Monday, April 23, 2012
Los Angeles Times
A new statistical analysis, based on a large sample of all mortgage applications approved and denied in recent months, offers valuable benchmakers for anyone thinking about refinancing a home purchase or refinancing an exisiting loan.
Read the full story
http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-harney-20120415,0,7325165.story
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
CalHFA has announced it will end its School Facility Fee Down Payment Assistance Program, which has been responsible for providing more than 14,000 grants totaling more than $61 million. Associated with this down payment assistance was more than $3.3 billion in first mortgage loans for people purchasing newly constructed homes throughout California. The program currently has approximately $700,000 left in funds, and CalHFA anticipates the final funds being expended by the end of April.
CalHFA will continue to accept applications for SFF until funds are exhausted. Applications will be accepted on a first come, first served basis.
Monday, March 26, 2012
San Francisco Chronicle
A federal court has frozen assets at five California companies that are being investigated for trying to scam U.S. homeowners facing foreclosure.
Read the full story
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/03/22/financial/f082349D68.DTL
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Calif. median home price: January 2012: $268,280 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. highest median home price by region/county January 2012: Marin, $694,440 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. lowest median home price by region/county January 2012: Tehama, $110,000 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. Pending Home Sales Index: January 2012: 102.4, an increase from the revised 93.1 recorded in January 2011
Calif. Traditional Housing Affordability Index: Fourth quarter 2011: 55 percent (Source: C.A.R.)
Mortgage rates: Week ending 3/8/2012 30-yr. fixed: 3.88% fees/points: 0.8% 15-yr. fixed: 3.13 fees/points: 0.8% 1-yr. adjustable: 2.73% Fees/points: 0.6% (Source: Freddie Mac)
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Financial institutions filed nearly 20,000 mortgage loan fraud suspicious activity reports in the third quarter, according to a report by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. That was an increase from the approximately 16,500 reports filed in the same quarter of 2010.
Some of the types of suspicious activity reported included: some form of loan workout or debt elimination attempt, questionable refinance or loan modification attempts by borrowers or others targeting distressed homeowners, and Social Security number discrepancies submitted in the original loan application and the workout request.
Almost 62 percent of the filings reported involved suspicious activities that started four or more years ago. These filings stem largely from mortgage repurchase demands and special filings generated by several depository institutions related to mortgages originated in the height of the housing boom.
The top five counties ranked per capita were Santa Clara County, California; Honolulu County, Hawaii; Orange County, California; San Bernardino County, California; and Palm Beach County, Florida.
