The @guykawasaki meeting was great, only

The @guykawasaki meeting was great, only wish he had more time for lunch!

Brian Tracy

We are living in a turbulent and challenging world today. And, if anything, the achievement of the success you desire will be more difficult and challenging in the months and years ahead than it has ever been before. You need everything possible going for you if you are going to survive and thrive in the ‘new reality’ in which we live today.”

How to Verify if a Townhouse is considered a Condominium by HUD

All – as a reminder, if a property is listed by HUD as a condominium, the appraisal is to be completed on the condo form. Sometimes HUD considers a townhome as a condo. You should verify whether or not a townhome is a condo by checking the listing on HUD’s website. If a property is on the list of condos HUD considers it a condominium and you’ll need to use the condominium form. The link to access the list is below. Let me know if you have questions about this and I’ll be happy to help!

https://entp.hud.gov/idapp///html/condo1.cfm

Pending Home Sales Rise 10.4% in October says NAR

December 6th, 2010  |  by admin Published in News, Reverse Mortgage

After a steady stream of depressing housing data, pending homes sales jumped 10.4 percent in October according to the National Association of Realtors.

The Pending Home Sales Index, increased to 89.3 based on contracts signed in October from 80.9 in September. The index remains 20.5 percent below a surge to a cyclical peak of 112.4 in October 2009, which was the highest level since May 2006 when it hit 112.6.

Last October, first-time buyers were motivated to make offers before the initial contract deadline for the tax credit last November. The data reflects contracts and not closings, which normally occur with a lag time of one or two months.

“It is welcoming to see a solid double-digit percentage gain, but activity needs to improve further to reach healthy, sustainable levels,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist.  ”The housing market clearly is in a recovery phase and will be uneven at times, but the improving job market and consequential boost to household formation will help the recovery process going into 2011.”

“More importantly, a return to more normal loan underwriting standards and removal of unnecessary underwriting fees for very low risk borrowers is needed and could quickly help in the housing and economic recovery,” Yun said. Recent loan performance data from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac clearly demonstrates very low default rates on recently originated mortgages, much lower that the vintages of 2002 and 2003 before the housing boom.

For the full report, see here.

Agencies Issue Final Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines

The federal financial regulatory agencies issued final supervisory guidance today on sound practices by financial institutions for real estate appraisals and evaluations.

Financial institutions use reliable appraisals and evaluations to determine the value of collateral for mortgages and other loans; appraisals and evaluations are integral to institutions’ real estate lending. Institutions base credit decisions primarily on borrowers’ ability to repay, but institutions also consider the value of real estate collateral as a secondary source of repayment.

The Interagency Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines, which replace 1994 guidelines, explain the agencies’ minimum regulatory standards for appraisals. The guidelines incorporate the agencies’ recent supervisory issuances on appraisal practices, address advancements in information technology used in collateral valuation practices, and clarify standards for the industry’s appropriate use of analytical methods and technological tools in developing evaluations. Financial institutions should review their appraisal and evaluation programs to ensure they are consistent with the guidelines.

The guidelines emphasize that financial institutions are responsible for selecting appraisers and people performing evaluations based on their competence, experience, and knowledge of the market and type of property being valued. Institutions should demonstrate the independence of their processes for obtaining property values, and adopt standards for appropriate communications and information-sharing with appraisers and people performing evaluations, according to the guidelines.

In promoting sound credit decisions, the guidelines emphasize the importance of institutions maintaining strong internal controls to ensure reliable appraisals and evaluations. Institutions also are responsible for monitoring and periodically updating valuations of collateral for existing real estate loans and for transactions, such as modifications and workouts, according to the guidelines.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Financial Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 underscores the importance of sound real estate lending decisions; future revisions to the appraisal guidelines may be necessary after regulations are adopted to implement the Act.

Attachment:
Interagency Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines – PDF (PDF Help)

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Using the Web to Obtain Reverse Mortgage Valuations

December 1st, 2010  |  by admin Published in News, Reverse Mortgage

National Mortgage News is reporting that appraisers are turning to the web for reverse mortgage valuations.

Like any mortgage transaction, but maybe even more when it comes to reverse mortgages, the value of the home has never been more important.  Unless a borrower’s home meets a certain value, there is a good chance they might not be able to qualify for the loan.  An older borrower, especially a retiree on a fixed income, may not have the means to pay $450 for a full appraisal, especially if there’s a chance the valuation won’t be enough for the lender to justify originating the HECM.

Len Fishman, founder of AllReverseAppraisals.com, an appraisal management company that specializes in reverse mortgages told NMN that ”I’ve had clients—good, honest brokers— that for 15 years would call me and I’d give them an estimate of what the value would be and we’d see if it’s worth the borrower’s time and money to go forward with the appraisal.”  Adding, “now the seniors are having to foot the bill for an appraisal without knowing any range of value or if they’ll qualify for the loan.”

To meet the needs of prospective reverse mortgage borrowers, Coester Appraisal Group, offers a service that creates a valuation repot that’s less expensive than full appraisals.

“Instead of doing the full appraisal and have them pay $450 up front, we do a desktop appraisal,” said Brian Coester, CEO of Coester Appraisal Group.  “If it looks reasonable that the borrower could qualify for a reverse mortgage, then we go and do full appraisal and apply the $100 fee from the desktop appraisal to the price of the full appraisal.”

To read the rest, check out the link below.

Appraisers Turn to Web for Reverse Mortgage Valuation

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Multi-State Investigation by Attorney General May leave to Revamping Modification Process.

What began as an investigation into “robo-signers” has expanded into investigations of widespread irregularities in the foreclosure process and efforts by many state officials to bring about a settlement including the reduction of principals on tens (or hundreds?) of thousands of mortgages, particularly for homeowners who are “underwater” on their mortgages.  Numerous published reports in the past week have discussed the idea of settlements involving writing down loan balances which would involve negotiations with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the approval of their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the U.S. Treasury.

In an article on November 17th, the Wall Street Journal cited a report by Inside Mortgage Finance showing the top 10 mortgage providers in 2010 by market share: Bank of America: 19.9%; Wells Fargo: 17.2%; Chase: 12.4%; Citi: 6.2%; Ally Financial: 3.4%; U.S. Bank Home Mortgage: 2.0%; SunTrust Mortgage: 1.7%; PHH Mortgage: 1.5%; OneWest Bank: 1.4%; PNC Mortgage: 1.4%.

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Mortgage Applications Rise to 6-Month High

U.S. mortgage applications for home purchases rose to their highest level in more than six months last week, buoying activity otherwise weighed down by waning refinancing, an industry group reported on Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted purchase applications index jumped 14.4 percent to 205.0 in the week ended Nov. 19, the highest since the week ending May 7, the MBA said on Wednesday. The refinancing index slumped 1 percent to 3,793.6.

The composite index, which includes loans for home purchases and refinancings, increased 2.1 percent to 728.8, the MBA said.

"The increase in purchase applications last week aligns with other incoming data suggesting that consumers are feeling somewhat more confident with their financial situation," Michael Fratantoni, the MBA’s vice president of research and economics, said in a statement.

Borrowing costs on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to 4.5 percent from 46 percent in the week, the MBA said. The rate last month reached 4.21 percent, the lowest level in the survey, which has been conducted weekly since 1990.

Rates for fixed 15-year mortgages averaged 3.83 percent, down from 3.87 percent in the previous week.

Copyright 2010 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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