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New Rules Announced to Protect Mortgage Borrowers

Dennis Norman

Over the past couple of years lawsuits have been filed against several lenders over “yield spread premiums” that were paid by the lenders to mortgage brokers originating loans on their behalf. These suits brought a lot of attention to a common practice in the mortgage industry which was to compensate the companies [...]

Fed Reserve: Housing Sales and Starts Have Flattened Out at Depressed Levels; Foreclosures Likely To Remain High

Dennis Norman

At the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on March 16th it was suggested that “economic activity expanded at a moderate pace in early 2010″. Unfortunately, when it came to the housing market, the news was not as good and it was noted that “housing activity remained flat and the nonresidential construction section weakened [...]

Fed support of mortgage market to end by month-end

Dennis Norman

The Federal Reserve announced it will stop purchasing mortgage-backed securities by the end of March.

In November, 2008, the Federal Reserve announced, in an effort to help the housing market, it would purchase mortgage-backed securities. Then, in March, 2009, the Fed increased the total amount of money they would invest in such securities [...]

How to deal with a home-equity line freeze or reduction

By: Dennis Norman

Dennis Norman

In the past many investors have relied upon home equity lines of credit (HELOC) to allow them to use the equity in their residence to invest in real estate.  Over the past year however many have found their lines of credit frozen or greatly reduced as a result of their lenders concern [...]

Mortgage rates drop slightly this week pulling away from 6%

By: Dennis Norman

Yesterday, Bankrate, Inc. issued their weekly mortgage interest rate report showing that mortgage rates after rising to almost 6% have retreated in this past week with 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaging 5.76%, down from 5.95% last week, with an average of 0.43% in discount and origination fees.

The report shows 15-year fixed-rate mortgages were also lower this week at an average of [...]

Mortgage Interest Rates Increase Again this Week

By: Dennis Norman

 Today, Bankrate, Inc. issued their weekly mortgage interest rate report showing that mortgage rates jumped this week with 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaging 5.65%, up from 5.45% last week, with an average of 0.44% in discount and origination fees.

The report shows 15-year fixed-rate mortgages were also higher this week at an average of 5.06%, up from 4.86% last [...]

The Fed Slashes Interest Rates!

By: Dennis Norman

Today, as expected, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System slashed the discount rate (the interest rate the Federal Reserve charges on loans to commercial banks) from 1.25% to 1/2%.  This action will lower the prime rate charged by most banks to around 3.25% which will be the lowest prime rate has [...]