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...

Data was sparse through 2010’s first trading week last week, setting the stage for a week of momentum trading. In up-and-down trading, mortgage pricing improved overall but the best rates of the week didn’t last long. Rates improved Monday and Tuesday as an oversold market corrected itself...

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...

Mortgage markets were volatile last week, making it very difficult to shop for mortgage rates. On most days, lenders issued multiple rate sheets with the trend putting rates higher in the morning, and lower in the afternoon. Overall, mortgage rates were unchanged on the week. It broke a three-week streak...

The new Good Faith Estimate makes its debut January 1, 2010. Expanded from 1page to 3, the legislators responsible for the new Good Faith Estimate want it to be simpler for homeowners and home buyers to understand than the former version. By most accounts, Congress will meet this goal. The new Good...

According to the Freddie Mac weekly mortgage rate survey, the relative cost of a 5-year ARM is dropping versus its 30-year fixed-rate cousin. During the first 5 months of 2009, the products ran neck-and-neck. Today, they’re a half-percent apart. On a $200,000 home loan, that’s a difference...

An escrow account is a designated savings account into which funds get deposited for a specific purpose. With respect to real estate and home loans, escrow accounts are used to pay real estate tax bills and homeowners insurance payments. Escrow accounts are managed and disbursed by lenders. When a homeowner...

Beginning November 17, 2009, the FHA will make it harder to qualify for its popular Streamline Refinance program. Available exclusively to homeowners with existing FHA home loans, the streamline program is meant to help homeowners reduce mortgage payments as simply as possible. As such, the program carries...