Mortgage

WASHINGTON, D.C. - November 30, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- David H. Stevens, President and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), issued the following statement today regarding H.R. 6429, a bill that would increase costs for future homebuyers by raising the guarantee fees charged on single family mortgages by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in order to pay for certain immigration reforms.

TALLAHASSEE, FL - November 29, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Attorney General Pam Bondi reminds Florida borrowers who lost their homes to foreclosure between Jan. 1, 2008 and Dec. 31, 2011 and who may be eligible for payment under the $25 billion national...

Washington, DC - November 29, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today announced that the maximum conforming loan limits for mortgages acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2013 will remain at existing levels. In most of the country, the loan limit will be $417,000 for one-unit properties. The loan limits are established under the terms of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA), and are calculated each year.

WASHINGTON, DC - November 29, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) recently published guidance to help families with FHA-insured mortgages struggling to repair or rebuild their homes in the wake of major disasters like Hurricane Sandy. FHA’s mortgagee letter reinforces the agency’s longstanding policy of extending foreclosure relief and directs lenders to release insurance proceeds to borrowers rather than to apply those payouts to bring delinquent mortgages current.

LOS ANGELES, CA - November 29, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- A Glendale man has agreed to plead guilty to federal fraud charges, admitting that he ran three separate scams, including a Ponzi scheme that defrauded 30 families out of more than $8 million.

Washington, DC - November 29, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. house prices rose 1.1 percent from the second quarter to the third quarter of 2012 according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) seasonally adjusted purchase-only house price index (HPI). The HPI is calculated using home sales price information from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages. Seasonally adjusted house prices rose 4.0 percent from the third quarter of 2011 to the third quarter of 2012. FHFA’s seasonally adjusted monthly index for September was up 0.2 percent from August.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - November 29, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Center for Responsible Lending and the Financial Services Roundtable today asked Congress to extend the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, which is set to expire at year’s end. “This tax law has bi-partisan support and is critical to helping homeowners and communities struggling with the ongoing foreclosure crisis,” the two organizations said in joint letters to House and Senate leaders. “Furthermore, the housing market is beginning to show signs of a recovery, and expiration of this law would threaten the recovery.”

Washington, D.C. - November 29, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today released its September Refinance Report, which shows that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans refinanced through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) accounted for nearly one-quarter of all refinances in the third quarter of 2012. More than 90,000 homeowners refinanced their mortgage in September through HARP with more than 709,000 loans refinanced since the beginning of this year. The continued high volume of HARP refinances is attributed to record-low mortgage rates and program enhancements announced last year.

Washington, DC - November 29, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today reported that the National Average Contract Mortgage Rate for the Purchase of Previously Occupied Homes by Combined Lenders, used as an index in some adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) contracts, was 3.44 percent based on loans closed in October. There was a decrease of 0.12 from the previous month. In March of 2012, FHFA began calculating interest rates using un-weighted survey data.

WASHINGTON, DC - November 29, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan today announced a $621 million deal to refinance a previous mortgage at Co-op City, a large cooperative housing community that is ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - November 28, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mortgage applications decreased 0.9 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 23, 2012. This week’s results include an adjustment for the Thanksgiving holiday.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - November 27, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Homeownership Preservation Foundation (HPF), an independent national nonprofit dedicated to helping distressed homeowners navigate financial challenges and avoid mortgage foreclosure through its Homeowner’s HOPE™ Hotline at 888-995-HOPE™, today announced that Sanjeev Handa was elected as Chairman of the Board of Directors, effective November 14, 2012.

LOUISVILLE, KY - November 26, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- A Jeffersonville, Indiana man was sentenced in United States District Court this week by District Judge Charles R. Simpson, III to 15 months in prison and ordered to pay $487,111 in restitution a...

LANSING, MI - November 26, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette today announced he charged Lorraine Brown, former president of mortgage document processor DocX, with racketeering for her alleged role in authorizing the fra...

November 22, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- According to the MLS reports compiled by the Michigan Association of REALTORS®, overall October total sales volume increased considerably, while average sales price of single-family homes in Michigan continued t...

WASHINGTON, DC - November 22, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., made the following statement in response to the legal action taken today by the Administration’s Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group headed by New Yor...

November 22, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Attorney General Chris Koster today announced that the state of Missouri and Lorraine Brown, former President of DocX, LLC, have reached a plea agreement. Under the agreement, Ms. Brown will plead guilty to one f...

RIVERSIDE, CA - November 21, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- An Australian man who once worked as a jockey has been sentenced to four years in federal prison for concealing the proceeds of a loan fraud scheme that caused victims to lose more than $5 million...

WASHINGTON, DC - November 21, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- A former executive of Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS)—a publicly traded company based in Jacksonville, Florida—pleaded guilty today, admitting her participation in a six-year scheme to ...

NEW YORK, NY - November 21, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today filed a Martin Act complaint against Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC and its affiliates for making fraudulent misrepresentations and omissions to prom...