March 11, 2010
Home Legislation & Policy
WASHINGTON—The head of the Federal Housing Administration is warning that boosting the minimum down payment borrowers must provide to qualify for home loans backed by the agency could threaten the housing market. FHA commissioner David Stevens said at a House hearing Thursday that his agency would insure 300,000 fewer loans per year if the mandatory down payment were hiked from the current level of 3.5% to 5%.
March 7, 2010
Home Legislation & Policy
Mar. 7—While foreclosures and loan modifications have made it tough for overwhelmed banks to go after walkaway borrowers, there’s evidence they are starting to crack down. If the lender sells the home after a foreclosure for less than what is owed on the loan, the bank can come after the borrower for the deficiency balance.
March 7, 2010
Home Legislation & Policy
Mar. 7—”What a mess.” That’s how Jeff Boyd of Tulsa describes the costly process of correcting an error that listed his home in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s flood plain map.
March 4, 2010
Home Legislation & Policy
There’s still time to take advantage of the $8,000 first-time home buyer or the $6,500 repeat buyer tax credits, as long as you act quickly. The credits expire on April 30, 2010.
March 3, 2010
Home Legislation & Policy
Mar. 3—Borrowers with under water home loans will have another year to take advantage of a little-used federal refinancing program that tries to prevent foreclosures with lower or fixed interest rates. The Obama administration announced this week that the Home Affordable Refinance Program will continue through June 2011 after helping just 190,180 homeowners in the year since it was announced.
March 3, 2010
Home Legislation & Policy
Mar. 3—A growing number of frustrated California homeowners are suing their lenders and hoping litigation will allow them to hold onto the American dream. Experts say the lawsuits don’t work as well as they did 18 months ago, and never were an easy bet in California.
March 1, 2010
Home Legislation & Policy
WASHINGTON—The government is giving homeowners another year to refinance their loans under a little-used program designed to help borrowers whose homes have plummeted in value. The program allows borrowers who owe up to 25 percent more than their homes are worth to refinance to lower interest rates.
February 28, 2010
Home Legislation & Policy
Thanks to changes in the tax laws, the up to $8,000 in tax credits for first-time homebuyers has been expanded to many owners of existing homes and up to 70 percent of all buyers, said Gary Soderstrom, president of the Home Builders Association of Greater Tulsa. “We’ve done a poor job of letting people know that the expanded tax credit now affects most of the market,” he said.
February 28, 2010
Home Legislation & Policy
Feb. 28—His wife’s not going to jail. Sterling Mummert has no intention of connecting to the water main the York Pennsylvania Water Co. recently ran under the road in front of his house, even if it means he’s violating West Manheim Township law.
February 26, 2010
Home Legislation & Policy
A Federal Deposit Insurance program is being developed to determine if cutting principal for so-called underwater mortgages saves homeowners from foreclosure, U.S. officials said. The program would be aimed at an estimated 11 million homeowners who owe more than their properties are worth.
