Applications for U.S. home mortgages, as reported by CNBC, fell to its second-lowest level of the year last week as interest rates rose, as the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said in its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity.
Name the category …. none of it is positive:

The number of applications for mortgages fell 7.8 percent […]

The news is certainly not good these days. The beginning of 2008 has not been pretty. Perhaps we can find a niche’ or some sort of viable approach that gets us the credit needed to move forward and do deals. 
I always believe that information is power, so here it is … unedited and unfettered …. 
As reported by Rex Nutting, Washington […]

So, is it time yet for optimism in the residential housing market?
Thinking of buying a house? Looking to refinance your current mortgage? Is this the right time? These are the big questions of the day that everyone has been asking.
We at www.MylesTitle.com  and www.MarylandCommercialTitle.com sure hope so. Like us, you — the banker, builder, […]

Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (otherwise know as “RESPA”) reform is back, and in a big way. On Friday, March 14, 2008, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) published its proposed regulations to reform RESPA. 
Ironically, HUD partially titles its rule a “Proposed Rule to Simplify and Improve the Process of Obtaining […]

As reported in the Baltimore Business Journal today, Fannie Mae – the Washington, D.C.-based mortgage giant – is setting new rules about what mortgages it will buy.
These new underwriting guidelines will have a huge impact on the number of people who will get loans and the amount of business that flows through the real estate, banking, […]

There just may be an even scarier phenomenon approaching us on the financial and real estate horizon: HELOC’s.
Recently HoweStreet.com made several very interesting comments, in response to The New York Times’ enlightening article: Home Equity Loans as Next Round in Credit Crisis.
We at MarylandCommercialTitle.com believe that information is power. We hope you agree. These are […]

The Maryland Daily Record just reported that “a bill that would allow Maryland banks to collect closing costs from customers who pay off loans early moved closer to final passage … after a contentious debate.” Apparently there’s no free lunch. It makes sense, but is is legal? It will be, if this piece of legislation […]

This is a historic time, in our financial markets. Americans’ percentage of equity in their homes fell below 50 percent for the first time on record since 1945, as reported on CNBC today.

Homeowners’ portion of equity slipped to downwardly revised 49.6 percent in the second quarter of 2007, the central bank reported in its quarterly […]

HUD has just released the new loan limits, as mandated by the Economic Stimulus Package of 2008.  This will immediately affect the Jumbo Residential marketplace.

FHA and the GSE’s can temporarily increase loan limits and insure larger mortgages at a more affordable price in high cost areas of the country.  Here’s the link to see for yourself. […]

Inman News reports of a newfangled and unique way to tap home equity. Warning: This is most definitely not for everyone. Where else would such a plan be hatched? You got it — San Francisco!
No, it’s not a reverse mortgage, but it sort of (kind of) looks like it. They bill it as an equity […]