Maybe the mortgage insurance companies have finally figured it out!

This just in; one of the leading mortgage insurance companies has announced plans to insure conventional loans up to 95% LTV with a minimum fico of 660.

In addition they have increased the maximum debt to income ratio they will accept for borrowers with fico’s over 740.

What does this mean? It means that since tightening their lending guidelines they have lost all of their insurance business to FHA. In the meantime they have continued to lose money paying out claims on all the bad loans that they have insured. You don’t have to be an economics major to understand that if your revenue goes down and your expenses go up you will lose money. In an effort to try to get more revenue they have made these moves. Will they work? Only time will tell, but for now it could be the beginning of loosening of credit that will help stimulate the mortgage market after the tax credit ends on June 30, 2010.

Time to give back!

For those of us in the mortgage industry last year was a challenge. This year we have gone from famine to feast. If you have not had a chance to share your good fortune or are one of the people that have been fortunate enough to benefit from refinancing to a lower rate, please take a look at this article and order a cake to help this woman keep her house.

Avoiding Foreclosure! It's a piece of cake.

msn.com

Or you can go straight to her website:

maccakes

July Interest Rate Update

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend! If you have a minute, please take the time to watch this short video!

Help from a different source

This article was on msn.com today. It featured comments in the last paragraphs from one of the other loan officers that works with me at Cornerstone Mortgage.


msn.com

I've been busy

Much apologies to those who have tried to follow either the mortgage industry or my views on the mortgage industry over the past 3 months. With the volume in the industry I had neither the time or the energy to sit and write. Then I had the misfortune of tearing my Achilles tendon which made getting around that much more challenging. So to reduce stress and focus away from work when I could I took up on line poker. This past weekend I entered my first live tournament and here is a link to an article about how it went:

insidestl.com

Mortgage Cramdowns

I was recently interviewed for my thoughts on the proposed legislation to allow bankruptcy judges to reduce the principal amount owed on mortgages and to change the borrowers payments. To read the complete article go to:

ibjonline.com

The article is on the first page.

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments!

We are getting farther away yet closer still

As we watch the 30 year fixed rate mortgage hover around 5.75% today and still field phone calls from people who want 4.5% or lower, we need to be aware of that the government still has not stepped to the plate and followed through with their promise. Only today did they shed some light on where they are with the purchase of mortgage backed securities:

JP Morgan article

Until they begin purchasing these securities in bulk we will continue to see rates languish between 5.5% and 6%. Even then, if they wait too long to act, there may be other forces that will not allow the rates to go lower.

Stay tuned more interesting times!