News

Officials at the Federal Reserve could not agree whether to raise interest rates this year, according to the minutes of the Fed’s March meeting, released Wednesday.

Here are the Top Five Questions You Need to Ask Yourself Today. This select print feature originally appeared in the March 2015 issue of MReport magazine.

Ocwen also reported that an additional 284,089 borrowers had either started a trial modification or were offered or approved for a trial modification by the end of Q4. These were Ocwen's self-reported numbers and they have not been credited by the monitor as of yet.

The federal judge overseeing a $189 million mortgage insurance lawsuit against Wells Fargo admonished prosecutors Tuesday for dumping millions of documents on the bank so late in the process, making good on an earlier warning against using dumping tactics in the case.

Bidders must meet qualifications set forth by FHFA. In early March, FHFA issued enhanced requirements for the buyers and servicers of Agency non-performing loans that call for bidders to identify servicing partners at the time of qualification and complete a questionnaire to demonstrate a record of successful loan resolution through foreclosure alternatives, since many of the loans being sold in these portfolios are deeply delinquent – two years or more delinquent in some cases.

Smoke determined the 20 hottest housing markets in the nation based on the number of listing views relative to the number of listings when looking at March data and website traffic. Realtor.com said these markets should see plenty of activity in the next few months as homebuying season gets underway.

In a recent posting on Freddie’s blog, Boyle encourages mortgage seekers to keep in mind the “four Cs” ‒‒ the main four things lenders look at when deciding whether to write a loan. First there is the borrower’s capacity to repay the loan.

According to the report, home prices were up 5.6 percent nationwide compared to February 2014. Month-over-month, home prices nationwide increased by 1.1 percent, compared to January.

The effects of the contemporary lending environment are rather significant. According to the institute, if the “cautious” credit standards of 2001 were in place in 2013, rather than that year’s “severe” standards, an additional 1.25 million loans would have been made in 2013.

The optimism expressed by consumers toward the economy and the housing market at the beginning of the year has stalled as consumers' attitudes toward personal finances and wage growth have taken a step backward, according to Fannie Mae's March 2015 Housing Survey released Tuesday. Whereas February's survey showed that consumer optimism toward the economy was at an all-time high, March's survey painted a different picture.