Tagged : atlanta mortgage

NY Times reporter, David Leonhardt, shares some interesting insight on the connection (or disconnect) between Mortgage Rates and Home Prices.

Not really, David.

The market, for all it's recent folly, is a generally rational experience. And buyers, for all the talk of the "emotional purchase", make rational distinctions.  For instance: The price is how much I pay for a house. The interest rate is how much I pay for financing.

In today's REO (bank owned) driven market -- many buyers pay cash. Would a…

FHA announced this week it will seek to implement changes to current policies.  These changes are all restrictive and have a significant impact on the real estate buying public.  

You can read all about the changes here: FHA Announces Policy Changes to Address Risk and Strengthen Finances 

For those less inclined to sift through all the beauracracy ... here's a quick snapshot:

• The upfront mortgage insurance premium will increase by 0.5% from 1.75% to 2.25%
• The maximum seller concessions will decrease from 6% of the sales price to 3% of the sales price
• There are some credit score/LTV limitations that should not affect “A” paper lenders

When Do The Changes Go Into Effect?

FHA will issue a notice and have a comment period on most of the items…

It's worth taking a look at this recent Wall Street Journal interview with Real Estate expert John L. Burns.

Mr. Burns confirms a lot of what I've been predicting for months now for the 2010-2011 Atlanta real estate market.

In the video he explains why FHA loans and migth contribute to a prolonged recovery.

Here are a few reasons why 2010 will not be the year of recovery:

**We are likely to see what economists refer to as a ‘W’ shaped recovery…recent news and the surrounding economic environment supports us being in the first leg of the "W"… going up (only to come back down in 2010)

**FHA, with it's monstor growth (2% of the market in 2007 to over 23% right now), has become the new ’sub-prime’

**Without continued government intervention (tax…

Ok. So we all have some idea how we got here, right? We've all heard the terms at least. Credit crisis. Subprime mortgages. Foreclosure. Securitized debt. Bernanke. AIG. Leyman Brothers. Wall Street. Main Street. Greenspan. Federal Reserve. Treasury. Under water. Credit Default Swaps. Meltdown. Crisis. National Debt. GDP. Recession. Depression.

But just how did we get here?

And how why exactly has the entire economy suffered so much at the hands of this Credit Crisis?

Check out the Video below where it's all explained in just shy of 11 minutes:

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Banks vs. Mortgage Brokers

If you're in the market to buy a home...likely, you're also in the market to find the right mortgage to finance that home.  It's important to know there are huge variations between mortgage brokers and bank loan officers.

Atlanta Bank Loan Officers

Loan officers at a credit union, bank or large lending houses (ie. Wells Fargo, Bank of America) are employed by those institutions and, hence, work to sell the loan and mortgage products offered by their employer.  Many of these institutions have a large selection of loan types to select from but it's important to note that all of those loans "originate" from one source.

Atlanta Mortgage Brokers

Much like real estate agents, mortgage brokers act a "freelance" agents who are…