Marc's Mortgage Matter's

Overheard at work: "AT&T to wed T-Mobile. Following the ceremony, there will be no reception."

Hopefully there is reception in rural areas - like Detroit. The Census Bureau has also been releasing the 2010 population counts for various states, including Michigan. Columbus and Indianapolis's populations rose. Nearby Chicago's population declined by almost 7% and Cleveland's dropped by about 17%. But Detroit lost a quarter of its population over the last ten years. 25%! Detroit now has the same population that it had in 1910, before the auto industry boom. "Now's not the time to look in the rear view mirror," said Robert Ficano, the Executive for Wayne County, home of Detroit. I think that I will frame that quote.

The next time you hoist yourself onto that copy machine after hours, make sure that you don't have any identifying tattoos: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6412572n

Fraud in the mortgage industry continues to attract headlines, which doesn't make things any easier for honest originators. Recently the FTC charged a mortgage relief operation with marketing false loan modification services to borrowers, a violation of the FTC Act and the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule. The defendants allegedly targeted financially distressed consumers by using direct mail solicitations, telemarketing, and the Internet, and the defendants falsely promised to obtain mortgage loan modifications even where the defendants had been informed that the lender had previously denied a modification or sent the consumer a foreclosure notice. In addition, the defendants allegedly misled consumers to believe that the defendants were affiliated with or approved by the consumers' lenders. Prospective borrowers paid fees of up to $2,600 for the services, much of it upfront. Modifications were not obtained, and the money was not refunded. FTCFraud.

Did you ever watch the Marx Brothers 1929 movie Coconuts? It’s about a failing Florida subdivision where they’re using every crazy scheme and scam imaginable to sell beachfront homes in the middle of a real estate crash.
Here’s Groucho to a bunch of speculators who think they can buy and flip these properties: “You can have any kind of home you want. You can even get stucco. Oh, how you can get stuck-o.”

Must See Video: Chilean Bike Race
VCA 2010 RACE RUN from changoman on Vimeo.
The Valparaiso Cerro Abajo Race is a legendary urban bike race and is more extreme than skydiving out of an exploding F-18 piloted by Charlie Sheen – while chugging a 2 liter of Mountain Dew. The rider must brave jumps, stray dogs, and flights of stairs along the steep downhill path.

http://www.gadling.com/2011/03/03/downhill-bike-race-in-chile-is-insanity-at-its-finest/

Why is there so much press against the 30-yr mortgage? The 30-yr mortgage did not cause the credit crisis. This is yet another example of regulators not being able to find one single cause of the credit crisis, and swinging at different parts of our industry like they are some kind of piñata, and they have the blindfolds. If the banks want to better match their assets and liabilities by emphasizing ARM loans, that is fine, or if a borrower wants a loan to match their expected ownership period I understand, but saying that a 30 year term for a mortgage is bad is plain wrong.

Home sales had been marginally improving over the last few of months, as the hangover from last year's tax credit induced buying binge began to fade away. However, tight financing markets with ultra-low rates last fall gave way to tight financing markets with considerably firmer rates this winter. Coupled with fairly wicked winter weather and in a market producing no sense of urgency on the part of potential homebuyers and the ingredients for a poor month all came into play.

Without a strengthening economy, without a robust job market and without much enthusiasm about the present or future, it's going to be very hard for the housing market to stage a strong recovery. At the same time, the construct of the mortgage market itself is under heavy fire, with almost no facet of the stream of funds from capital markets to the consumer under some form of change, scrutiny or revolution. All this is likely to lead to higher costs and reduced availability of credit over time.

The stock market has staged a bit of a recovery this week, and of course that comes at the expense of bonds, whose interest rate in turn influences mortgage rates. The trend turned higher as the week progressed, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury touching its highest daily level in several weeks. Rates moved higher this week compared to last, and it would seem likely that, absent a new disaster (Euro-zone finances, anyone?) that rates are going to tick higher again next week, probably by about the same amount as this one.

Levels of stress for a guy:
You pick up a hitchhiker, a beautiful girl. Suddenly she faints inside your car and you take her to hospital. Now that's stressful!
But at the hospital they say she is pregnant & congratulate you that you are going to be a father. You say that you are not the father, but the girl says you are. This is getting very stressful!
So then...you request a DNA test to prove that you are not the father. After the tests are completed, the doctor says that you are infertile, and probably have been since birth. You are extremely stressed, but relieved.
On your way back home, you think about your 3 kids at home.
NOW THAT'S STRESS!!