Does Going To College make You A Snob? Rick Santorum Thinks So

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Rick Santorum calls president Obama a snob. The basis of this vile comment is because the President would like all Americans to go to college. This is a great ideal. This is one of the American Dreams.

The big issue for Rick Santorum is whether he would like his children to attend college. There is obvious a conflict. He would want college for his children but not for all American children. He would prefer that other parents encourage their children to pursue a career where they can work with their hands.

Studies have shown that a college degree helps in getting a higher paying job, which could lead to homeownership, and in general, a college education lays the ground work for building assets and a solid net worth.

For America as a nation to be competitive in a world economy, it has to have an educated workforce. Competition is strong. China, Japan, India, Canada, Australia and the UK are all striving to educate their citizens. Rick Santorum would have America compete with these great nations with high school diplomas.

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Big Banks Settle Foreclosure Fraud For $25 Billion: Does This Mean No More Exotic Mortgage Products?

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The mortgage fiasco, mortgage fraud and robo-signing issues have been put to rest. the big banks agreed to pay out $25 billion to those homeowners who were harmed financially. They also promised not to do it again. Well, is this enough? And can we trust the banks?

Homeowners in Miami are suspicious. They took the full force of the housing bubble when it exploded. Even now half of Miami's houses are still underwater with their mortgages. So when the news of the settlement reached Miami residents there was no dancing in the streets.

About $2,000 is all a homeowner in Miami can expect to receive. These homeowners were the victims of fraudulent foreclosures brought about by robo-signing. Moving costs are more than $2,000 for most of these homeowners. It doesn't even cover the security deposit, plus first and last month's rent on rental property.

The big issue now is the amount of foreclosure properties that will be flooding the market. The banks were sitting on the bulk of foreclosure notices. Now that a settlement is reached and they are sure that future litigation is minimized, they can go ahead, full speed, and start foreclosures by the thousands.

For more information on foreclosures and mortgages please visit: House Refinance Center.

Freddie Mac Winter Promo Pays Bonuses To Real Estate Agents

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In an effort to sell more properties, Freddie Mac will be paying extra money to seller agents. This program is for the Winter season and will end on March 15, 2012.

Seller agents will receive $1,000 for each transaction they close in specific locations. HomeSteps, the sales arm of Freddie Mac, will pay the bonus to agents. Initial offers must be received between November 15, 2011 and January 31, 2012.

Freddie Mac is also giving additional incentives to owner occupants. Freddie Mac will help with the closing costs up to 3% of the final sales price.

In addition, some HomeSteps homes can qualify for a two-year Home Protect home warranty plan. The plan covers electrical, plumbing, air conditioning, heating, appliances and other major systems. Owner occupants are also eligible for a discount of 30 percent on the purchase of appliances.

Currently, Freddie Mac is selling more homes than it is taking in. For the third quarter this year it sold 25,387 houses. The number of homes Freddie acquired through foreclosure during the same time was 24,385.

Freddie Mac continues to get top dollar for its properties. The average price is 94% of the market price. Let's hope that this trend continues and that Freddie does not ask for a bailout.

For more news on mortgages, Freddie Mac and refinancing please visit:

House Refinance Center

Related articles:

Fannie Mae Has A House For You: A Plan To Sell Foreclosures

FHA Mortgages: Several Types To Choose From

Buy A Freddie Mac Home: Great For The Community Plus Bargain Prices

Condos Not Selling Fast Enough: Blame FHA

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It is becoming harder to buy a condo. Part of the problem is the new changes to the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insurance. These changes require a condo project to pass re-certification every two years. Even condo projects with healthy financials will find this process challenging.

Imagine the homebuyer has to qualify for a mortgage plus the condo building has to pass the FHA insurance test. This is too much to stress to place on a buyer considering our economic conditions.

One of the main requirements is owner occupancy. At least 50% of the units must be owner occupied. This rule keeps out real estate speculators. But it also saddles the existing owners with rising condo fees. Condo associations do not want to levy special assessment to raise more funds. The other alternative is to raise fees.

In addition to the owner-occupancy policy, the new rule also says that one investor can not own more that 10% of the unit in a condo complex. So investors are blocked from buying additional units in a building that they know very well. Consider a 500 unit building where the average condo fee is $300 a month. If 200 units sit vacant the condo association is losing about $720,000 a year in fees. This short fall could be crucial in the event that there is an emergency. The funding would have to come from the current condo owners, and this might force more owners to walk away from their homes and end up in foreclosure.

Allowing investors to buy more units is a solution. Prices will not fall as sharply and condo associations will be able to work within their budgets.

Additional articles on mortgages, banks and refinance, please visit:

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Related articles:

Banks are sitting on thousands of houses with mold and mildew: Would you buy one?

Stricter FHA guidelines pose a challenge to condo associations.

HARP Being Modified: Is It Too Late?

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The Federal Housing  Finance Agency (FHFA) announced that major changes will be coming to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). The highlighted change is the removal of the loan to value limit. The current loan-to-value (LTV) is 125%.

One of the objectives of HARP was to help the millions of homeowners who were underwater with their mortgages. In some housing markets the outstanding mortgage balance is about half the market value of the house. For example, a homeowner owes $500,000 on his mortgage but the house is valued at $250,000. In this example the LTV is 200%.

The revamped program, entitled HARP Phase 2,  means that those homeowners who are underwater the most and are desperately in need of help, will finally get some relief. They will be able to refinance at the current low rates. The FHFA expects that the modified HARP will help about 1,8 million homeowners. If this target is reached it would be a great improvement from the 900,000 borrowers the program currently helps.

This might seem like a slam dunk case. But qualifying for the financing might be an issue for many borrowers.
>>> The mortgage must be owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
>>> The mortgage must have been sold to Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae on or before May 31, 2009.
>>> The loan to value must be greater than 80%.
>>> The homeowner must be current on the mortgage at the time of refinancing, with no late payments in the last 6 months or only 1 late payment in the last 12 months.

Here are the big issues.
1. If your mortgage is not owned or guaranteed by Freddie Mac or Fannie you have no chance of a refinance under the program. There are millions of private mortgages that are underwater.

2. If you are going to refinance from a fixed rate mortgage to an adjustable rate mortgage the maximum loan to value is 105%. This is not a good time to go from fixed to adjustable, but there are some borrowers that would like this option.

Let's hope that the majority of lenders get behind the program and help the millions of borrowers that are underwater.

For more articles on the housing market and mortgages please visit:

House Refinance Center 


Related articles.

HARP Mortgages: Now is the time to refinance

Thousands Of Seniors Losing Homes In Foreclosure Crisis

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It's difficult to think of your grandparents losing their homes in foreclosure. In many instances the homes were paid off years ago. The current economic crisis has led homeowners to dip into their assets including the equity in their homes.

There are three areas that trap senior homeowners into foreclosure. Remember, these are Americans on fixed incomes. According to AARP about 600,000 seniors are delinquent on their mortgages.

Health problems.

Paying for prescription medicine, and emergency health problems are an issue. Even with insurance plans, seniors have to pay some out-of-pocket costs. These medical expenses are not limited to the care of the seniors alone but they are also for family members. The McDavids of Raliegh, N.C. spent $70,000 on their son's medical care until he finally passed away.

Day to day living expenses.

The cost of living keeps rising. Gasoline and heating oil prices are up.  And because of the drought this year in states like Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma, food prices are rising. According to Dr.Amy K. Glassmeir, who created the Living Wage Calculator, for a family of two to live in Texas it takes $24,800 in after taxes dollars. In Illinois the amount is $25,371 and in Alabama it is $24,742

Help to family members.

Many seniors are helping their children and other family members pay their mortgages or pay the rent. To obtain the funds seniors had to refinance and take on new mortgages on houses that were paid off or had substantial equity in them.

With the economy in the shape it is in today, chances of recovering these loans are very slim. The extra monthly mortgage payment is taking a toll on seniors' budgets. In some cases medication is eliminated or the dosage is reduced because the seniors simply do not have the money. So now we have health problems that can and will worsen.

We have to find ways of protecting our seniors. If it means declining them for a mortgage, well, so be it.

For more information on foreclosures and mortgages, please visit:
House Refinance Center

Additional mortgage news and advice:

Seniors losing homes to foreclosures

Lowest Mortgage rate is not always the best rate

Home Sales Climbs 7.7% In August

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August was a good month for sales of previously owned homes. Housing sales increased 7.7%. This translated to a seasonally adjusted annually rate of 5.03 million housing units.

Economists are still not excited with these sales numbers. They expect sales to be around 6 million units in order to provide some momentum to a stagnant housing market.

An increase in foreclosure activity was behind the rise in sales for August. This is an indication that home prices still have a long way to fall.

First time homebuyers have not participated in this buying frenzy. Our first time homebuyers represented 32%  of sales in August. This was the same percentage in July. The percentage is normally 40%. For the most part, they have remained renters. There are a couple reasons for their action.

Number one, they are waiting for house prices to fall further. Buyers do not want to pay $200,000 for a house today which they can purchase a year later for $150,000. It makes perfect sense to rent the house and wait.

Number two, they can not get acceptable financing. Mortgage rates are at record lows today. The 30 year fixed rate mortgage is around 4.0%. Many lenders are heavily promoting the 4.0%, but this rate is seldom given to borrowers. There is always an issue with the credit score. It's never high enough.

Real estate investors are fueling the increase in house sales. Investors accounted for 22% of sales in August and 18% in July. The boom in previously owned homes come at the expense of new construction. New construction is 30% more expensive.

For more articles on mortgage, loans, foreclosures and banks, please visit:

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Related stories:

How to buy bank owned real estate (REO).

Buying a home: Don't be pressured into overpaying or buying the wrong house.