Loan modification programs - all of which, until now, have focused on those who are delinquent - have been talked about ad nauseam on discussion boards and in the comments sections of blogs all across the real estate “blogosphere.” Many have become so fed up that they’re ready to dismiss the entire country as one [...]

For those who didn’t hear of the news yesterday that the Federal Reserve plans on pumping $1.2 trillion in the U.S. economy, let me assure you that this is BIG news. It was no surprise that the Federal Open Market Committee kept the federal funds rate at .25%, and economists expect that rate to stay [...]

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, didn’t heed warnings by the Bush administration in 2003 when they said that something was amiss at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He proved short-sighted again in 2005 when John McCain and others put forth a bill for stricter lending practices from [...]

Everything to do with mortgage loans is a hot topic these days. From the three consecutive weeks of lower rates for the 30-year fixed rate mortgage, to the collapse of mortgage companies and the federal stewardship of formerly quasi-public companies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, mortgages have gotten almost as much play in the media [...]

Forgive me for being a bit late to post on this topic, but given that the news was announced on New Year’s Eve and I, like most of the western world, was celebrating the coming of 2009 (or, more to the point, a good riddance to 2008), perhaps my tardiness is understandable.
The long and short [...]

I’ll readily admit that Christmas, once such a major event for me as a child, has lost a bit of its gleam. I don’t want to be a scrooge, but it’s just not as fun as an adult. Really, most of what I’ve done (and will be doing) over the next few days, including today, [...]

Mortgage rates dropped again last week, with the 30-Year fixed mortgage rate falling to 5.53% as of last Friday. Call it “good news week” here at the Blevins Wist Maryland real estate blog. Perhaps I just can’t help myself after choosing (or being forced) to write about just about nothing but the bad news that [...]

Plans abound to “save” the U.S. housing market, from those put forth by the National Assocation of Home Builders that call for drastic mortgage rate buydowns and tax credits to the “Four Point Plan” of the National Assocation of Realtors. But rumors and aggressive lobbying seem to be turning into a plan with some legs [...]

I read the paper version of the - well, newspaper - today; the Baltimore Sun to be exact. In the real estate section, I read a short article about the various loan modification programs being offered by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and, on a much more responsible level that DOESN’T induce people to become deadbeats, [...]

How’s that for a headline? And I’m not grasping at straws here either. The two headlines that immediately caught my attention on this fine morning focused on the fact that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will be suspending foreclosures through January 9, 2009. Call it an early holiday gift and, even though it’s really not [...]