WealthWithMortgage.com

One Announcement = $200 Billion In Liquidity, Now.

March 19, 2008

This morning, The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) announced it’s reducing Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac’s (FRE) 30% capital surplus requirement to 20%. Basically, they don’t have to have as much money in reserves, so they’ll be able to buy up some more mortgages and mortgage-backed securities. By OFHEO making this ‘small’ […]

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JP Morgan Announces They Will Buy Bear Stearns

March 17, 2008

Surprise! That’s what I said when I read over the weekend that J.P. Morgan announced they would buy Bear Stearns for $2 a share. Yes, that’s not a typo.. $2 a Share. The total deal is worth 236.2 Million. One thing I must bring up, is an experience I personally had with Bear Stearn’s about […]

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So, Apparently The Fed Works on Sundays?

March 16, 2008

In a surprise move, this afternoon (Sunday afternoon)… The Fed announced two changes to the discount rate. The first change, the most surprising one – was an expansion of it’s lending to securities dealers for up to six months. The securities will join the banks that the Fed worked directly with before. The second part […]

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Des Moines, Iowa – Real Estate Market Watch 3/3/08 – 3/9/08

March 14, 2008

Numbers are always extremely important to consider when buying, selling and financing a home. Each week, I receive a weekly market watch update providing the breakdown of the activity from last week. The report is provided by Heather Barglof at Peoples Company. As I continue to get them, I will continue to post them (with […]

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Higher Cost Mortgages? Fannie Mae Says Yes.

March 13, 2008

Once again, there is some re-pricing of risk going on. If you have recently applied for a loan, you may notice that you’re rate is higher than the ‘going rate’ you’re seeing in less than honest ad’s. Fannie Mae has made the decision to increase the rates on what they consider higher risk loans. As […]

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Another Example of Why Real Estate is LOCAL!

March 12, 2008

Just as we don’t get one national forecast for weather, we also shouldn’t get a national forecast for real estate. Too often, Iowans get caught up in the national numbers and with the declines in property values on the coasts. If you take a closer look, you’ll realize our market really isn’t in the recession […]

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PMI Companies Decide to Shuffle Guidelines – You Need To Read This!

March 11, 2008

If you haven’t heard yet, there have been some BIG changes at the private mortgage insurance companies. Since PMI companies are the real risk takers when financing over 80%, they’ve decided to really tighten up their guidelines in the past two months. Whether you’re a borrower looking for answers, or an originator trying to make […]

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Did You Miss The Bus This Week? Don’t next time.

March 7, 2008

If you’ve been following me on Twitter, you’d know that rates have increased as much as 1/2% since Monday. If you haven’t been following me on Twitter, today – you might consider starting. The bus of low mortgage rates has left the station and it’ll be a while before it returns. To understand why rates […]

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Bernanke Suggests Principal Writedowns

March 6, 2008

If you missed it, Mr. Ben Bernanke made some interesting comments at the Independent Community Bankers Conference. While addressing the current foreclosure crisis, Bernanke suggested banks make principal reductions on problem loans. Here are a couple excepts from his speech (I found the quotes at Alex Stenbeck’s blog): “In this environment, principal reductions that restore […]

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