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Tom Phillips

Federal Home Loan Relief

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USDA is the best loan on Earth

tom | 14 May, 2012 12:52

If you are in the designated area. You can still qualify in 2008/2009 for 100% financing with zero monthly mortgage insurance. The rates are 6.0% today and the terms are terrific. The loan is offered in all 50 states.

The requirement is that you need to be in a designated rural area. The terms resemble FHA but a little nicer. You don't have to credit qualify if you have a score of 620 or higher. Which means that if you've had bad credit in the last year but your score is 620 or higher, the USDA does not look at your credit as a substantial factor.

USDA home loans are the best!

Need a referral for someone in your state? Call me or Rigo at (949) 612-1603

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Here comes 18% interest rates

tom | 14 May, 2012 12:52

25 billion to Citi, 25 billion to Bank of America, 25 billion to this, 25 billion to that and oh another 50 billion to the car makers... oh another 700 billion for another national economic stimulas package in January.

Guess whats coming..

Hyperinflation and super high tax rates. Is this plausable?

We saw it in the 70's and it is not entirely inplausable due to the incredible amounts of inflationary policy that is taking place right at this time.

What happens to mortgage rates if this happens? Sky high rates. If you are thinking of buying and want a payment you can afford consider the low rates that are offered now. Most brokers will tell you to float your rate which is a good idea for the short term but look out when things change because when they do you and your broker will not have seen it coming.

Tom Phillips Four Corners Realty / Lendingcorner.com Irvine California

 

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Debt to Income ratios, DTI, Mortgage Qualification

tom | 14 May, 2012 12:52

In 2005 the Lender told you, you had a 58% back end debt and they couldn't make a conventional loan so they offered you sub-prime terms. Sub-prime? Why? You have excellent credit! Those sharks, you don't deserve sub-prime terms.

This happened a lot when borrowers were considered for high debt ratio loans. Loans like FHA are more conservative with good reason as we are seeing now with the mortgage meltdown.

The two sets of ratios banks look at are called: Front-end and back-end ratios. Let's start with the front-end ratio. A front-end ratio is the total of your real estate mortgage payment plus; any insurance on that loan or home, any home owners association dues, and property taxes.

Example:

Property Mortgage Payment:  $1000
Home owners insurance:  $100
Private mortgage insurance:  $200
Home owners association:  $150

Total Principle, Interest, Taxes and Insurance ( PITI ):  $1450

The borrower's gross monthly income of $5000 divided into $1450 equals a 29% front-end ratio. Housing expense divided by total monthly gross income is the fron-end ratio.
Back-end ratio is basically the same concept but is calculated with ALMOST all monthly debt. This is where it gets tricky. Not all monthly debt is considered for this ratio. Child support and alimony are but auto insurance is not. Some things are yet some things are not. Your loan consultant will tell you what is and isn't considered.

Let’s say the total debt includes the basic following items:

Car payment:  $500
Child support:  $300
Loan to 401k:  $125
Boat: $500

Total of other debt:  $1425

Add your housing debt of $1450 to your "other debt" of $1425 and you get $2875. Divide $2875 by $5000 and you will have a back-end debt ratio of 58%.

The generally accepted back end ratio is 45-50% but a lower number is always better for qualification purposes.

A borrower can do several things: They can pay the debt off or consolidate it, in order to reduce the monthly total. The later being the less desirable because of the hassles of debt consolidation. If the borrower chooses to pay off the debt, they need to make sure it doesn't effect their loan qualification due to reduced savings and cash reserves.

Consultant an experienced and ethical loan agent.

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60 Minutes On The Looming Alt-A Fiasco

tom | 14 May, 2012 12:52

An acupuncturist purchased 6 SIXXXX Florida properties with option arm loans. These borrowers were scamming the system with the help of their broker/lenders underwriter. Any idiot undewriter could put two and two together to determine a typical income for this profession. I could see one or possibly two loans, but this girl got 6. The negative income on two would be enough to probably disqualify her. What were the underwriters there for? Isn’t anyone asking the real questions or doing further investigating?

1) How can an acupuncturist income support five rentals?
2) How much income did she put on her loan application?
3) Who was the underwriter and the underwriting lender ( I bet they are still in business )?
4) She didn't read the paperwork but felt she was deceived?
5) Didn't anyone look at her application: ACUPUNCTURIST!

When you have one borrower causing five foreclosures, I think an investigation is in order. Most of the problems are coming from a small percentage of borrowers.

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Mortgage Companies Working Inside Real Estate Brokerages

tom | 14 May, 2012 12:52

Within the last ten years, in an effort to gain more profitability, real estate brokerage companies have chosen to create "In-House" financing departments.

The theory, primarily promoted by the large corporate real estate brokerages, is that the homebuyer appreciates what's called "bundled" services. The real estate industry in a joint effort with other industries such as mortgage banking, title insurance and home warranty are trying to capture and control these bundled services.

In recent years, due to deregulation, banks started offering ancillary services such as insurance or investment consulting, as an add-on to routine banking operations. However, the real estate brokerage industry, in conjunction with the National Association of Realtors, is trying to keep banks out of the real estate sales business. How can real estate brokerage companies expect to be bankers, and not think bankers will want to be real estate brokers? The irony is that, it's the real estate brokerage industry that is indirectly opening the door to bankers becoming real estate brokers.

Rather than creating their own branded mortgage companies to offer a multitude of lender choices to their home buyers, real estate brokerage corporations such as ReMax, Prudential or Coldwell at the highest levels of operations, buy into Joint Ventures with the likes of bankers such as Wells Fargo, Countrywide and GMAC. Often, the smaller real estate franchise owners, since they are not wise to the operations of finance, will sign off on the "model" under the guise of expanded service. Ultimately they end up doing a disservice to their clients.

The reality from the start was that the large banking entities such as those just mentioned, rarely offer a better consumer model. In almost all cases their immense overhead and their conservative loan programs simultaneously mandate increased fees and limit loan program choice to the consumer. While independent mortgage brokers are free to shop a multitude of lenders. When one lender is running inefficiently and offering high rates, the broker can shift to another lender. The brokers lending sources don't have to be large ones either, they can be small efficient niche lenders that offer great programs to the consumer. So, while the "In-House" lender is often handcuffed to one lenders fee structure and loan programs, the independent broker can shop the market.
Many, if not most of these In-House entities work under third party ficticious business names to divert attention away from the parent company, examples such as Edina Realty Mortgage ( Wells Fargo ) and Freedom Mortgage ( Countrywide ).

Here is where the problem arises for the consumer and In-House lenders. It's safe to say that in 90% of the cases with these Joint Ventures, where real estate brokerage houses merge with a lending operation, the cost of the process rises for the consumer substantially- up to 40%. Where the mortgage bank had one set of costs to manage prior to the merger- there own, now the newly created In-House finance entity has to provide substantial profit for several departments; the real estate brokerage organization (local and corporate) and the bank simultaneously.

Ask an economist and they will tell you that more competition brings costs down. When a real estate brokerage firm eliminates competition by steering their clients to one source of financing, costs will go up for the consumer. A good number of experienced real estate sales professionals have chosen to break away from the "In-House" model. They understand the negative impact and would rather keep the two business models separate.

Experienced Realtors also understand the potential RESPA violations, which have in the past resulted in large lawsuits of the biggest names in real estate. Spilling over to the independent real estate agents working under these agencies.

Starting in July of 2009 new Federal regulations will promote more regulation regarding "benefits" received from in-house mortgage companies.

Some in the corporate side of the industry will counter with arguments such as: The consumer still has the option of going out to find other service providers. The truth is that most people put a great deal of faith in their real estate agent to navigate them through the maze, and will defer to their agents expertise for guidance. Another argument by real estate corporations would be that most mortgage companies offer the same products. It's true, but not the same fee structures. All of the national advertising done by Wells Fargo, Countrywide and other national lenders must be recouped through additional fees. Often the points, rates and fees charged by these large lenders through their In-House affiliates will be substantially higher due to corporate overhead.

It's important to always work with a highly ethical loan consultant and Realtor. Ask questions and look carefully at what your service providers are offering.

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I've Had a Bankruptcy, Can I Buy a Home?

tom | 14 May, 2012 12:52

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would prefer at least four years of "seasoning" after a BK is discharged before they will allow consumers to obtain a home loan. Sometimes this period can be two, if the particular lender has a special agreement with Fannie or Freddie.

Borrowers that are refinancing and were able to keep their credit score intact after the BK was filed, can possibly sidestep the four year period. Borrowers wishing to refinance, can do so as long as they have enough equity in the property and their credit score remained strong. The lower their credit score the more equity that will be required to refinance using Fannie or Freddie to back the mortgage.

With all that said, there are programs out there that will allow for home buyers to purchase a home without having to wait four or seven years after BK discharge. These are typically not Fannie or Freddie loans. Note: an important component to a borrowers BK is that the BK should be discharged fully, or in cases of Ch13, the repayment schedule must have been completed. Often borrowers that are looking to purchase a home perceive the INITIAL FILING date of the BK to be the the start of the "four or seven" year seasoning period- not so.

How do you find a lender or loan officer that can find you a home loan without the four year BK seasoning requirement? Calling around will give you a headache and land you in the hands of someone pretending they can offer such a loan. Your best bet is to start working with an ethical and experienced Realtor. Realtors get program summaries from local lenders and if they are paying attention will be able to direct you to the right person.

I can't express how important it will be for you to work with the most ethical and professional agent you can find. Repeat, ethical and professional. Usually these agents are the most astute and attentive to details. How do you judge a Realtor? This may sound too simple but look at details such as; atire, brouchers, business cards, the look of their fliers, etc.. Ask questions such as "whats Fannie Mae's rule on BK's?" or "What's a credit score?". If they can't answer simple questions, they probably are not paying attention to all the literature they are receiving. I've met many an agent and loan officer that can't explain simple industry or home purchase questions.

There are all kinds of home purchase shoppers. Some will work with top notch professionals, others will work with the opposite. Which will you be?

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Down Payment Assistance Programs

tom | 14 May, 2012 12:52

Down payment assistance programs come in many shapes and sizes for home buyers and mortgage seekers. The general idea is that a down payment assistance program will help a home buyer avoid the most of the down payment requirement. These programs are oriented to low to moderate income borrowers and first time buyers. They will require up to 3 years taxes to prove the borrower has not owned any property within the last three years.

A 20% down payment is usually the historical requirement by conventional home loan lenders to comfortably approve loans. FHA requires 3.5% down payment.

Down payment assistance can come in the form of municipal bond money, government grants, special community reinvestment funds and more. Due to terminology changes, DAP terminology now mostly applies to all of the preceding except the 2nd mortgage programs.

DAP's are a wonderful form of purchase assistance but they are reliant on many conditions. Conditions such as availability of monies through bonds, government capacity, etc.. The reality is that these entities usually run out of money when borrowers need it. It's a mixed bag of opportunities for mortgage seekers. DAP's generally require lots of paperwork and the careful dotting of the i's and crossing of the t's. They require the borrower to be very committed to the process and supply lots of information to the loan officer arranging the program.

These days, DAP's are more used for closing cost assistance, which is a lighter load for municipalities to carry and community reinvestment programs to fund. They are great programs when they are funded by the offering agency. And you'll have to make sure the home you are looking at is in a DAP approved area or the borrower can qualify under all the requirements.

One of the nice things about DAP's is that they have low interest rates and sometimes the debt is forgiven if the home buyer keeps the loan for a certain length of time- typically 10 years. Usually borrowers will refinance before this "recapture" period expires so this forgiveness of funds is not always realized.

The DAP programs can be arranged by mortgage brokers or banks, but generally mortgage brokers are a better source because they can match different lenders to different DAP's. Brokers are not tied to one set of bank underwriting guidelines, rates or terms. Some banks won't accept all DAP's. Brokers can switch bank sources to match DAP requirements.

Seller concessions are another form of DAP that are often overlooked. Sellers can assist buyers with closing costs and when stacked with 96.5% financing, are an easy and quick way to arrange for a home purchase with little down.

Please note that even though a borrower is buying a home with a low down payment and no closing costs, lenders will require that the borrower have a few months PITI (principle, interest, taxes and insurance) in savings when the loan closes.

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New Home Loan Appraisal Requirements Simplified

tom | 14 May, 2012 12:52

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with the Federal Housing Finance Agency
released an updated version of the HVCC (Home Value Code of Conduct) proposal. This is
scheduled to be effective May 1, 2009.

The desired outcome is to ensure appraisal independence and eliminate conflicts of interest. There is still some ambiguity as to how this program will be fully implemented.

In an effort to clear up what I think is the most significant aspects of the
proposal, I have listed the following items as an outline of what we in the industry can expect. By no means is intended to be a full overview of the stipulations but simply a snapshot of the important bullet points of the HVCC.

The below terms only apply to Fannie and Freddie loans NOT FHA
or VA loans.

Considerations:

  1. Mortgage brokers can't order appraisals. "The lender will not accept any appraisal report completed by an appraiser selected, retained, or compensated in any manner by any other third party (including mortgage brokers and real estate agents).
  2. Loan production staff can't order appraisals. "The loan production
    staff consists of those responsible for generating loan volume or approving loans,
    as well as their subordinates. This would include an employee whose
    compensation is based on loan volume or the closing of a loan transaction." They
    are also prohibited from having "substantive" communications with the appraiser.
  3. Lenders can use in-house appraisers provided appropriate safeguards are in
    place such as the appraiser reporting to a function of the lender independent of
    sales or loan production.
  4. Mortgage lenders aren't required to use an AMC to order appraisals.
  5. Mortgage lenders are responsible for paying the appraiser's fee, no fee for service can be
    withheld based on the value reported or outcome of the loan.
  6. Mortgage lenders can't influence or "condition" the outcome of an appraisal
    value.
  7. Mortgage lenders can't order a second or subsequent valuation
    unless documented that the initial appraisal was flawed.
  8. Mortgage lenders can ask an appraiser to support values and correct errors.
  9. Pre-comp Checks aren't allowed.
  10. Stating the 'value needed' is not allowed.
  11. Appraisers shall not be put on an 'exclusionary' list without written notice which
    shall include written evidence of the appraiser's illegal conduct, a violation of the
    Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) or state licensing
    standards, substandard performance, unprofessional behavior or
    other major reason.
  12. Whoever is in charge of deciding who is on the approved appraiser list has to be trained in appraisals and has to be independent of loan production.
  13. Appraisal Management Companies may be used by the lender provided they
    comply with criteria in Section IV.B. of the Code.
  14. Correspondent mortgage lenders may order appraisals as long as they adhere to the
    Code.
  15. The HVCC does not require any particular valuation method, -, appraisal,
    AVM, evaluation, etc.with any mortgage loan or mortgage transaction.
  16. The lmortgage ender has to insure that the borrower is provided a copy of the appraisal
    report promptly upon completion.
  17. An Independent Valuation Protection Institute (IVPI) will be established, which
    will receive and report on any complaints of Code of Conduct non-compliance.
  18. Certain exemptions exist for small banks (including non-banking institutions) that
    meet the definition of a "small bank" as set forth in 12 U.S.C. § 2908, and which
    Freddie Mae or Fannie Mae determines would suffer hardship due to the
    provisions, and which otherwise adhere to the Code of Conduct.
  19. HVCC disallows the appraiser from collecting payment for the appraisal
    directly from the borrower.
  20. A minimum of 10% of the valuations shall be randomly selected and quality control tested. F
  21. For any loans sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, the lende has to provide a report of any adverse, negative, or irregular findings of such

The price we have to pay today for the lacks oversight of yesterday. I welcome them and I hope you do also. Anything to make this business a serious venture again.

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100's of Mortgage Lenders Gone

tom | 14 May, 2012 12:52

Starting late in 2007 and accelarating into 2008, we've seen many lenders go into bankruptcy. They range from national branch operations like Washington Mutual and National City Bank to subprime lenders like New Century Mortgage and Fremont.

The sad tale is that some of these mortgage companies were necessary to the economy, and to the housing market, and now they are gone. What started out as a need of the market to offer loans to less fortunate home loan borrowers, turned into a bilking of the investment community.

Many of the problems resulted from the stated low documentation loans and spread like wild fire when guys like Quick Loan Funding became fraud centers. Lenders CITI or Bank of America were able to write stated income loans, otherwise known as liar loans for people that were not actually making the amount stated on the application. Banks like CITI, BofA and Wells were buying paper that they didn't want to exam very carefully. It was a wink and a nod type relationship. 

Often the borrowers applying for stated income home loans were buying these homes as "owner occupied" but were in reality were planning to "flip" them as speculators.

The last five years, from 2003 to 2007, saw a great deal of new mortgage and real estate people come into the business. Most of which were quick buck artists. State agencies were all too happy to "sell" them licenses with little or no education. The State licensing departments were and still are woefully ignorant when it comes to monitoring their licensed agents.

Government agencies including the Federal Government are as big a problem as the rampant corruption in the industry and the loan officers and mortgage companies. These agencies churn out licenses as fast as they can to earn those annual fees.

On a different note sorta, if your refinance takes a little longer, like 4-8 weeks longer, you'll now know why: 90% of the credit lines mortgage companies used to have were wiped out at the end of 2008.

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Too Much Money In Too Few Hands

tom | 14 May, 2012 12:52

Please don't get me wrong, I'm not against the rich. I got into banking in order to learn how to make money, as much as possible. However, after the Madoff scandal and now the Stanford scandal, after the financial meltdown and all the revelations of the wanna be robber barons in investment banking, I'm way pissed off about capitalism right now.

America has become one big ponzi scheme. The truth is we have deviated so far away from what capitalism should be that we need to create a new word for what we have:  

PONZISM - Pawn zee (zoo in some translations) iz um
noun, verb.

Defined- an economic system often found in countries with ignorant or corrupt governmental oversight and citizens that lack moral character. 

Usually seen in third world, uneducated and underdeveloped countries. This type of system starts with a money making scheme promoted by false promises of wealth followed by naive and unsuspecting victims feeding their life savings into the scheme.

The first "investment" is supported by the second, the second by the third, the third by the fourth and so on until there is no more money to keep the house of cards propped up, at which time the system collapses.

In the end it is usually the creators of this scheme that end up with all the money in offshore accounts.

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Union Bank of California Executive Sees No Problems With Good Mortgage Brokers

tom | 14 May, 2012 12:52

One Banker Finally Sees It Perfectly Clear: Bad brokers and good brokers can be differentiated.

Craig Cole vice president of Union Bank of California told the O.C. Register his bank still uses mortgage brokers and has no plans to change.

Some banks such as Bank of America, Citi, Chase and others couldn't manage the quality control process so they decided to stop using brokers. These same banks claimed that broker originated loans performed poorly but I think the simple truth is that loans originated by badly run brokerage shops generated faulty loans. And likewise, loans generated by well run brokerages are doing just fine.

There are a few brokers that are very good at what they do and many more that are terrible at the business. Most banks in their effort to gain market share signed up any broker that put up a shingle- no real effort to look deeper into the brokers quality control standards.

"At Union Bank, brokered loans perform as well as retail ones", Cole said.

I have personally seen the QC process banks implemented: In most cases they never visited the broker shop before signing the broker up. Often, many of these brokers didn't have the required business address but merely a P.O. Box. Many of these fly-by-night brokers stayed in business solely with a makeshift location. Imagine requesting any sort of recourse from a broker with a P.O. Box?

The QC system with lenders was a complete JOKE and those of us in the industry knew the reasons. The banks signed up any and every con that would generate a loan for them. The banks pretended their "system" would catch the junk paper... truthfully the banks didn't want to catch the junk, they were making too much money on the fees. The banks knew what they had, they were just turning a blind eye to it.

Mr. Cole said "the trick is to pick carefully one’s business partners. Union Bank has approved 80 brokers and monitors them and their loans over time. I think most lenders mismanage the broker channel by not being disciplined about who they work with and offering products indiscriminately through that channel.”

"Union Bank never touched subprime" Cole said. But does monitoring brokers and their loans negate the cost savings vs. retail was asked by the OC Register, “You ask a good question,” Cole said. “We found it’s slightly less expensive to originate through brokers rather than retail. …. We do have to monitor them closely, do more due diligence, but some of the biggest expenses are avoided: rent, benefits, marketing.”

The truth of the matter is that banks completely abdocated their fudiciary responsibility to their investors in order to gain enormous amounts of fees and market share.

Whether the fraudulent loan officer works for a broker or a bank, its the same person. These LO's will find their way into the bank and simply prepetuate the fraud for a different company. No one can stop them regardless of who they work for.

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Croneism at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

tom | 14 May, 2012 12:52

FHFA director James B. Lockhart supports retention payments to be paid to high ranking officials at mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. CNN discovered that four top executives at Fannie Mae expected to get bonuses ranging from $470,000 to $600,000 per a recent Securities and Exchange filing.

Executives: Kenneth Bacon, David Hisey, Michael Williams and Thomas Lund will be receiving bonuses close to half a million dollars even though Fannie Mae failed.

Lockhart stated that “We started to design a retention plan with a compensation consultant even before the conservatorship because it was critical to retain their most important asset – their employees – who are being asked to play a vital role in the nation’s economic recovery. As the previous senior management teams left, it would have been catastrophic to lose the next layers down and other highly experienced employees” http://www.fhfa.gov/GetFile.aspx?FileID=98

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Loan Modifications the Worst of the Worst companies

tom | 14 May, 2012 12:52

The truth about mortgage wrote a great article on Mortgage Modification scams.

Good reading... 

"""It’s a relatively new business, but like any other, it’s been infiltrated by fraud and scams in no time at all.

That’s a good thing for companies like MFI-Mod Squad, which investigates loan modification fraud.

Yesterday, the company put out a list of the twenty worst loan modification companies, though I don’t think it was an April fool’s joke.

“Many people have been asking me to post a list of unreliable loan modification companies,” says Steve Dibert, President of MFI-Mod Squad. “I’m happy to do so because it can help homeowners avoid scams.”

The companies that made the list below haven’t been approved to charge an upfront fee and claim to offer a money-back guarantee, big red flags in the loan mod world.

They’ve either failed to come through with the promised loan modification or refused to offer a refund to homeowners.

All but Samaritan Financial and Mortgage Mitigation Clearing House are located in California, a state that requires loan modification companies to be approved by the Department of Real Estate (DRE) to charge upfront fees (law firms are exempt).

Last week, the FTC cracked down on two loan modification companies, “Hope Now Modifications” and “New Hope Modifications”, which posed as affiliates of foreclosure alliance Hope Now.

The List:

•    Green Credit Solutions
•    Peoples First Financial
•    United Law Group
•    Excel Loss Mitigation
•    Nations Choice
•    USA Mortgage Aid
•    Mortgage Assistance Center
•    Bank Modifications, Inc
•    Apply2Save
•    AmeRestart aka Equinaire
•    Choice Loans Consulting
•    Samaritan Financial
•    Resolutions Mortgage Group
•    Federal Loan Modifications
•    Mortgage Mitigation Clearing House
•    Woosh.com aka Manhattan Mortgage
•    Coastal Pacific
•    New Beginnings Loan Modification Services
•    North American Relief
•    US Justice Foundation"""

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KB Home and Countrywide Exposed (again!)... Wells Fargo Next

tom | 14 May, 2012 12:52

A group of KB Home customers are seeking a class action suit for a racketeering. The suit is against the homebuilder and its mortgage lender Countrywide. Countrywide bank has an extensive pay to play network across the country with builders and real estate brokerage companies. Wells Fargo is also in the mix in a large way for pay to play.

The suit filed alleges that the builder lender combination artificially pumped up home prices for the last decade in order to artifically increase earnings through thousands of dollars in loan origination fees and multiple other fees. Three issues were factored in the alleged faulty appraisals carried out by Countrywide’s subsidiary LandSafe which included “improper” and “distant, dissimilar” comparable sales. Identical “false and misleading statements” that ignored actual market factors and conditions were also noted and the use of pending KB Home sales that never actually closed.

Using pending transactions from KB Home to substantiate home values is a red flag. The complaint states 14,000 KB Homes have been sold since home prices began to plummet. The suit at a time when new rules for appraisers to eliminate mortgage broker ordered appraisals and reduce the use of inhouse appraisals and captive appraisal management companies.

Wells Fargo and Countrywide mortgage have 1000's of Joint Ventures across the country with builders and real estate brokerages which need examining for fraud and coercion.

Posted in Interest Rates, Fraud, Mortgage Fraud, Mortgage Modifications, Mortgage Scams, Wells Fargo Mortgage, Bank of America, Countrywide . Comment: (0). Trackbacks:(0). Permalink

Low-End Home Sales Skyrocket in California

tom | 14 May, 2012 12:52

Low-End Home Sales Skyrocket in California

California experienced close to a 50% increase in year-over-year sales.

The inventory of unsold existing single-family homes for sale in California has been cut in half, from a 9.8 months' supply in April 2008 to 4.6 months' supply this April, CAR reported.

However, while sales were up 49.2% to a seasonally adjusted rate of 540,360 — the eighth straight month above the 500,000 level — the median price of houses sold in the month declined by more than a third because most of the sales were at the low-end of the market.

"Inventory levels for homes in the under $500,000 segment shrank to nearly three months in April, compared with almost 10 months a year ago, while unsold inventory in the more than $1 million segment rose to approximately 17 months, compared with roughly 10 months in April 2008," says California Association of Realtors President James Liptak.

"The dramatic difference in inventory exemplifies how the low end of the market is attracting more first-time buyers and investors, creating a shortage of distressed properties for sale." The median price of existing homes sold in the month was $256,700, a 36.5 percent decrease from the revised $404,470 a year ago. But it was 1.4% greater than March's $253,040 median price. CAR's figures are based on data collected from more than 90 local Realtor associations statewide.

The recovery will/is starting in Cali!

Posted in General, Interest Rates, Fraud, Mortgage Fraud, Mortgage Modifications, Mortgage Scams, Wells Fargo Mortgage, Bank of America, Countrywide, california mortgage interest rates, California mortgages . Comment: (0). Trackbacks:(0). Permalink