Borrowers from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that purchase foreclosed homes owned by these two lenders will soon receive special incentives on the part of these companies that will help homebuyers to cover closing costs. These two companies, both of which buy mortgages in bulk from lenders, will offer these incentives at a time when many potential homebuyers are struggling.
Freddie Mac’s SmartBuy program began and July and gives homebuyers until October 30 to apply to take advantage of the offer, which allows the buyer to use up to 3.5 percent of the home’s sale price to cover closing costs. To qualify, …read more

Despite the emergence of signs that the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression has started abating, the number of mortgages that have gone delinquent or that have ended in foreclosure is rising. The current level of delinquencies and foreclosures marks the worst situation in at least forty years, even as the government continues to extend help to borrowers.
 
While the original problem facing borrowers originated from risky subprime loans, the same culprit for starting the economic crisis, the Mortgage Bankers Association has now stated that more borrowers are being driven into delinquency by rising unemployment of unemployment. The economy will …read more

Illinois offers interest-free down payment loans.

Unbroke and mortgages: 1/3 of gross income may not be the best scenario. You could do better.

Mortgage help is out there, exactly where is the question.  Obama may have signed a housing bill this week in Arizona but the details are not completely clear to most of us, yet. The old adage “patience is a virtue” just might come in handy.  The focus seems to be on those facing foreclosure but there are many other people wanting help.
There are a great deal of people out there who are still paying their mortgages but whose home values have dropped enough that they are unable to re-finance and acquire the low rates.  Mortgage companies simply don’t want to …read more

Buying a home today is different than it was even a year ago.  Some things change and some things stay the same but in today’s market you are definitely better off preparing yourself before you find a home that you have your heart set on.  Her are a few important things to keep in mind when you are preparing to buy a home:

Save. It is very important to save money for a down payment.  95-100% mortgages are much less common these days, if not a thing of the past.  Having a 20% down payment to put down will make securing …read more

While it is true that for most parts of the country home sales are down, home sales for more expensive homes have had an even larger drop due to the higher interest rates for larger mortgages.  A Jumbo Loan was previously considered a loan of $729,000 or more.  The three main lending and home mortgage instutiions, FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are considering lowering the Jumbo amount somewhere around $650,000.
A recent article by Walter Molony at realtor.org states that  “the latest existing-home sales data shows transactions under $400,000 are 3 percent below a year ago. However, sales of homes …read more