Category: Mortgages, finance
Report: Foreclosure crisis will cost Chicago $3.9B
Chicago is projected to lose $3.9 billion in the foreclosure crisis, according to an AP story out today. The story, which draws from a report prepared [...]
Bank files foreclosure lawsuit on west suburban condo project
This just in from Crain's: a 46-unit condo project in west suburban Hillside appears to be in trouble. Fifth Third Bank Chicago has filed a foreclosur [...]
Are we all subprime now?
Calculated Risk, an always thought-provoking read on finance and economics, has a new motto: "we are all subprime now."
Are we? Will "selective loose [...]
NYT: On top of losing homes, borrowers in foreclosure face unfair fees
Borrowers in foreclosure are often slapped with questionable fees, allowing lenders and mortgage servicers to profit unfairly, today's New York Times [...]
Quote of the day: the spoils of easy credit
"The 'Neutron Loan' - Designed to remove the occupants but leave the property intact. Within the next year over a million American home mortgages are [...]
The subprime tidal wave
Check out this fascinating interactive graphic, in The Wall Street Journal, on the growth in high-rate (subprime) loans. In Illinois, high-rate loans [...]
Bruce Cohen on the credit crunch
“High levels of debt are a little bit like cocaine,” says Cohen, who's been both a lender and investor. Read more at Crain’s Chicago Business, and wat [...]
State law would force mortgage brokers to be buyers' buddies
MSNBC's Red Tape Chronicles posts on why mortgage brokers might not have buyers' best interests at heart and on efforts in Illinois and other states t [...]
Where the city's subprime loans are
If you want to understand the potential impact that tighter lending standards will have on the city's housing markets, you need to know which areas ha [...]
Notes from the media echo chamber: foreclosures up nationwide
In the wake of news about the nationwide rise in foreclosures - they're up 93 percent since last July, according to RealtyTrac - theories abound about [...]
Do we have a mortgage Armageddon?
Jim Cramer thinks so. Watch his extended rant on the subject. [...]
Interest rates at historic lows despite housing slump
Columnist Don DeBat weighs in on the ups and downs of mortgageland in the August issue of New Homes Magazine, which hit the stands yesterday:
With h [...]
Real estate curmudgeon – mortgage brokers, toxic waste
Is there any difference between mortgage brokers and toxic waste? I can think of at least two differences.
Watch more Curmudgeon at YouTube. [...]
One housing index is up 30 percent
Mortgage fraud increased 30% in 2006 over 2005, according to a report released today by the Mortgage Bankers Association (pdf file).
The report shows [...]
Revision of HB 4050 won't resolve main issue, ShoreBank exec says
The recently-announced revision of the infamous HB 4050 anti-predatory lending law, which would now apply to first-time homebuyers across Cook County [...]
Pace of mortgage applications steady in at-risk communities, ShoreBank exec says
Despite recent concerns about an avalanche of foreclosures expected to hit such areas as Englewood, Roseland, Back of the Yards and Auburn Gresham, Mi [...]
MidAmerica loan officer: Limit speculators to keep foreclosures down
As foreclosures begin to mount over the next year or so in the wake of the subprime debacle, Clint Conger, a loan officer at MidAmerica Bank, has a fe [...]
Bankrate: economists predict slow recovery but remain optimistic for 2007
"Stable interest rates, rising consumer confidence and bargain prices make for an overall optimistic outlook for 2007," say economists interviewed for [...]
Down payments shrinking, research shows
Homebuyers are making substantially smaller down payments than they once did, Washington Post columnist Kenneth Harney notes. The median down payment [...]
Does it pay to pay points?
You've probably heard those mortgage brokers shouting at you that charging points on a mortgage loan is "a racket and a ripoff."
The Mortgage Profess [...]