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Blowin’ Up Your Inbox 2007-08-31 14:01:03 If you’re not on the Blown Mortgage email list you could be missing out (depending on your opinion of this site, that is). Blown Mortgage publishes a weekly email that goes in to a bit more depth on the hot issues of the week. The last two issues are linked below. Note: Even if you are receiving Blown Mortgage blog updates via email; you may still not be on the weekly newsletter list - they’re two different lists. So sign up now and be sure to catch the entire conversation. Thanks for reading - happy long weekend. Government Bailout? - Blown Mortgage Weekly Newsletter Happy long-weekend Friday to you, dear reader. I hope that this email finds you happily heading in to a three-day weekend of rest, relaxation and time away from the chaos of the housing and mortgage markets.Its been quite a week, and today is the icing on the cake as George W. and Ben Bernanke both spent time in front of the press to outline their… Lender Wipe Out - Blown Mortgage Weekly Newslett ...

A Brave New Nerd Kingdom 2007-08-31 12:01:54 I sit in Redfin’s West Wing, with the folks who answer our telephones in easy earshot, and most of our software engineers everywhere else. Disconcertingly, many of the engineers do not seem to have read John T. Molloy’s Dress for Success. And yet it’s an otherwise pleasant place, which every day seems to turn up strong opinions, small revelations, useful squibs, useless facts. It seems a shame that we go to such great lengths to figure out vexing problems and never tell anyone else about it. So we’re publishing a new Redfin blog for developers, by developers, and are stuffing it full of everything we learn as we put together the Redfin site, including code samples, beauty contests, log files. Our only theme will be what seems useful to share with others. To figure out whether it’s your cup of tea, check out the inaugural posts: 1. Code to recognize automatically a Web user’s time zone, by Michael Smedberg 2. Why we switched from Six Apart’s Mov ...

We’re selling lifestyle here … 2007-08-31 05:41:20 Casual observers may smile at the names of condominiums that strain to convey a sense of luxury or privilege that bears no relation to their design or setting. But in the big-money world of condo development, where a lifestyle is being sold along with the floor plan, names matter. The christening of any product “? whether it be cologne, cars or condos “? is crucial to the construction of a consumer fantasy. It all comes down to branding. A condo fantasy might be New York sophistication, resulting in names like the Beresford or the Brownstone. It might be European worldliness, hence the Brava, Espana and Symphony Place, where buildings are named Vita and Dolce. Or it might be a simple declaration of style: the Élan, the Moda, the Retro. Catchy names do work; they attract attention and draw in potential buyers, which is why marketing condos usually involves a team of experts brainstorming for hours to find the perfect moniker. “The name is the hardest thing about a ...

First-Time Buyers - No Chance Buyers? 2007-08-31 01:53:53 Housing Market Decline Impacts First-time Buyers America’s shifting housing market is having a ripple effect on buyers of different income levels and causing some mortgage companies to close. We asked Mark Zandi, Chief Economist, Moody’s Economy.com about the effect that this downturn is having on individual groups of people, starting with first-time buyers. MARK ZANDI, Chief Economist, Moody’s Economy.com: Well, first-time buyers are in big trouble. And many of those buyers are subprime or alternative day buyers, and they just can’t get credit. The mortgage credit spigot is closed for them, so for first-time buyers, this is a very difficult market. Across the country, mortgage foreclosures are skyrocketing, home prices are dropping, “For Sale” signs are becoming part of the landscape, and construction is slowing down, as the nation’s housing slump becomes a stubborn fact of life. ...

Caveat Emptor 2007-08-30 16:39:11 Caveat emptor, qui ignorae non debuit quod jus alienum emit.- Let a purchaser, who ought not to be ignorant of the amount and nature of the interest, exercise proper caution. The common law for the resale of real estate does not imply any promises of quality, habitability or reasonable fitness for a particular purpose. In Ontario that doctrine has been changed for new homes by legislation such as contained in the Ontario New Homes Warranties Plan Act. Buyer and Seller Issues The doctrine of caveat emptor basically means that sellers need not be concerned about the state of their resale property. However, there are some exceptions to the caveat emptor principle: The most usual exception is when the parties agree by contract (i.e. within the agreement of purchase and sale or other document related to the transaction) that the seller does state, represent or warrant certain matters. Another exception is if a court finds that there is a significant difference between that which was bar ...

Countrywide’s Official Response to the NY Times 2007-08-30 14:54:58 Countrywide issued an official response to the scathing New York Times expose on the mortgage lender’s alleged institutionalized practice of steering borrowers in to high cost loans.  The lengthy, 3 page statement can be found here. (PDF) In short, Countrywide categorically denies institutionalized steering and highlights everything the company does to ensure the highest percentage of people eligible for prime products end up in prime loans. Here are some highlights: Countrywide’s business processes are designed to prohibit steering borrowers who qualify for prime loans into subprime loans. In fact, the majority of consumers who come through Countrywide’s retail subprime channel receive a prime loan. Second, Countrywide’s loan officers do not receive higher commissions for subprime loans with repayment penalties. Third, Countrywide prides itself on the extraordinary efforts we are undertaking to assist borrowers who are experiencing difficulty making their loan ...

Option One switches to all Fannie eligible products 2007-08-30 12:10:43 As I mentioned in my last post, Option One has switched their underwriting guidelines from subprime to Fannie-eligible only according to this email below. While its understandable, I can’t see how you make a profitable business model out of it right now. There are tons of players who have been servicing the A-paper side of things forever; and new players are going to find it hard to gain any foothold at all. Why would you send A-paper stuff to Option One if you’re A-paper traditionally goes to Wells Fargo? The only two viable I can think of are 1) pricing and 2) underwriting turn times. Both of these cause big problems for Option One. If the pricing is much better there is little to no profit in each loan; as the margins on agency paper are lean to begin with. Further, fast underwriting turn times typically mean that there is reduced volume and underwriters aren’t busy. It doesn’t take a math major to figure out that low margin on low volume means low, low ...

Option One Sale in Jeopardy - H&R Block May Shutter Unit 2007-08-30 09:50:02 Bloomberg is reporting today that the sale of Option One, H&R Block’s subprime mortgage unit, may be in jeopardy as the company is in default of many of the originally agreed-to deal points with buyer Cerberus Capital Management. From Bloomberg: H&R Block Inc., the biggest U.S. tax- preparation company, said it may shut a subprime-mortgage unit if sale negotiations with a hedge-fund manager collapse. Cerberus Capital Management LP, which agreed in April to purchase the entire Option One Mortgage Corp. subsidiary, may buy just the loan-servicing business as demand for mortgages continues to deteriorate, Kansas City, Missouri-based H&R Block said today in a statement. Failure to renegotiate terms of the sale would force H&R block to close Option One, it said. More from the OC Register: The Option One announcement was included in H&R Block’s earnings report for its fiscal first quarter. The tax preparer reported a loss of $302.6 million, more than double t ... Amp

High-end ARM reset (mild) hilarity 2007-08-30 08:16:20 What do you get when you combine a bought-at-the-top Hamptons denzien with an adjustable rate mortgage and Career Builder’s Monk-e-Mail? Mild amusement worth forwarding to a friend. http://tinyurl.com/yw7yu7 Enjoy a little ha-ha courtesy of your friends at Blown Mortgage. ...

The ultimate real-estate deal? 2007-08-30 02:21:50 Look south Canadian buyers seeking their dream home are taking advantage of a strong loonie and sliding U.S. home prices to buy south of the border. U.S. real-estate agents say there’s been a noticeable pick-up in Canadian interest in places such as Arizona and California, just as demand from American buyers is drying up. And it’s not just more attractive conditions in the U.S. that are luring snowbirds “? it’s also because Canadian real-estate prices are relentlessly rising. “We’re experiencing a strong influx of Canadian buyers,”� said Brian Culhane, one of the founders of ScottsdaleParadise.com, a real-estate firm in Arizona. “Recently it seems like, as our lending market slowed and Canadian prices have really gone up, particularly in Calgary…where people can’t get a decent house without paying through the nose, this is a decent opportunity,”� He gets about five “solid”� Canadian buyer leads a week ...

OfferAngel.com Founder Meg Burns Interview 2007-08-29 21:01:18 In this edition of the Blownmortgage.com interview series we speak with Meg Burns, the founder of OfferAngel.com. Offer Angel’s mission is to bring transparency to the loan origination process by providing loan officers with an independent platform to present their offers to consumers. It equips consumers with tools that make comparing competing mortgage offers a much easier process. In this interview we talk about the common problems that loan originators face when working with a customer who has come from an online lead provider. We also talk about the problems consumers face when shopping for a mortgage, including a discussion on too-good-to-be-true offers and bait-and-switch tactics. OfferAngel.com is working hard to eliminate those dangers associated with shopping for a mortgage; and make it a more equitable and honest process for both loan originators and customers. Blown Mortgage is an affiliate of OfferAngel.com and does receive compensation if a loan officer signs u ...

The Toronto Board says … 2007-08-29 13:36:16 Torontonians deserve a more thoughtful and fair approach to the City’s financial challenges. In response to recent City of Toronto announcements regarding its fiscal situation, Toronto’s Realtors are calling on Mayor Miller, City Councillors and provincial politicians to consider the options preferred by Torontonians, instead of just new taxation or cuts to core services. Realtors have been watching the actions of City and Provincial politicians since Toronto City Council decided to defer consideration of a second land transfer tax, which would mean a 100 per cent increase, or over $4,000 in extra costs for the average Toronto home buyer, if approved. “The public has been clear that a second land transfer tax is simply not a fair way to address the City’s budget shortfall. It discriminates against homebuyers by forcing them to shoulder a disproportionate and unfair burden,”� said Donald Bentley, President of the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB). “T ...

Bernanke calls for new mortgage products to ease crunch 2007-08-29 12:25:21 Ben Bernanke, in a letter addresses to Senator Schumer outlined some high-level thoughts that the Fed Chairman has to help alleviate the pending ARM-reset foreclosure wave. Bernanke calls for innovative mortgage products and more buying capacity for Freddie and Fannie to help subprime borrowers trapped in exploding ARMs. From Market Watch: The private sector and Congress should create new, affordable mortgage products that would help some homeowners refinance their mortgages and keep their homes, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested in a letter released Wednesday. … In his letter, Bernanke called for creative thinking to get the nation out of its subprime mess. “It might be worth considering at this juncture whether the private and public sectors, separately or in collaboration, could help the situation by developing a broader range of mortgage products which are appropriate for low-and moderate-income borrowers, including those seeking to refinance,” Be ...

Countrywide goes on the B2B offensive 2007-08-28 19:43:05 A letter sent to wholesale partners of Countrywide was released tonight in an obvious attempt to calm any jitters amongst wholesale brokers partnered with the massive mortgage lender.  Probably a good move on Countrywide’s part; you know brokers are freaking out watching their lending options evaporate in to thin air on a daily basis.  I have heard rumors that Bank of America and the other large institutions still standing are currently inundated with broker inquiries for approval.   Heck chalk my company up as one over at BofA.  Hey the loans have to go somewhere, right? Here is the letter below: This is unquestionably one of the most challenging times in the annals of mortgage lending. As such, this communication is the first of a series that will outline how Countrywide®, America’s Wholesale Lender® is navigating through this challenging market. Additionally, it is my desire that these ongoing communications will share some perspective that will help you to ad ...

Guide To Building Your Own Home 2007-08-28 11:09:28 You dream about building your own home but don’t know where to start? ByTheOwner.com lauched today a new section on newhomes.bytheowner.com : Build your own house! From the house plan to the end of your project, “Build your own house” gives information about every step you need to go throught to get a house plan and to realize your dreams. Please visit Build your own house on newhomes.bytheowner.com » ...