Share A combination of factors are causing rents to rise. There is increasing demand brought about by former homeowners who may have lost their home to foreclosure or were forced to sell for any number of reasons without being able to or not wanting to buy another home. Stricter credit standards are another factor because not…
Category Archives: Politics and Government
Can you refinance your mortgage with HARP 2.0
Share The administration has announced a turbo charged Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) which is now being referred to as HARP 2.0. If your loan is owned by either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, you’ll have greater opportunities to refinance than under prior programs. Now even though Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guarantee about 90…
Another mortgage refinance plan floated, once again few will be helped
Share Sometimes you just have to wonder about something so simple but they just don’t get it. Or maybe they do and just don’t want to do it. Maybe the Occupy movement has it right. What I’m referring to is helping homeowners refinance when they don’t have enough equity in their homes in order to…
Another dismal failure for a government refinance program
Share This one might take the cake in the history of dismal failures by the government trying to help distressed homeowners and you just have to wonder when they might get it right. Housing Wire reports that only 301 homeowners with underwater mortgages have been helped by the FHA short refi program at a cost…
[Gaining steam] Mortgage refinancing for underwater homeowners
Share I’ve advocated this for a while now as a solution to the housing mess along with being helpful to the economy. In the early stages of the housing mess, most government efforts were focused on helping distressed homeowners and basically it has been an abysmal failure. And the needs of many homeowners who were current…
Will there be a government refinance plan for mortgages
Share The NY Times reports that Obama administration officials are considering proposing a massive refinance plan for mortgages. How this might be different from previous attempts is anybody’s guess but basically, none of the previous programs have done very much to help either distressed homeowners or the housing market. Here’s the problem. Many people who would like…
Charleston mortgage report and the debt ceiling
Share Since you can’t swing a dead cat without hearing about the debt ceiling “crisis”, will Charleston mortgage rates be impacted positively or negatively by whether or not a resolution is finally agreed to. And it’s just my opinion but the politicians on all sides in Washington appear to be playing chicken with the global economy while doing…
Google and the G Men
Share Google received formal notification from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that it has begun a review of their business. In the Google Blog post, Supporting choice, ensuring economic opportunity, Google spokesman Amit Singhal discussed how Google’s success has led to greater scrutiny. “At Google, we’ve always focused on putting the user first. We aim…
