Just the facts Ma’am!

Some facts about the recent Mortgage Relief agreement between the banks and, well, us…

FACT#1: The main fact here is that mortgage servicers will be required to contribute $20 billion to various forms of relief to borrowers. 

FACT #2: Of said $20 billion no less than $10 billion will [...]

Fannie & Freddie making important policy changes…

If you’re unemployed and in danger of going into default on your mortgage the nation’s Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE’s), Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, are making some important changes to their foreclosure and forbearance (when the bank suspends collection of payments for a period of time, kind of like a timeout on making [...]

Another month of positive homes sales for the Sacramento region

Home sales in the Sacramento region rose yet again last month, beating the rest of the state (which also rose with us, only not as much). Over 2,400 homes sold across the region in November, up just shy of 12% year over year.

It was the fifth month in a [...]

Keep Your Home California expands to help more Californians

The Keep Your Home California program has increased benefits and expanded eligibility in order to help more homeowners having trouble making their mortgage payments keep their homes.

The program has not only relaxed some restrictions on who qualifies but has extended the length of time currently unemployed homeowners can receive [...]

New Mortgage Help Center in Sacramento

When it opens in a few days, Sacramento area homeowners will have a new resource in Fannie Mae’s new Mortgage Help Center. The new center will provide counseling for homeowners that owe more on their home than it is worth as well as those seeking to modify their loans. To qualify for the [...]

Bank Of America joins state’s homeowner rescue program

A few weeks ago Bank of America agreed to participate in a state-run program to reduce mortgage balances for struggling homeowners in California. This announcement makes them the 7th to do so and also the biggest mortgage lender to be part of the aid program.

BofA’s participation was almost necessary for [...]

Foreclosure Activity In the Sacramento Region Down More Than 20%

Foreclosure activity in the greater Sacramento real estate market is down more than 20% for the first six months of 2011. This closely follows a deep trend in decreasing foreclosure filings around the country…

According to real estate data company RealtyTrac, Notice Of Default (or NOD) filings dropped to 21,721 for [...]

Credit Makeover In Five Steps

My friends at local credit repair agency, Blue Water Credit Repair, gave me this GREAT five step path to a credit makeover. While I know all of this myself I can’t take credit for putting it into words (and Blue Water taught me a bit of this stuff anyways). Here you go, a free five [...]

Housing in the US never as “undervalued” as it is today…

Continued depreciation of property values in 2010 has made housing more undervalued relative to income than ever before. Using the latest Case-Shiller home price index American housing was 21% undervalued when compared with disposable income per-capita.

This data includes the index published by the Federal Housing Finance Agency and shows that [...]

Is the “loan mod” business dead? Is that a bad thing?

As of January 31, 2011; the FTC has banned consulting firms from charging up-front fees for negotiating modifications of residential mortgage loans. In Nevada, the Mortgage Lending Commissioner said the constraints of the federal rule “will have substantial impact” on the number of licensed consultants for mortgage loan modifications. His office counts 39 licensed loan modification [...]