Today’s real estate quote of the day is from an article on the front page of The Wall Street Journal:
If there is a scenario where the government talks about raising down payments to 20% on conventional loans, you would absolutely crush the housing market
- Peter Norden, chief executive of Real Estate Mortgage Network

The 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage — the bedrock of American home ownership — but for how long?
Here’s an NYT op-ed where the writer compares a 30-year fixed-rate loan to a “financial Frankenstein’s monster.” And here’s a look at 3 possible scenarios for the U.S. mortgage market.
Your thoughts?

First the good news: The larger U.S. banks are coming back, and the banking system as a whole is slowly getting healthier.
According to  FDIC’s latest report.  81% of banks were profitable in the third quarter — the highest percentage since the middle of 2008, before Lehman went bust and everything fell apart.
Now the bad news: The number [...]

Did you know …. The average time it takes to get a home loan processes is about eight weeks now – two weeks more than it used to be, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The local mortgage industry implosion has hundreds of Massachusetts mortgage brokers fleeing the industry. In late 2007, Massachusetts Division of Banks reported 1,511 licensed mortgage brokers on the books. In December 2008, it was down to 1,006. As of December 1, 2009, the numbers were down to 600 licensed brokers in our local area.
So are [...]

Today’s real estate quote of the day is from the CEO of the Mortgage Banker Association:
“You can’t modify someone if they don’t have income or a job. We have to be realistic going forward. If we are going to play a numbers game, we are going to see a smaller percentage of borrowers in default [...]

Earlier this week, one of the largest mortgage brokers in the US shut its doors – not all that uncommon in today’s marketplace. But what was unusual was the candor of the CEO when addressing the challenges of the mortgage broker business model.
“With everything that is going on in the industry, I feel the broker [...]

The 10 biggest loan originators during the first quarter 2009 were:
Wells Fargo
Bank of America
JPMorgan Chase
Citigroup Inc.
SunTrust Bank Inc.
U.S. Bank Home Mortgage
Residential Capital LLC
MetLife
Flagstar Bank
PHH Mortgage

Are you confused about how mortgage rates work? Do you often see mortgage rates advertised real low but when you apply the rate is higher?
A Boston Real Estate Blog reader forwarded me this great Q&A about mortgage interest rates from The AP’s Adrian Sainz.
Highlights: Why can’t I get rates as low as those advertised every [...]

BOA hired 5,000 new positions to help with their mortgages
BOA closed 400,000 new loans in the 1st Q of 2009.
Source: Realtytimes.com