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Thursday, February 25, 2010 6:08 AM

Deceptive mortgage ads: what they say, what they leave out

We've all seen ads from mortgage companies offering below market rates or low payments. Sometimes they seem too good to be true and you know the old saying, if it seems to good to be true, it probably is. I'm not suggesting any of the ads to the
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Friday, February 19, 2010 7:26 AM

Will 2010 be the year of the Short Sale

Short sales, when the proceeds of the sale are less than what is owed on the mortgage, have been difficult at best for buyers to successfully purchase but that may change as banks are starting to be more responsive and are agreeing to short sales as a
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Friday, February 12, 2010 8:21 AM

The good faith estimate and the HUD 1 settlement statement

Only the US government could simplify the mortgage loan process by increasing the number of pages of both the forms and the explanation but there is some good and some bad to the new good faith estimate and HUD 1 settlement statement that you will get
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Friday, February 05, 2010 7:45 AM

Charleston mortgage report, February 5, 2010

Mortgage rates have once again have dropped under 5% for a 30 year fixed rate loan. With the stock market down, the bond market up, mortgage rates once again are being offered at near historic lows. If you are considering the purchase of a home for sale
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 2 Comments
Wednesday, January 20, 2010 6:23 AM

FHA to tighten mortgage guidelines

As expected, mortgage guidelines for FHA loans will tighten. According to Reuters : "The U.S. Federal Housing Administration said on Tuesday it will raise the minimum down payment required to secure an FHA-backed mortgage for less creditworthy borrowers
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Wednesday, December 23, 2009 1:36 PM

Are Charleston mortgage rates headed higher in 2010

Probably, but how high might they go since they have edged up in recent weeks. In an article on CNBC , Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's says: "If you told me by the end of 2010 a 30-year rate was at 6 percent, that sounds about right. I
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Tuesday, December 22, 2009 3:53 PM

More on the November 09 existing home sales report

There was better than expected news on existing home sales in November in large part due to the rush by first time home buyers to qualify for the $8k tax credit (since extended and expanded to existing home owners). Bloomberg reports "sales of existing
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Saturday, December 12, 2009 8:10 AM

Charleston mortgage rate outlook [Higher]

Mortgage rates have been nothing short of unbelievable lately, solidly under 5% and that means a lot to home affordability. But there are several reasons that rates will be higher in the near future. The first reason is that the economy has been strengthening
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 2 Comments
Saturday, December 05, 2009 8:19 AM

What new FHA mortgage guidelines will mean to you

In a phrase, you'll have ... more skin in the game. Borrowers have been flocking to FHA mortgages for the past several years as the best and only way to finance the purchase of a home. Low down payments and lower credit scores have allowed more people
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 1 Comments
Wednesday, November 25, 2009 11:48 AM

Underwater mortgages, beneath the numbers

A widely covered report by First American CoreLogic headlines that nearly 1 in 4 homeowners have negative equity in their home or in today's parlance, they are "underwater" on their mortgage. It's an important report because borrowers
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 3:16 PM

Charleston real estate mortgage rate outlook, November 17, 2009

Mortgage rates for either conventional or FHA 30 year fixed rate loans are currently quoted below 5% but how long will rates stay this low. Dan Green at The Mortgage Reports talks about 2 trends in mortgage rates. First, based on historical data from
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 1 Comments
Saturday, November 14, 2009 7:53 AM

Will the FHA be next to get a bailout

Jimmy commented yesterday about the problems at the FHA (Federal Housing Administration) and if that source of loans becomes unavailable, it could lead to another leg down in the housing market. After all, FHA loans have been a main source of mortgage
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 3 Comments
Thursday, October 15, 2009 6:30 AM

Hope for Homes Charleston October 24, 2009

Hope for Homes, a FREE foreclosure prevention event, will be held at the North Charleston Convention Center on Saturday October 24, 2009. The event is sponsored by the City of Charleston, the City of North Charleston, Homeownership Resource Center, the
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Thursday, October 08, 2009 7:24 AM

Awesome mortgage rates!

Awesome rates was the subject line in an email from one of my preferred lenders yesterday and awesome (or even amazing) are the best way to describe them. Conventional and FHA 30 year fixed are quoted at 4.5%. Yep, you read that right, 4.5%. What that
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Saturday, October 03, 2009 6:24 AM

All short sales aren't created equal

You might think that a lot of short sales are due to the combination of high unemployment (yesterday's report by the BLS was 9.8%) and homeowners who happened to buy their home at the top of the housing market and having to sell for less than what
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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