Saturday, August 21, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
BofA Leads Industry in Completing Home Affordable Modifications
The number of permanent Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) mortgage restructurings completed by Bank of America through July has reached more than 76,000, a number that BofA says continues to lead the industry.
In addition, nearly 100,000 Bank of America customers have received non-HAMP modifications this year, including many that did not qualify under the federal program.
“When a customer is found to be ineligible for HAMP or falls out of a trial modification, we consider an alternative
home retention program and, if no viable solution is available, a dignified exit from homeownership,” said Rebecca Mairone, default servicing executive for Bank of America Home Loans. “HAMP guidelines are quite specific with regard to the debt-to-income ratio, owner-occupancy, trial payment performance, and other requirements. But in many cases, we may be able to provide these customers with other homeownership retention solutions, subject to the mortgage investor’s guidance and approval.”
According to a statement from Bank of America, home retention is the company’s first goal, but it is enhancing programs that provide borrowers with a dignified exit from homeownership when retention options are no longer a possibility, such as using short sales or deeds-in-lieu with possible relocation assistance costs.
During the second quarter of this year, the North Carolina-based company says it completed 25,000 short sale transactions as alternatives to foreclosure for struggling homeowners.
Since January 2008, Bank of America has completed more than 665,000 mortgage modifications through all programs, including 590,000 via proprietary solutions, according to the company.
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Credit Scoring Good Credit Translates into Lower Rates for the Consumer
In the 1960s, Fair Isaac Corporation started working on a system lenders could use to evaluate the likelihood of receiving repayment on loans. Prior to that, it was really a matter of trusting an individual to be a "man of his word," so to speak. Fair Isaac sought to take human error out of the equation with a reliable system that could determine whether or not consumers were truly worthy of credit, and thus FICO was born. This evolved to become the standard for lenders by the 1980s. Credit scoring has an enormous impact on a borrower's ability to purchase a home. It can mean the difference between getting a good interest rate and the home of their dreams, or whether they even qualify at all. For this reason, it is important for borrowers to understand the credit scoring process, and to know what their credit score is when they look to obtain mortgage financing. What the credit scoring model seeks to quantify is how likely the consumer is to pay off their debt without being more than 90 days late on a payment at any time in the future. Credit scores can range between a low score of 350 and a high of 850. The higher the client's score is, the less likely they are to default on their loan. Only a rare one out of approximately 1300 people in the United States have a credit score above 800. These are the slam-dunk clients that walk away with the best interest rates. On the other hand, one out of eight prospective home buyers are faced with the possibility that they may not qualify for the loan they want because they have a score between 500 and 600.
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Thursday, August 19, 2010
New Lead Rule Regulations
Remodeling? New Lead Regulations You Need to Know About
While we're all aware of the health risks posed by lead, you might not realize that even common renovation projects can be hazardous in terms of lead. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), activities like sanding, cutting and demolition can create dangerous lead dust and chips by disturbing lead-based paint, which can be harmful to both adults and children.
As a Member of the Top 5 in Real Estate Network®, I, along with the rest of my team, am committed to keeping our clients informed on current regulations pertaining to home safety issues. To protect against the lead risk, on April 22, 2008, EPA issued a rule requiring the use of lead-safe practices and other actions aimed at preventing lead poisoning. Under the rule, as of April 22, 2010, contractors performing renovation, repair and painting projects that disturb lead-based paint in homes, child-care facilities and schools built before 1978 must be EPA certified and must follow specific work practices to prevent lead contamination.
If you are embarking on a home-improvement project, be sure to use certified renovators who are trained by EPA-approved training providers to follow lead-safe work practices. Lead dust can form when lead-based paint is dry scraped, dry sanded or heated. Dust also forms when painted surfaces bump or rub together. Lead chips and dust can get on surfaces and objects that people touch. Settled lead dust can re-enter the air when people vacuum, sweep or walk through it.
Make sure that your renovators employ the following practices - and you, too, if you're a do-it-yourselfer:
- Contain the work area
- Minimize dust
- Clean up thoroughly
According to the EPA, to permanently remove lead hazards, you must hire a certified lead "abatement" contractor. Abatement (or permanent hazard elimination) methods include removing, sealing or enclosing lead-based paint with special materials. Just painting over the hazard with regular paint is not enough.
For more information on the dangers of lead and the new regulations regarding remodeling, please visit www.epa.gov, or e-mail our team directly. We encourage you to pass this important information along to anyone you know who might be renovating their home soon.
Sincerely,
Crecco Real Estate
Office: 914-449-6547
Mobile: 914-469-1861
anthony@creccorealestate.com
http://www.CreccoRealEstate.com
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Save Your Home from Default!!!
'Vultures' Save Troubled Homeowners
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Anna and Charlie Reynolds of St. George, Utah, were worried about losing their home to foreclosure last year. Then they got a lucky break—from an unlikely savior.
Some investment funds are emerging as the best hope for millions of U.S. households, like the Reynolds, above, who were behind on their mortgage payments. James Hagerty discusses. Also, Anupreeta Das and Liam Denning talk about BHP's $38.6 billion hostile bid to buy Canada's Potash, a bid that Potash's management called 'grossly inadequate.'
Selene Residential Mortgage Opportunity Fund, an investment fund managed by veteran mortgage-bond trader Lewis Ranieri, acquired the loan at a deep discount and renegotiated the terms with the Reynolds. The balance due was cut to $243,182 from $421,731, and the interest rate was lowered. That reduced the monthly payment to $1,573 from $3,464, allowing the family to stay in their home despite a drop in Mr. Reynolds' income as a real-estate agent. "It was a miracle," says Ms. Reynolds.
But Mr. Ranieri isn't your typical miracle worker. As a fund manager who was once vice chairman of the bond-trading firm Salomon Brothers, he's a member of the Wall Street crowd that is often pilloried for helping inflate the housing bubble, though he sat out the excesses of recent years. The 1989 book "Liar's Poker" made him famous for billion-dollar trades in mortgage bonds and junk-food "feeding frenzies" with his trading-desk buddies.
Read more…. http://bit.ly/cEejSv
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