Interest Rate Articles from the Experts- Phoenix AZ Real Estate
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Nation’s Building News, Week of December 10th - Bush Plan Aims at Helping to Stabilize Housing Market
A plan announced last week by President Bush to limit foreclosures by working with key mortgage lenders and investment firms to freeze interest rates for five years on certain subprime mortgages will help set the stage for the industry recovery that is expected to materialize next year.
http://www.nbnnews.com/NBN/issues/2007-12-10/Front+Page/index.html
Big Builder Online, December 10 - Fed Expected to Lower Key Rate
Federal Reserve policymakers are widely expected to slice a key interest rate for a third time this year to prevent troubles in the housing and credit markets from sinking the economy.
http://www.bigbuilderonline.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=363&articleID=623699
AP, December 9 - Fed seems poised to lower interest rates
What a difference in economic conditions since the Federal Reserve last met in October. Credit has become harder to obtain, Wall Street has convulsed again and the housing slump has intensified. And policymakers at the central bank now appear to have changed their minds about the need to drop interest rates again.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071209/ap_on_go_ot/fed_interest_rates
Big Builder Online, December 6 - Bush Moves to Help on Mortgage Rates
President Bush announced on Thursday a plan to freeze interest rates for five years for hundreds of thousands of strapped homeowners whose mortgages are scheduled to rise in the coming months.
http://www.bigbuilderonline.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=363&articleID=622022
Nation’s Building News, Week of November 19 - Mortgage Overhaul Bill Clears House; FHA Reform Stalled
Responding to the turmoil in the nation's subprime markets, the House on Nov. 15 passed H.R. 3915, the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2007, by a vote of 291 to 127.
http://www.nbnnews.com/NBN/issues/2007-11-19/Front+Page/3.html
Nation’s Building News, Week of November 19 - Tax on Forgiven Mortgage Debt Hits Home Owners While Down
Ongoing efforts in the housing finance industry to keep home owners from losing their homes, limit the amount of inventory returning to the market and help check further housing price declines are being hampered by federal tax law that legislators on Capitol Hill are attempting to change, according to NAHB economist Robert Dietz.
http://www.nbnnews.com/NBN/issues/2007-11-19/Front+Page/index.html
AP, November 19 - Housing, Credit Markets May Hurt Economy
Ailing Housing, Credit Markets Will Weigh Down Economic Growth in the Final 3 Months of 2007
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071119/economic_outlook.html
The Arizona Repbulic, November 13 - Bankruptcy reform now haunts lenders
Washington Mutual Inc. got what it wanted in 2005: A revised bankruptcy code that no longer lets people walk away from credit card bills.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/1113biz-bankruptcyrules1113.html
CNN Money, November 1 - More trouble ahead for credit markets
Rating downgrades on complex debt securities, further bank writedowns are on the horizon.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/01/markets/credit_turmoil/index.htm
Big Builder Online, October 31 – Fed Cuts Rates by 25 Basis Points
The Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee this afternoon cut the benchmark Federal Funds Rate by 25 basis points to 4.50% and its Discount Rate, also by 25 basis points, to 5%.
http://www.bigbuilderonline.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=363&articleID=601350
Big Builder Online, October 29 - The Fed's Trick or Treat
Precisely on Oct. 31, the Fed's somewhat dour rate-setting committee will announce whether or not it is about to snatch away the monetary punch bowl from the U.S. economy and the financial markets. If the Fed cuts interest rates, it means punch is still being served and the party can keep rocking. If it refuses to cut rates, keeping the benchmark federal funds rate at 4.75%, the party will come to an abrupt halt and the stock market most likely will develop a severe headache.
http://www.bigbuilderonline.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=363&articleID=599234
Associated Press, October 26 - Countrywide Loses $1.2B, Sees Turnaround
Countrywide Financial Reports 3Q Loss of $1.2B on Mortgage Woes, Expects Profits in 4Q, 2008
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071026/earns_countrywide_financial.html
Nation’s Building News, Week of October 22 - Builders See Further Headway on Mortgage Credit Crunch
Following adoption of policy at last month’s fall board meeting in Seattle calling for prompt action in Washington to ease the mortgage credit crunch, several NAHB-supported proposals are in the pipeline to increase liquidity for the nation’s mortgage markets, develop solutions to subprime and foreclosure problems and stabilize financial markets.
http://www.nbnnews.com/NBN/issues/2007-10-22/Front+Page/3.html
Reuters, October 21 - UPDATE 3-Crisis was "accident waiting to happen"-Greenspan
An unusually high degree of risk-taking across asset classes made recent financial market turmoil all but inevitable, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Sunday.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2007-10-21T222311Z_01_N21351535_RTRIDST_0_GREENSPAN-IMBALANCES-UPDATE-3.XML
The Arizona Republic, October 21 - Many Valley homeowners pressured or tricked into bad loans, experts say
The Torreses are among thousands of Valley homeowners facing foreclosure because of bad loans with high and often hidden fees, prepayment penalties and rapidly rising interest rates. Some homeowners got into those loans knowing the risks. But others, experts say, were pressured or even tricked into a loan they couldn't afford.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/1021bad-loans1021.html
CNN Money, October 18 - Mortgage rates flat
Fixed 30-year rate stays unchanged at 6.4%, while inventories remain high and sales slow, a weekly report shows.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/10/18/real_estate/mortgage_rates/
CNN Money, October 17 - Real estate: More price drops, more layoffs
No light at the end of the tunnel in latest forecast from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/10/17/real_estate/mba_forecast/?postversion=2007101705
Barron’s, October 15 - It's a Great Time for a Mortgage Loan
Things are so bad in the mortgage market that some wag has created the Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter (http://ml-implode.com) to keep a body count of defunct lenders (161 by last week's estimate). Such grim stats, however, also suggest it's a great time to borrow or refinance.
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB119222893048357835.html?mod=googlenews_barrons
Seeking Alpha, October 12 - Subprime Mortgages Crossing Income and Credit Strata
To date, the face of the subprime borrower as portrayed in the media was nearly always the urban low income borrower who was just trying to live the American dream, was the victim of an unscrupulous borrower, good people facing a few economic shocks, didn’t realize how high their payment would be when their ARM reset, etc. However, a recent WSJ study illustrates how subprime loans crossed all socioeconomic levels, geographic regions, ethnic lines, etc.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/49701-subprime-mortgages-crossing-income-and-credit-strata
Nation’s Building News, Week of October 8 - Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Tax Bill Sails Through House
Addressing the subprime lending crisis, the U.S. House of Representatives on Oct. 4 approved legislation that would eliminate any taxes home owners might face when banks renegotiate the terms of a home loan and forgive a portion of the outstanding mortgage debt. The change in the tax law would cap untaxable forgiven debt at $2 million and apply only to principal residences.
http://www.nbnnews.com/NBN/issues/2007-10-08/Front+Page/index.html
CNN Money, October 4 - Bankrate: Mortgage Rates Move Lower
Fixed mortgage rates declined, with the average conforming 30-year fixed mortgage rate falling to 6.42 percent. According to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey of large lenders, the average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.36 discount and origination points.
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/CLTH02004102007-1.htm
CNN Money, October 3 - Subprime: Bailout backlash
Not everyone favors helping troubled homeowners, lenders and investors stung by the subprime crisis.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/10/03/real_estate/bailout_backlash/index.htm
Seeking Alpha, October 3 - Mortgage Forgiveness Act: The Seen and the Unseen
Inquiring minds have been asking me about H.R. 3648, the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/48818-mortgage-forgiveness-act-the-seen-and-the-unseen
MBA, October 3 - Mortgage Applications Decrease In Latest MBA Weekly Survey
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending September 28, 2007. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 636.7, a decrease of 2.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 654.2 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 2.9 percent compared with the previous week and was up 0.4 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.
http://www.mortgagebankers.org/NewsandMedia/PressCenter/57324.htm
Big Builder Online, September 28 - Regulators Shut Online Bank NetBank
An online bank with $2.5 billion in assets was shut down by the government on Friday because of an unsustainable level of mortgage defaults.
http://www.bigbuilderonline.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=363&articleID=581763
These are links to just some of the interesting articles we have read about interest rates in the real estate market recently. The opinions expressed by these experts are not necessarily shared by Ultimate Information Systems, Inc. If you have “expert” links to share with your peers…Let us know.