Can’t get a Mortgage? Try a Bigger Lender

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Demand for mortgages rose during the second quarter, but a strong divergence between larger and smaller lenders in underwriting credit standards is appearing, according to Fannie Mae’s Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey, which tracks current lending activities and market expectations among senior mortgage executives.

Mortgage executives say it’s difficult for consumers to get a mortgage today, but some lenders are tightening their standards more than others. The Fannie Mae survey found that smaller and mid-size lenders are more likely than larger lenders to say their credit standards tightened over the prior three months. These lenders also report that they’re more likely to tighten them even more during the next three months. On the other hand, larger lenders were more likely to report that they have eased their credit standards over the prior three months and that they expect to ease standards more during the next three months.

The most common reason cited for tightening credit standards among all the lenders surveyed was the “changing regulatory requirements,” according to the survey. “Lenders have been trying to find ways to manage their operational costs and meet new regulatory rules,” says Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. “They appear to feel cost constrained and, thus, may be applying more conservative standards in their lending practices.” Still, overall, lenders reported positive expectations for mortgage demand throughout the remainder of the year, although they expect growth to remain modest. “These results are broadly in line with other major indicators released recently, including the pickup in home sales in May, and also support our expectations of a steady but unspectacular rebound for housing during the second half of this year,” says Duncan.

In Need Of Debt Consolidation Help? Get It Here

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Debt is a four letter word none of us like to think about. The fact is that the less you think about it, the more it tends to pile up. Reading the below article will give you all the tips and tricks you need to use debt consolidation to deal with your problems.

If you're trying to pay down your debt, try borrowing a bit from your 401(k) or other employer-sponsored retirement account. Be careful with this, though. While you're able to borrow from your retirement plan for low interest, failing to pay it back as you agreed, losing your job, or being unable to pay it all back, the loan will be considered dismemberment. Your taxes and penalties will then be assessed as for why funds were withdrawn early.

Be careful with the terms of collateral for any debt consolidation loan you apply for. Many times these types of loans will include a clause about your home, should you default on payments. Obviously, this could put you at serious risk should circumstances make meeting your loan payment difficult. Keep your home out of any loan agreement, and read the fine print.

Try to refinance your home and take that cash out at closing. This can assist you with paying down your high-interest debt with ease, and may be tax deductible. It can save you money and lower monthly payments. Make sure that there isn't a possibility of missing any payments since foreclosure is a possibility due to transferring too much unsecured debt to secured debt.

When it comes to taking control of your financial future, debt consolidation can do the trick. You need to learn all you can about it to make it work for you. This article has been a great start, but continue to read as much as possible so you can finally tackle your debt.

How Long Will The Housing Recovery Take?

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The housing recovery began approximately 3 years ago, but many local markets have still to regain values lost during the recent recession. The question most people want to know is how long will it take for home values to achieve their pre-recession levels. Unfortunately this process could take years, especially while the housing recovery is still very much on-going. At the moment home values are around 11.3% below their peak values seen in 2007. According to the article in aol.com, home values are expected to increase by a further 4.2% through to the second quarter of next year.

These figures are from the Zillow Home Value Forecast, and it’s expected it will take 2.7 years for home values throughout the country to reach their pre-recession levels, assuming that prices continue to appreciate at the levels predicted. This would mean home values in the US wouldn’t return to their previous peak values until the first quarter of 2017, nearly a decade since the housing recession first began, and it’s thought full recovery in the real estate market could take even longer. This is because the rate of home value appreciation is expected slowdown in the next few months and years.

It’s predicted that in 50 out of the 100 largest metro markets it will take three years or possibly longer for home values to achieve their previous peaks. There are some large metro areas where full recovery will take longer than 10 years. It’s thought that recovery will take 11.7 years in Chicago, 12.5 years in Kansas City and 14.5 years in Minneapolis. Real estate experts point out there are literally dozens of markets where homeowners who bought property at the peak of the market back in 2006 or 2007, will have to wait at least until 2017 to break even on their properties. This means they will have spent a full decade being unable to build up any home equity, a fact that is reflected in the high levels of negative equity. Approximately a third of American homeowners with mortgages do not have enough equity to realistically sell their property and by another.

But it’s not all bad news, as low home values are making it easier for buyers to find bargains, and home affordability should remain good over the coming years. Home values in the US increased by 6.3% year on year, to the year ending in the second quarter of 2014. This is the slowest rate of home value appreciation seen this year and it shows the market is gradually returning to normal where values generally increase by 3% annually.

Home Mortgage Tips That Will Make Your Life Easier

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 When you pursue financing on a home mortgage, there is a lot of information you will need to have. It maybe hard to find good information as you do your searches. Fortunately you will find some of the best tips consolidated in the following article. Read on for more information. When it comes to getting a good interest rate, shop around. Each individual lender sets their interest rate based on the current market rate; however, interest rates can vary from company to company. By shopping around, you can ensure that you will be receiving the lowest interest rate currently available. When you get a quote for a home mortgage, make sure that the paperwork does not mention anything about PMI insurance. Sometimes a mortgage requires that you get PMI insurance in order to get a lower rate. However, the cost of the insurance can offset the break you get in the rate. So look over this carefully. Knowing your credit score is important before trying to obtain a mortgage. The better your credit history and score, the easier it will be for you to get a mortgage. Examine your credit reports for any errors that might be unnecessarily lowering your score. In reality, to obtain a mortgage, your credit score should be 620 or higher. If you are underwater on your home and have been unable to refinance, keep trying. Recently, HARP has been changed to allow more homeowners to refinance. Speak with your lender to find out if this program would be of benefit to you. If you lender is unwilling to continue working with you, find one who will. Though you may feel a little overwhelmed with financing your home mortgage, you can use the tips you got here to boost your confidence. Most of the stress of home buying is from not fully understanding the process. If you keep the information you got here in mind, you are already ahead of the game.

Affordable homes becoming scarce in the Lone Star State

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The energy sector has been supercharged in the last few years, which has fueled growth in housing demand in the Lone Star State, according to Metrostudy’s first quarter 2014 survey focusing on the Texas housing market. Texas is home to some of the strongest performing housing markets in the nation, but recent reports show the market for homes $150,000 of less is quickly drying up.

“As strong as the Texas markets are, there is one thing missing: a strong first-time home buyer segment,” says Metrostudy’s chief economist Brad Hunter. Builders reportedly are shifting away from affordable and “entry-level” products and focusing on the higher priced “move-up” buyer housing. “The costs of nearly every input including land, materials, and labor have seen sharp increases during the housing recovery,” Metrostudy notes. “In order to mitigate these increased costs, builders have chosen to construct more homes at higher price points [and fewer at lower price points] in an effort to maintain their profit margins.

In addition, the scarcity of housing product in many Texas markets has increased prices that builders are able to charge home buyers for the same product. As a result, the quantity [and proportion] of homes built priced less than $150,000 has dropped dramatically during the last three years.” For example, in the first quarter of 2012, 13.3 percent of all new housing starts in Austin were priced less than $150,000. By the first quarter of 2014, that percentage fell to 4.3 percent for that price bracket. In Dallas-Fort Worth, in the first quarter of 2012, 12.1 percent of annual starts were priced below $150,000, compared to 6 percent in the first quarter of this year.

Meanwhile, starts of homes priced greater than $300,000 grew from 28.6 percent to 42 percent in that time period. In Houston, in the first quarter of 2012, 19.1 percent of annual starts were priced below $150,000 compared to only 9.8 percent in the first quarter of 2014. Housing starts of $300,000 and above grew from 27.7 percent to 39.4 percent.

“Housing production is still struggling to catch up to burgeoning new-home demand, so more expansion is on the way,” says Hunter. “The pace of job relocation into Houston will be slower this year than the breakneck pace of 2013, but the influx of companies and workers will continue to support demand growth.”

Properly Planning Your Real Estate Future

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While it certainly varies significantly by individuals, the average number of homes that people purchase during their lifetime averages around six. Some people plan their real estate future and others just go with the flow. Financially, you’ll be better of planning your real estate future. There are two key areas you want to look at when planning your real estate future. One is the equity growth in your investment and the other is renovation and improvements to your current residence. Of course, there are other considerations such as family needs and income growth that allows you to afford a larger home. But those and other considerations are really a subset of the two major contemplations.

Equity Growth Coupling the closing costs for a home with the high interest payments over the first five to six years results in low growth of your equity via making the mortgage payments. Of course, if you made a savvy purchase just before market prices increased significantly, your equity will grow faster. However, the smart way to invest in your personal residence is assuming that your equity will be built mostly from your monthly mortgage payments. For instance, if you took out a $150,000 mortgage today, your first payment (without insurance or property tax) would be $760.03. Of that, $562.50 goes to paying the 4.5% interest on the loan. Only $197.53 goes into building your equity. If you paid $3,000 in closing costs, it takes 15 mortgage payments to build enough equity to cover the closing costs. That means it’s about 1 1/4 years before you are really earning any equity in your home. If you were planning to move up to a better home in two or three years, you won’t have much equity in your current home. After making mortgage payments on that $150,000 loan for two years, you will have $5,167 in equity but after subtracting out the $3,000 in closing costs your true equity is only $2,167. After six years, you have paid $16,811 off on the loan and have $13,811 in real equity after accounting for the closing costs. But it’s at about the six-year point when the interest and principle payment rates start to work in your favor. It won’t be until the 15 year point in the loan (mid point of a 30-year mortgage) that you actually start paying more towards the principle than in interest. However, by year 10, you’ll have built up $27,486 in true equity. The point being, when planning your real estate future, you should stay in the same house for more than six years to build up some reasonable equity. Renovating Your Home This is a short and easy point to get across but many people fail to carry through on this important real estate investment strategy. With the point being made about when equity growth actually happens, it’s important to understand the best time to make improvements to your home. Most people wait until shortly before they sell the home to make improvements to increase the selling price. The fact is that most improvements made just before selling barely break even and many actually cost the homeowner more for the improvement than he or she realizes in the selling price. It’s a much better strategy to make the improvements long before you plan to sell. The benefits are two fold. First and foremost, if you make the improvements after living in the house for two years and then sell after ten years, you enjoy the benefit of the upgrades for all of those years. Additionally, making those upgrades increases your enjoyment of the property and therefore you are likely to stay in it longer to build more equity before moving up to a better property.