA Mortgages, and Section 502 GRH Mortgages
Sellers must also reduce the maximum HTLTV ratio when a property is located in a market with declining values
Finally, we are providing additional guidance to assist lenders in implementing First-Time Homebuyer education requirements for Home Possible purchase transaction mortgages, which we modified in our February 21, 2008 Bulletin.

http://freddiemac.com/sell/guide/bulletins/pdf/bll042208.pdf Review the full document

Mortgage News

When shopping for a Mortgage loan how can consumers compare apples to apples. This article may help

Mortgage Confidential: How to compare mortgage closing costs
http://www.walletpop.com/2008/04/14/mortgage-confidential-how-to-compare-mortgage-closing-costs/

This could be good news for brokers

"Regulator knocks Fannie, Freddie appraisal deal"
http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN1636229120080416

PMI News

http://www.pmi-us.com/guidelinechanges/ Limited Documentation & PMI Distressed Markets List Changes Effective 6.1.08

Mortgage News

Bernanke says recession possible
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080402/ap_on_bi_ge/bernanke_congress

Fannie, Freddie regulator sees more risk ahead
http://www.reuters.com/article/telecomm/idUSN1545959520080416

Brokers feel a pulse in home market
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN032843220080416

S & L Crisis vs. Mortgage Meltdown: What Happened?
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/58331

Mortgage News

Fannie warns homeowners who walk away
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/12/RE34101D2M.DTL

Mortgage News

Senate Approves Housing Relief Bill
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/business/11housing.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

The Fed’s Money Well Spent
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/opinion/11rivlin.html?th&emc=th

Agency News

FHA Mortgagee 08-09
Letter Second Appraisal Requirements/Limits on Cash-Out Refinances
http://www.hud.gov/offices/adm/hudclips/letters/mortgagee/08-09ml.doc

Mortgage News

Mortgage Rate Forecast For April 2008
http://www.huliq.com/55713/mortgage-rate-forecast-april-2008

Mortgage Meltdown Cools
http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/industries/finance/article/mortgage-meltdown-cools_544753_9.html

Agency News

Mortgage Eligibility and Pricing Updates for Desktop Underwriter® and Manually Underwritten Loans (Announcement 08-08)
https://www.efanniemae.com/sf/guides/ssg/annltrs/pdf/2008/0808.pdf

Mortgage News

Federal Reserve to maintain mortgage problem hotspot map (Interesting interactive map check out the map www.newyorkfed.org/mortgagemaps
http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/04/01/afx4840866.html

Market Spotlight: Mortgages (you may want to give this article to your consumer)
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/AFX-0013-24184880.htm

HUD chief resigns amid inquiries, mortgage crisis
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/DN-jackson_01nat.ART0.State.Edition2.46594c2.html