Happy Days Are Here Again – The Resurgence of FDR

By Irwin Nowick This week we saw why in times of economic uncertainty the American people in their infinite wisdom always – as they must - turn to the Party of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry Truman for their protection. Growing up on the North Shore of Long Island my late mother – heir to what on paper was the upper [more...]

Date: 2008-09-19 11:36:08

Blog posts (174) | Videos (102)
 

Fed “Shock & Awe,” What 0% Means, 2008 Pay Raises, Controversial Auto Survey and More!

Fed saves us from ourselves… details of the historic FOMC decision… Dan Amoss and James Turk on the implications of 0% interest rates… Dollar gets ... to further support credit markets and economic activity.” “This announcement,” Dan Amoss wrote ... . This may include a major mortgage refinancing initiative in 2009. A hint of such an initiative [more...]

Date: 2008-12-18 19:08:51

It is soooo coold.. brr. Post Roundup

YEAH! Its melting Creative Commons License photo credit: *Micky The past few days have been extremely cold here in Minnesota, ... of shopping around for good rates, and low costs. A lot of the places were able to offer us good rates ... of the day) Giveaway for a 6-month subscription to the Wall Street Journal $100 Target Gift Card [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 16:21:15

Obama’s Race Against the Economy

Note: This column was posted here at Pajamas Media on Thursday. Also: Other somewhat related thoughts are at this BizzyBlog post yesterday. _________________________________________________ If the economy begins visibly recovering, a massive “stimulus” package might not be needed. Democrats consider that a bad thing [more...]

Date: 2008-12-27 14:20:20

Beige Book’s Midwestern Summary

From the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book (HTML, PDF). Economic activity in the Seventh District declined further in December, ... market conditions weakened. Construction declined, and manufacturing activity moved lower. Credit ... . In agriculture, field work was limited in December by bad weather. Consumer Spending Consumer spending [more...]

Date: 2009-01-15 01:00:38

Mortgage Loan Modification – Obama Mortgage Program Could Help You

Getting a mortgage loan modification is something that could greatly assist you in saving your home.  The Obama mortgage program was designed to help you lower your monthly payment and avoid foreclosure.  With mortgage interest rates near all time lows there is a great benefit in refinancing to a lower rate.  Even if you have bad credit you could still potentially benefit from a home refinance or modification. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-28 03:00:37

Sunday's MUST Read

Call today a lone linkfest! I did not write this piece, and rather I have links below to the original writer and the site that linked to it. They key point I got from this discussion was the spread between FNMA paper and US Treasuries; so I added a visual in the middle of the article to explain this very important indicator of the debt markets [more...]

Date: 2008-07-13 13:34:32

2009 Housing Forecast

The current expectations for 2009 is for the continuation of the housing pricw plunge. Hopefully stabilization will occur in 2010 or 2011 ... has eliminated an easy source of credit - a heavy drag on an economy that has depended on consumer ... and pieces of the mortgage. "It's been like using a paper cup to bail out a sinking ship," says Mark [more...]

Date: 2009-01-13 16:23:00

Fed Watch: New Month, New Data, Same Story

Tim Duy says the Fed needs to be more definitive about the type of policy rule it is following: New Month, New Data, Same Story, by Tim Duy: ... speak clearly of a deepening recession. If you had any doubt that the credit crunch is causing firms ... weakness extended into November, a hypothesis that is likely to be confirmed by this morning’s ISM report [more...]

Date: 2008-12-01 08:33:00

Mortgage Loans for Lenders with Bad Credit

If you are a first time homebuyer with bad credit, you probably have quite a few questions about how to obtain mortgage loans. Here are the most common questions people have about qualifying for a mortgage when their credit is less than ideal. Can I qualify for home mortgages at all when my credit rating is poor? A poor credit rating will not prevent you from qualifying for a loan, but be careful: Not all of the lenders who approach you will be ethical. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-25 01:56:50

The End of Large-Bank Wholesale Lending - Time For the Mortgage Banker

The End of Large Bank Wholesale Lending - A Resurgence of Middle Market Mortgage Banking – Chase…a Leading Indicator This week Chase shut down ... t effectively manage its pipeline of locked and in-process loans. Of note, Credit Suisse recently shut down ... because NMN is subscription - sorry: “As the refinancing boom gathers steam selected residential [more...]

Date: 2009-01-16 18:23:12

Don't Allow Yourself To Become A Victim of Bad Real Estate Practice

This woman made herself a victim stayed in a hotel for 7 weeks looking for my "Dream Home." And, when I found it, even though it wasn't in my price range, I knew I would do anything I could to get it. I was vulnerable, emotional and became a victim. Actually, that is not quite accurate - I made myself a victim [more...]

Date: 2008-08-08 13:55:58

The Brakes Are Not Working In California

The LA Times reports from California. “A record 10% of the nation’s mortgage-burdened homeowners fell behind on their loan payments or were in foreclosure during the third quarter, according to a survey released Friday by the Mortgage Bankers Assn., which said California and Florida were the biggest contributors to the worsening picture [more...]

Date: 2008-12-06 18:15:59

Adjusting To New Economic Realities

It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “After George Zito’s mother passed away, he put her East Haven home on the market. That was 6-months ago. And, still, there are no prospective buyers. The four bedroom was originally listed at $187,000. ‘We just lowered the price by over $40,000,’ Zito said [more...]

Date: 2008-08-29 20:37:49

Refinancing When You Owe More Than The Home Is Worth

I've been looking around for an answer to this but my searches haven't returned anything useful ... ? Was all the refinance hype only because the markets kept going up? Is this the reason why people who got an bad loan ... to the utter limit for 100% financing could refinance into more favorable loans as their equity picture [more...]

Date: 2009-01-08 09:54:12

Daily Owner Earnings

ThoughtsSoon the yield on Treasury bonds will be too high to justify issuing them. Instead they will just print money ... out for them.Things are so bad that looking at the last 50 years as a comparison will not work. What's worse ... starts.Speaking of GM, looks like the Chinese car company BYD can make an electric car for $22,000. Volt [more...]

Date: 2009-01-13 01:38:00

MortgageNewsClips: No Help for Jumbos, McCabe & Bogle, Clear The Way, Offshore, Caroline Baum, Salmon on Warren, 169 Failed, Treasury Calendar, GMAC, Jody on CES and Mods, Auction, MBS Purchase Plan 3, Ira Has 5

  Lower Rates Aren’t Helping Jumbo Loans - Kathleen M. Howley - The Record (Bergen County, NJ) -  KnowledgePlex ———— [ ... . -  Bloomberg 2.  Fed Study Finds 169 Mortgage Finance Companies Failed Last Year - Craig Torres - … The data signal the waning of lightly regulated mortgage lenders that thrived with funding [more...]

Date: 2009-01-01 16:53:28

FDIC Underestimated The Risks Of Falling Home Prices

With so many lenders looking shaky these days, it brings up the question of how well prepared the FDIC is to deal with lender failures ... possible. Apparently the wave of refinancing that occurred after interest rates lowered ... concerns (Home Equity Line of Credit), but adressed concerns with the mortgage industry in general [more...]

Date: 2008-07-23 07:02:00

The Bailouts? Not Much For the Common Guy

Trillions to financial Terra Incognita; So far very little for ordinary AmericansBy Sherman DeBrosse / The Rag Blog / January 8, 2008At this moment, ... billion guarantee for money market funds, $200 billion so far for credit card issuers, $345 to Citigroup ... money had to be spent covering bad investments that are nearly impossible to understand. No one [more...]

Date: 2009-01-08 02:42:00

AIG CEO Demands Apology from Mad Money’s Jim Cramer

WSJ Deal Journal Related: The credit crunch means that consolidation looms for Mirant and Calpine as well. Bloomberg ... its banks. WSJ More bad news: Banking bosses weigh in on bonuses and job losses. Times ... is wreaking havoc on a large but little-known corner of the credit markets, which could mean more write-downs [more...]

Date: 2008-10-20 12:57:00

A Matter Of Dishonesty

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. MarketWatch, “Home-builder executives said at an industry conference Thursday that they’re making progress clearing out excess inventory, but warned that a recession and spiking unemployment could stop that advance in its tracks [more...]

Date: 2008-06-19 18:42:44

Personal Finance Money Tips Q&A #1

This is the first post of the regular questions and answers series. If you have any question, please try our forum ... . To me, I have bad experience with a local bank (not good to disclose here, just call it Bank A) - poor service and slow respond. I am refinancing the home loan to HSBC and Bank A keeps giving trouble [more...]

Date: 2009-01-08 23:00:50

Pass AB1830 To Help Fix The Financial Crisis

The big story today continues to be the Bush/Paulson bailout bill, which is now being debated on Capitol Hill ... something very bad, but she does hit the real genesis of the crisis. In addition, we must get to the root of the housing crisis and work to keep people in their homes through refinancing; if we don't [more...]

Date: 2008-09-23 18:41:14

Guest Post: Obama Plan Is Bold, but Not Bold Enough

As details emerge about the incoming Obama administration’s stimulus plans, Peter Boone and Simon Johnson argue that proposals should be even bolder. Boone is chairman of Effective Intervention, a U.K.-based charity, and a research associate at the Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics, [more...]

Date: 2009-01-07 09:09:48

The Wait Continues

The Eagle Tribune reports from Massachusetts. “The number of new homes being built in Salem has hit a 30-year low ... They’re waiting until the demand for new houses picks up,’ Mackey said.” “The bad economy has put ... and the rest of New England. ‘It’s clear that the market was overbuilt,’ he said. ‘Easy credit [more...]

Date: 2008-11-10 15:25:58

Simple Ways To Refinance Mortgage

Simple Ways To Refinance Mortgage by Alisa JohnsonIf you look around you, you will be able to find many people who are facing many financial problems. Most of the people take bad financial decisions and they face financial difficulties. As they are not aware of alternatives they have that will solve their problems, these individuals will go for the wrong options. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-24 23:17:30

Taking Advantage of Low Rates

Continued unrest in the Middle East, unemployment rates at the highest level in recent memory, ... and refinancing. My current 30 year mortgage is in the low 6 percent range which, when I got it back ... with my mortgage broker now, as the average 30 year is now around 5.5%. I'm fortunate enough to have a high credit [more...]

Date: 2009-01-12 20:56:00

WaMu’s New $1 million 5-year 1% Balloon Loan (mod) - $878 Per Month!

1/5/09 - EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY - Modified Loans are Ineligible For Fannie/Freddie Refi’s, while FHA MAY Be Eligible ... for conforming loan financing.” All Sorts of Consequences This has all sorts of consequences ... . In my experience, most mods result in one of more of their definitions of ‘restructured.’ A restructured loan [more...]

Date: 2009-01-12 17:52:15

Henry Paulsen as Mary Bailey

The disjointed and ad hoc reaction of the Bush administration to this mortgage crisis stands in ... that -- just as today -- credit was frozen for home lending institutions. It empowered the Federal Home Loan Bank ... not be saved by refinancing, if home owners had to wait for home values to rise. So, it [more...]

Date: 2008-11-30 05:27:22

Homeownership: Is a High Homeownership Rate Good Policy? No. Examining 3 Cycles of Homeownership Data over 100 years and Implications for the Economy.

The current housing crisis has left us with an opportunity to examine the driving issue behind a high homeownership rate ... of principal before a balloon payment was due when the loan matured or was refinanced.  Refinancing ... of thousands of banks and other lenders contributed to the difficulty of refinancing, as customer relationships [more...]

Date: 2009-01-08 08:06:45

Mortgage: 3 Tips On Finding The Cheapest Rates

There are a lot of things to do when looking to buy a home but the most important is to get the most interesting mortgage loan rates available on the market. When applying for a loan, having a high credit score allows you to have a number ... one. Important: in some countries there are only established only two kinds of credit score: the good [more...]

Date: 2009-01-17 12:34:42

"The Acceptable Lust"

From the Sacramento Bee: Sacramento-area home sales tailed off slightly in August from their July highs, while median prices in Sacramento County, ... fast the past two weeks. But here's the bad news: Those in need most of refinancing probably can't ... of $387,000.From the Sacramento Bee: The refinancing wave is on. Prompted by the financial chaos [more...]

Date: 2008-09-18 20:46:00

Don't Bail out Wall Street; Re-invigorate Main Street

Needless to say, Messrs. Paulson and Bernanke's $700 billion rescue package has ruffled a few feathers on Wall Street, Main Street, ... are losing sight of the main point: frozen credit markets inhibit small and large businesses from borrowing money, people of all economic strata from buying apartments and houses, and those [more...]

Date: 2008-09-25 04:57:37

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Little progress on Big Three bailout. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, arguing General Motors (GM) is too big to fail, urges 'immediate action' to help automakers, but faces resistant Republicans and a noncommittal White House. Pelosi wants to include automakers in TARP, but without bipartisan support, [more...]

Date: 2008-11-12 12:14:23

Second home mortgage Loan: FAQ

Second home mortgage Loans are a potentially money-saving option for homeowners who want to consolidate debt and/or turn some of their bad credit into good credit. The possible tax deductions on home equity loans make them potentially useful ... tax advantages can apply. According to current second home mortgage statistics [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 08:02:01

Commercial Developers: Not a Credible Threat

Ok, I’ve been tardy in posting. I’m very sorry about that, lot’s of things are going on ... , there are multiple metrics for value and credit worthiness of a commercial property. Residential properties ... of loan amount to value). However, these are not created equal: FICO is used to ascertain [more...]

Date: 2009-01-10 02:24:52

Still a Girl

On Wednesday I accompanied Sue to her third and final ultrasound. It looks like number two is still going to be a girl ... like we’ll be traveling to a different hospital too. Now we wait. Sue and I are all ready. The car seat is in the car, the crib is setup and the baby bottling stuff is back in the kitchen. We’re [more...]

Date: 2009-01-17 03:54:30

Exit Strategies and Financing Options in Real Estate

As a real estate investor, your exit strategy will play a major role in deciding the kind of financing option you may need or want ... equity lenders won’t go as high on loan-to-value as the credit based lenders, they base their loan ... . The main factor will be your anticipated time from loan initiation to loan payoff. Short-Term [more...]

Date: 2008-07-01 01:08:19

An Open Letter to the U.S. Congress Regarding the Current Financial Crisis

September 22, 2008  John P. Hussman, Ph.D. In 2006, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis noted ? ... institutions that made bad lending decisions, with little help to homeowners that are actually in financial distress. It is difficult to believe that the U.S. government is contemplating taking on the bad assets [more...]

Date: 2008-09-24 14:25:13

Dave Ramsey’s Plan to Fix the Credit Crisis

Jesse over at You Need a Budget sent me an email this evening asking my opinion of Dave Ramsey’s 3-step plan for fixing the credit crisis ... refinancing or the sale of the property to pay off the bad loan. In the event of foreclosure or short ... . Here’s the plan (which you can also download as a PDF here): Years of bad decisions and stupid [more...]

Date: 2008-10-01 05:00:35

Making Sense of Mortgages

Making Sense of Mortgages Posted by Dark Spider at January 17, 2009 Understanding mortgages is no easy task ... ?s market there is a loan for every type of situation. Short term, long term, good credit, bad credit, no matter. Just about anyone can find financing for their mortgage needs today. Keep in mind [more...]

Date: 2009-01-17 12:08:38

friday links and idle philosophificationings

I’ve been exceptionally busy this week getting my Bruce Wayne life up and running. As Batman - aka brip blap - I’ve been running this site for a year and a half with my real identity more or less hidden.  I’m not sure why, sometimes.  It seems to be de rigueur for personal finance bloggers to blog anonymously [more...]

Date: 2009-01-16 09:00:33

Bring Back Paternalism in the Mortgage Market

Not Responsible—Tom Jones Now let me ask you something: Have you ever felt that you weren’t responsible for the things that you do? I do not like government paternalism. When Ronald Reagan came to power and began our 25 year experiment with government deregulation, I thought it was a good idea [more...]

Date: 2009-01-12 15:43:03

Fast Home Equity Loans - Getting Approved Online

div style=’float: right; width: 100px; padding: 5px; margin: 5px; background-color: #FFFFCC;’font size=1font color=’#cc0000′bTip! ... of credit. Conversely, home equity line of credit allows you to borrow money as you need it and pay ... be a smart move to contact the lender of your existing home loan. If your credit is good [more...]

Date: 2009-01-15 19:15:47

Fixing Housing & Finance: 30/20/10 Proposal

A Modest Proposal: The housing crisis worsened over the summer of 2008, prompting Congress to debate various bailout proposals ... to the credit crisis. The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the nationalization of AIG were the results ... or administrative or budgetary review. It is fraught with moral hazard, rewarding bad judgment [more...]

Date: 2008-09-22 11:30:25

The bailout; there's more than one way to skin this cat

by Jay McDonough One of the things that's concerned me about this process is how insular it's been. Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson craft a 3 page proposal and head of the Congress to sell it. Bernanke and Paulson testify how screwed we are before Congressional committees full of Republcans and Democrats who 1) [more...]

Date: 2008-10-01 21:14:14

I Meant to Do That

I Meant to Do That December 19, 2008 By John Mauldin The Fed has taken interest rates to zero. They have clearly started a program of quantitative easing. What exactly does that mean? Are we all now Japanese? Is the Fed pushing on a string, as Japan has done for almost two decades? [more...]

Date: 2008-12-20 13:29:22

best second mortgage loan

The idea of refinancing your second mortgage is undoubtedly attractive – if you can pay off your present 2nd mortgage by obtaining another with ... ? If so, then refinancing makes sense. Use the best second mortgage loan to your credit advantage. It can be an easy ... second mortgage loan. If you have bad credit it is likely that rates and fees will be [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 04:56:59

The Risk of the Mother of All Bank Runs

The suggested policy actions are extreme and radical but the times and conditions in financial markets and the corporate sector are also extreme. Thus, to avoid another Great Depression radical and unorthodox policy action needs to be taken now both in the US and in other advanced economies as the credit crisis and liquidity crisis [more...]

Date: 2008-10-03 12:10:16

William O’Donnell and others at financial giant UBS issued a report earlier in the week noting some reluctance by investors to buy government bonds ... the credit crunch, investors have demanded a greater premium on securities backed by mortgages, which means [more...]

Date: 2009-01-08 17:39:53

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