Homes And Condos

When homes shoppers first pull up in front of a home for sale, they make up their minds in SECONDS whether to get out of their comfortable vehicle or drive on.

Freddie Business Strong
Secondary mortgage purchases were $51 billion during May, Freddie Mac reported Friday. Business climbed from April, the report indicated. And compared to a year earlier, business reportedly soared, Freddie said.

Prime Wholesale Programs Tighten
The availability of high loan-to-value mortgages appears to be rapidly eroding in 2007, according to a mortgage broker survey from Campbell Communications. The tightening of Ltvs is occuring even in the prime market, the report indicated. Citimortgage and Countrywide were cited as wholesale lenders that are using tighter guidelines to reduce risk.

Arm Attraction Amplifies
The average 1-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgage tumbled to 5.7 percent, according to Freddie Mac’s latest weekly survey. The difference between the 1-year Arm and the 30-year fixed rate has widened each week since May 24, according to Freddie’s data. As a result, the share of Arm applications has also risen each week since then.

Avoiding Mortgage Fraud
A Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. report outlined what lenders can do to protect themselves from mortgage fraud. The Fdic recommended that lenders establish a system to monitor concentration risk by broker. Lenders can mitigate loan document fraud with periodic loan file sampling to spot fraudulent practices, periodic credit checks on existing employees, structure compensation agreements to include loan quality as a contributing factor, and institute adequate internal reporting procedures.

A variable rate of mortgage has fixed rate of interest for a fixed period of time that is bound to change in future.

Mortgage Law Update
The National Association of Mortgage Brokers announced Thursday it promoted Nikita M. Pastor to vice president and counsel, government affairs. NovaStar Financial Inc. settled a lawsuit for $5.1 million over allegations it failed to disclose yield-spread premium. Ameriquest Capital Corp. has settled a lawsuit filed by its former president.

Or quite possible, theyve realized that borrowers seeking a bad credit mortgage refinance are just as much a profitable market as customers with more favorable credit.

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