ONE OF THE PERILS OF THE MORTGAGE BUSINESS is a common question I am asked whenever I attend any type of social gathering: How is business? Given the state of housing the last several years, the question is understandable — everyone wants to know if, and needs assurance that, the housing market is healthy. The […]
Making $ense of Real Estate: A happy medium
I THINK WE CAN ALL AGREE that the mortgage industry needed more oversight following the loosey-goosey days of the early 2000s. But how much regulation is enough, and have we gone too far? CFPB, HUD/FHA, FHFA/GSAs, HUD/FHEO, Federal Reserve, OCC, FDIC, SEC and finally the DOJ — an alphabet soup of federal agencies with oversight […]
Making $ense of Real Estate: Shelter vs. investment
WHEN YOU BUY A HOME, is it for shelter or is it just an investment? Or is it perhaps for both? When my parents were buying homes back in the ’60s and ’70s, properties appreciated some — enough that if they wanted to move they could sell the old place and be able to buy […]
Making $ense of Real Estate: Confused by the news
NEWS OF MORTGAGE INTEREST RATES can be quite confusing for the average person if they’re just reading or listening to media accounts. Interest rates are up; no they are down; really they are just sideways. Reminds me of Abbott and Costello. Just this week I found two national stories on mortgage interest rates, one reporting […]
Making $ense of Real Estate: Wild card
AS HOME VALUES SOARED IN THE EARLY 2000s, real estate seemed to many like a can’t-miss investment. Many believed that the ever-increasing value of real estate would never stop and that buying real estate was a sure path to great wealth. That myth came crashing down as housing collapsed in 2007 and the nation plunged […]
Making $ense of Real Estate: Is the time right for you — and do you qualify?
AS SPRING APPROACHES, the traditionally hot home-buying season is set to begin. For many who presently own homes and are thinking about selling, this might be the time to finally make your move. For many folks, the idea of moving up to their dream home has been a long-awaited — and frustrating — dream. The good […]
Making $ense of Real Estate: A hand up
CAN WE ALL JUST AGREE ON ONE THING? Most Americans have been put through the financial wringer. For some, the devastation was immediate beginning in 2007. Many others clung on by the skin of their teeth and somehow clawed their way through the mess, emerging damaged but somehow still intact.
Making $ense of Real Estate: A role for government
AT THE HEIGHT OF THE BANKING OF THE BANKING CRISIS OF 2008, mortgage giant Fannie Mae was near collapse. To ensure liquidity in the housing market, the government took over Fannie Mae and over the course of four years injected more than $116 billion into the company. $116 billion of taxpayer money. Many, including some […]
Making $ense of Real Estate: The best-kept secret
AFTER SIX CONSECUTIVE QUARTERS OF DECLINING AFFORDABILITY, housing prices in California stabilized in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to a recently released report from the California Association of Realtors. CAR’s traditional Housing Affordability Index, which measures the percentage of all households in the state that can afford to purchase a median priced home, remained […]
Making $ense of Real Estate: Another housing crisis on the horizon?
BEGINNING IN APRIL 2009, President Obama’s Making Home Affordable loan modification program began offering struggling homeowners the opportunity to modify the interest rate on their mortgages. The program achieved moderate success, modifying more than a million loans over a roughly five-year period. More than 300,000 of these modifications occurred in California. The modifications were billed […]