Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Two big government agencies guiding the housing industry, begun by Congress with distinct and separate missions. Today, they are so alike, I almost hear their sing-song names in cadence as part of the same refrain. But do we need them both anymore? Does having these two separate agencies serve the […]
I was raised on the idea that owning a home was the quintessential American dream. You grew up, went to college, got a job, built a family, and all along the way you bought first a small house (your first, you were so excited), then a bigger house (your family was growing, you felt on […]
My partners and I are a little jaded when it comes to strategic defaults. Nowhere in our early careers – or even more than five years ago – could we have imagined the sea change in housing that has happened. To think that people would wake up one morning and simply decide to stop paying […]
It’s good to see short sales eclipsing REO (finally). Especially on the heels of our launch of www.VerifiedShortSale.com. As recently reported by RealtyTrac, 12 states saw more short sales than REO transactions through March, and they expect to report that short sales will outnumber REO sales nationally when they report second-quarter statistics. As we expected, […]
Boy do I understand that old cliché, a few bad apples spoil it for the bunch. I’ve never been able to understand the phrase in terms of the apples because after all, how many of us can actually picture a bushel of apples and see what happens when a couple of them rot? But now […]
A conversation with Lou Spampinato, CEO of Real Value When you’ve been in the real estate industry for nearly three decades, you begin to see patterns and trends. And you get to know what’s wrong – and how to make it right – in an industry you’ve called home for most of your career. That’s […]
By Rodney Carey A few months ago, I took my family on vacation out of the country. We thought we’d arrange for at least one of our cell phones to work, but as soon as we landed, we realized none of them did. While my wife and I agonized over how we would communicate with […]
A Conversation with Jay Hill Owner, Hill Mortgage Consulting, Tallahassee, Florida When commercial and high-end residential borrowers find themselves under water and in need of help, they contact Jay Hill. He and his team scrutinize the fine print of their client’s loan paperwork and find compelling points of negotiation which they take to the bank. […]
by Ronald Jasgur Too many Americans should be able to secure a home loan, but they can’t. It’s a troubling and growing problem, one for which we must come up with a viable solution if we are to have any hope of repairing the ailing housing industry. Today, underwriting is more granular than ever and […]
By Ronald Jasgur Yes, I’m talking to you. I’m talking to everyone who services mortgage loans, really, and I’m asking an important question: are you enabling fraud in your company? According to the Merriam Webster Student Dictionary, definition of enable: to make able; to make possible, practical or easy; to give legal power or permission […]
