mortgage

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Millennials' Tactic on Housing Market: Live With Parents

Many are living rent-free to save up for a down payment

(Newser) - Millennials have found the solution to affording a down payment on first-time homes in a volatile market: shacking up with their parents. According to the Washington Post , more than a fifth of millennials living with their parents by choice are saving up for their own down payment. The National Association...

Americans Have Some Big Housing Misconceptions

Mortgage rates aren't historically high, for one

(Newser) - The housing market isn't great, but neither is Americans' understanding of it. So finds a NerdWallet survey released Tuesday. Three standout findings from the survey:
  • About 11% of respondents, which NerdWallet equates to 28 million American adults, say they intend to buy a home over the next 12 months.
...

For Buyers, Mortgage Rates Hit Unwelcome Milestone

Average 30-year rate is now 7% for the first time in 2 decades

(Newser) - Average long-term US mortgage rates topped 7% for the first time in more than two decades this week, a direct result of the Federal Reserve's aggressive rate hikes intended to tame inflation not seen in some 40 years, per the AP . Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported on Thursday that...

Mortgage Rates Reach an Unwanted Milestone

Average rate hits 6% for the first time since 2008

(Newser) - Someone who closes on a house this month will be paying twice the mortgage rate of a year ago. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage reached 6% this week for the first time since the recession days of 2008, reports the New York Times . That's up from...

Mortgage Demand Hits 22-Year Low
Mortgage Demand
Hits 22-Year Low
Jul 20, 2022 10:50 AM CDT

Mortgage Demand Hits 22-Year Low

The real estate market is cooling amid high rates, high inflation, high prices

(Newser) - While heat waves and wildfires have dominated recent headlines, there’s a major cooling trend in the US housing market. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly survey, mortgage applications dropped a seasonally adjusted 6.3% last week, per CNBC. That puts mortgage demand at its lowest point since...

The Rent Is Due. Now What?
The Rent Is Due.
Now What?
the rundown
May 1, 2020 11:56 AM CDT

The Rent Is Due. Now What?

Rent strikes being organized around the nation, but 'mom and pop' landlords struggling, too

(Newser) - The new month has arrived, which means the rent is due for millions of Americans. Combine that with off-the-charts unemployment and it adds up to misery not just for tenants but for many landlords, too. While many states and the federal government have put protections into place to stop evictions...

BofA Slammed Over 'Misleading' Mortgage Relief

As the entire mortgage system faces potential collapse

(Newser) - Many homeowners are getting a break on mortgage payments these days, but the devil can be in the details. Connecticut resident Rosanne Stoddard tells CNBC she got quite a shock when she called Bank of America about her $2,200 monthly payments. They granted her a three-month pandemic waiver, she...

Cheesecake Factory: Sorry, We Can't Pay Rent Next Month

'Extraordinary events' due to coronavirus have forced the chain's hand, CEO David Overton says

(Newser) - If you've lost income due to the coronavirus outbreak and don't think you can make your rent payment for April, Cheesecake Factory can relate. In fact, the restaurant chain knows it can't make rent—and it has informed its landlords across the nation as such. "Due...

An Early Holiday Bonus for This Worker: Early Retirement

Boss Rudy Quinones paid off Albert Brigas' mortgage so he could go spend time with family

(Newser) - Albert Brigas, a 69-year-old Vietnam vet from Texas, has been working for Renown Auto Restoration in San Antonio for 13 years, and he had his eye on retiring sometime in 2020, after plunking down the final mortgage payment on the house he's lived in for nearly a quarter century....

Furloughed by the Shutdown? Denver Will Pay Your Mortgage

For 2 months, at least

(Newser) - Denver homeowners who have been furloughed as a result of the partial government shutdown will get some relief from the city: They can apply for a city grant to pay up to two months (a maximum of $5,000) of mortgage payments, the Denver Post reports. "It's simply...

Where Most People Don't Go for Mortgages Anymore: Banks

For the first time in 30 years, nonbank lenders break the 50% mark in lending dollars

(Newser) - Remember when you'd go to a bank or credit union to sign mortgage papers? While this may still be the first lending method that enters future homeowners' minds, non-bank lenders issued more than half the mortgage dollars extended to borrowers in the third quarter of 2016—the first time...

The Makings of a Viral Story: One Woman, 20 iPhones, 20 Lovers

It's a great story ... if it's true

(Newser) - One woman's personal journey to homeownership in China—which involved 20 iPhone 7s, 20 boyfriends, and some masterful manipulation—has gone viral, with New York Magazine calling it "a move so brilliant ... I can only hope it is real." It doesn't look like it is, but...

Couple Fighting With Verizon Over $2M Bill

Verizon blames glitch, but pair's mortgage company won't sign off on a loan

(Newser) - Nobody likes dealing with bills. Especially really big, incorrect bills. But one couple in Oregon is facing not just a comically large cell phone bill—$2 million for one month of service—but the urgent need to take care of it so that they can qualify for the mortgage on...

Dear US, Make People Pay for Their Own Houses

Government has too many mortgage subsidies, argues New Yorker writer

(Newser) - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced last month they would guarantee mortgages for first-time home buyers who put down only 3%. It's another move by the US government to encourage homeownership—along with tax breaks, mortgage-interest deductions, property tax write-offs, etc.—and must be a good thing, yes?...

The 3% Mortgage Down Payment Is Back

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac hope to spur homebuying among first-time purchasers

(Newser) - Apparently Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac feel enough time has passed since the subprime mortgage crisis : The government-supported mortgage guarantors say they'll back mortgages with as little as a 3% down payment, CNN Money reports. Both agencies hope to encourage first-time homebuyers who may be having a hard time...

Pricier in 2014: Mortgages
 Pricier in 2014: Mortgages 
Dec 18, 2013 10:48 AM CST

Pricier in 2014: Mortgages

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac to increase fees

(Newser) - An effort to loosen Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's grip on the mortgage market will come at a price: pricier mortgages. The two announced late Monday that, at the insistence of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, they will increase their fees to borrowers without impeccable credit (designated as those...

Calif. City OK With Seizing Mortgages From Banks

Eminent domain would be used to help Richmond homeowners

(Newser) - Eminent domain is usually used to seize homes from people, but Richmond, California, in the early hours of this morning gave a tentative green light to a plan that would use it to keep people in their homes. In a contentious 4-3 vote, the city council voted to continue pursuing...

Foreclosure Victims Get New Round of Botched Checks

Last month 's checks bounced, so maybe this is progress

(Newser) - The very same institutions that apparently couldn't foreclose on homes properly are having a run of it: Following regulators' $3.6 million settlement with 13 banks, the Federal Reserve told Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to send affected borrowers $247 million, doled out in amounts between $300 and $125,...

Banks Pay for Mortgage Abuse—With Rubber Checks

Company handling settlement didn't deposit money with the bank

(Newser) - It took years for homeowners to get even the relatively small checks afforded them in a $3.6 billion settlement with some of the country's biggest banks over mortgage abuses—and when they finally arrived this week, many of them promptly bounced, the New York Times reports. "Is...

Banks' Bad Behavior Costing Them Big: $100B

Fallout from Libor scandal could push legal tab even higher

(Newser) - Big banks are paying dearly for their recent bad behavior: to the tune of $100 billion and counting, reports the Wall Street Journal . The top four US banks alone have paid $61.3 billion in financial crisis- and mortgage-related settlements over the past three years, and analysts don't expect...

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