The Federal Housing Finance Agency has extended the government’s Home Affordable Refinance Program by 12 months. HARP’s new end date is June 30, 2011. Originally known as Making Home Affordable, HARP aims to help homeowners refinance their mortgage who may otherwise be ineligible because...

A “Short Sale” is when a home seller sells his home for a lesser amount than what is owed on his mortgage, and the mortgage lender agrees to accept the lesser amount in lieu of a full payoff. By way of example, a Short Sale may be appropriate for a home seller whose mortgage balance is...

FHA home loans are federal assistance mortgages made by lenders, and backed by the government. The FHA doesn’t make loans to homeowners — it insures loans made to homeowners by federally-qualified lenders. By all accounts, FHA home loans are surging in popularity. 2006, FHA insured 3.3%...

Fannie Mae raised the bar for mortgage applicants this past weekend.  Getting approved for a home loan just got harder. In its official announcement, Fannie Mae says the updates minimize long-term lending risks.  If that’s the case, this won’t be the last guideline change Fannie Mae...

Despite the economy’s improvement and prodding from Congress, banks don’t seem ready to open their purse strings just yet. Nationally, mortgage approval standards are tightening. The data comes from a quarterly survey the Federal Reserve sends to its member banks.  The Fed asks senior...

According to the government, home values edged lower last month. The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Home Price Index report shows values down by 0.3 percent from the month prior – the index’s first down month since April. The Home Price Index is based on the value of homes financed...

As reported by the government, home prices are rising nationwide, up 0.3 percent in July. Furthermore, versus November 2008, the Home Price Index has clawed back to unchanged. The housing market appears to be holding its own. However, we have to be careful about putting our full faith in the Federal...

Mortgage Rates continued their nine (9) day accent posting 375bp for the week. Friday was the only negative day with the FNMA 30 YR 4.5% giving up only 9bp on a quiet day before the Holiday weekend.  The positive gains can be attributed to the negative pull back in the equities market. The DOW gave...

As a reminder, Fannie Mae is rolling out new lending guidelines Tuesday, September 1, 2009. Starting next week, being approved for a home loan could be much more difficult. The new rules mark the first major underwriting update since April of this year.  The changes are mostly geared at fraud prevention. Among...

The week started off with a BANG the FNMA 30 YR 4.5% MBS posted a 34bp gain.  This week, there isn’t much data with which traders can play so expect mortgage rates to trade on emotion and momentum instead.  This is good for rate shoppers when mortgage rates are falling, but if they start to rise;...