Why didn’t the mortgage banks just lower their rates?

The government is planning to spend billions to help homeowners get their homes refinanced at a lower rate so they won’t go into foreclosure. Why didn’t the banks who held the foreclosed properties offer to refinance a year ago rather than get stuck with houses even they can’t sell? I don’t understand why they didn’t do this? Can someone explain it to me?

Are you gonna take advantage of the housing stimulus package from the government?

How many people right here on yahoo answers are going to apply for the bailout for homeowners? Please state the political party you identify with and what tax income bracket you are in.

Please do not state whether you agree with it or not. I am not interested in those answers because that is not the question.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/03/04/guidelines-will-spell-out-homeowner-bailout/

President Barack Obama promised the guidelines would be released on March 4 when he unveiled his proposal to help keep up to nine million people in their homes at a housing event in Arizona last month.

The officials said the guidelines will include tests to help banks figure out whether individuals homeowners who are “underwater,” or have homes that are valued less than the mortgage, can be saved by the president’s $75 billion loan modification program.

Under the administration’s plan, those homeowners considered viable under the new guidelines could have monthly housing payments lowered to 31 percent of their gross monthly income to help prevent foreclosure.

The plan aims to help a second group of homeowners in danger of facing foreclosure who do not currently have enough equity in their homes to take advantage of historically low interest rates through refinancing. Only people who received their mortgages through Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac — about 40 percent of homeowners — are eligible for this part of the plan.

According to the officials, these homeowners normally can usually refinance only with a loan-to-value rate of 80 percent, so that there is at least 20 percent equity in the home. Given that many of these homeowners have dramatically lost equity, they will now be eligible for refinancing at a loan-to-value percent of up to 105 percent, according to the officials.

National sales are down 0.04% and house foreclosures ar up 34%, so how long do we have to be bled by Obama`s..?

failed economic ideas before it sinks into his head and that of his Democrat controlled government that their trillions of tax spending venture is a total failure?

How is Florida real estate getting better?

Florida is one of the states most affected by the mortgage crisis. The most accessible loans available in this market are FHA loans. After qualifying for an FHA loan I initially thought the difficult part of being a first time home buyer was behind me. However, it would seem that the journey has just begun.

Most communities do not meet the requirements for FHA approval. The most common reason is the high foreclosure rate. The community of interest must also be current on HOA fees, there must be a certain percentage of home owners to investors and other such conditions must be met for an FHA approval. With all these regulations and restrictions associated with an FHA loan it is not difficult to imagine that even this type of loan may become obsolete. The dilemma now is not whether you will exceed your budget but whether the available homes within your budget will qualify for the loan type.

With all fairness I am obligated to mention that conventional loans or cash sales do contribute to recent sales. The requirements for a conventional loan in Florida are not realistic. Where some borrowers may be able to contribute 10% down payment the newly required 25% down payment to say the least is a stretch on nearly anyone’s budget not to mention the budget of a typical first time home buyer.

Investor are buying at extremely low prices with cash and conventional loans. FHA loans cannot compete with these investors due to all of the restrictions and rules that they must adhere to. The increasing of number purchases by investors in a neighborhood/community further limits opportunities available to FHA first time home buyers. As a result investors and not “home owners” are benefiting from the low market rates.

I have concluded from my observations that the so called homes sales increase doesn’t fully disclose the underlying problem. The true rate of available homes and foreclosures properties are not represented in the market. Banks are slowly trickling inventory into the market while the excess or “ghost inventory” remains hidden in their vaults in an effort to manipulate market values.

I have also noticed another disturbing trend. Yes, single family homes, townhouses and condos are at an all time low. However, where FHA approval is not available home prices are much lower than market values. One would initially think this is in their best interest but these homes are primarily only available to investors due to requirements and restrictions placed on FHA loans. Where homes are FHA approved this results in homes being listed and maintaining the inflated prices. The limited homes available especially ones built in 2005 and 2006 are in high demand. As a result a new type of bidding war is ensues. Potential home owners of low to moderate income cannot compete with investors of whom recent sales can be attribute to.

I expect home prices will continue to fall. Do you predict a change in the way the real estate market and lenders addresses these new issues and it’s direct connection to lower home prices? Do you think the government will relax some of the FHA regulation to combat these issues? (which in itself has pros and cons associated with the outcome for home buyers). Finally do your foresee a new program/stimulus that will assist first time home buyers in the near future once this $8,000 tax credit expires?
I live in Pompano beach area. I thinking of buying in palm beach county. That market is over saturated with town homes and condos…. Over saturation can be a good or bad thing.

bank of america loan modifications?

Can I find out any info on line on Bank of america if they processed my loan modification yet? I am getting sick of calling them. Thanks

bank of america has put me through modification hell. What are my options?

if I have been unsuccessful with bank of america getting a loan modification, what are my other options?

Do I have to pay taxes on a short sale in california on a home!?

we are saling it for 350K less than what we owe, who pays taxes? I heard that we would get 1099. thats allot of money we’d have to come up with. We can’t pay it! anyway to get out of it? or do we really have to pay it?

Can I use an FHA loan to purchase or finance a short sale in California?

I want to refinance from a balloon to a 15 year fixed rate mortgage?

I live in Saginaw, Michigan.
The house is supposed to be worth $95k.
I still owe $68k.
I refinanced already twice and didn’t have to pay PMI because the first mortgage was a VA loan.
Will I have to pay PMI this time, and what lender should I choose?
The balloon mortgage is due in september 2010.

can I get a better rate if I use a VA loan to purchase a home?

do mortgage companies give a break to veterans? I am retired, have fair credit, but want to mimimze my monthly payments on a 30 yr fixed loan.

If you stop one foreclosure auction how long do you have till they start the next auction in the state of CA?

I really need to find out because I thought it was 60 days before they could proceed with the next auction but WF bank is telling me that is 30 days. If anybody knows what are the regulations are in the state of California please let me know and please let me know where I could find this information!
Thanks

how to do stop a foreclosure from occurring?

If any of you were unfortunately in a forclosure situation, could you give me any insight as to what you did to resolve your problems? Thanks so much

How to get contact information of the Short Sale in charge at bank?

Hi Friends,

I am a potential home buyer. I put offer on one of the Short Sale home and I think the bank/lender is Countrywide bank.
It’s been more than 2 weeks but I didn’t heard any think from Bank or their agent. Is it possible to get the contact information of the person who is in change for this house? if yes then how? I am in PA.
MP

Countrywide/BA is purposefully dragging their feet on a short sale on my house. What do?

The house is in foreclosure for 18 months now, we have another short sale buyer, but the bank is purposefully dragging their feet and not allowing me to move on and put it behind me. What can I do here? What do I have to do to get them to put this short sale through? Why in the world are they purposefully dragging their feet? They are doing very unethical things like losing all the contract paperwork, not documenting phone calls, and dragging it out forever it seems. We owe 300k and the buyer offered 280k. What do I have to do to end this nightmare?

Does anyone know why Countrywide would transfer offer to another location?

My husband and I put an offer in on a house that was a short sale back on Jan. 6th of this year. Of course we still don’t have an answer yet, but our agent has been calling the sellers agent about every week ( who has been calling countrywide) to check to see if we have an answer. Yesterday our agent told us that Countrywide transferred our offer to another location. Does anyone know why they would do this? Is that a good thing or bad thing? It is still with Countrywide, but just another location, possibly a closer location. And does anyone know what we can do as buyers to hurry up the process so we can get an answer?

Short Sale 2nd Lender told us 8-10 days?

If the 2nd lender (CountryWide/BofA) says they will have a decsion in 8-10 days should we beleive them?
The first lender approved already but the approval is good up to August 3rd. So, on July 8th the 2nd lender said 8-10 days they will have approval.

what does it mean when a home is a pre-foreclosure home?

So let’s say there’s 29,750 remaining on the mortgage (for a 3 bed 2.5 bath @ 545/mth). It states to talke over the existing mortgage payments. No money down. Is this too good to be true. Only pay $454 a month on a home like this until it’s paid off? Please help with explaining how to take over a foreclosure home. Thanks.

What do I need to know/do to get into the home foreclosure market???

Are there any “free” sites out there to get information? If it is a “courthouse” sale, will there be a minimum amount of money I’ll have to pay? Can I buy it before the auction? How would I go about that? Please help! I am a very confused single, middle-aged woman with limited resources! I could afford to pay 20-25 percent down. I just don’t want to get ripped off!

I’m interested in becoming a vet tech. Can anyone can give tips on how to get observation hours from a vet?

I’ve emailed a few places and still haven’t heard back from them. I’m currently enrolled in a community college but just getting my general courses done. I’m planning to go to Brevard Community College in cocoa beach, fl.

How do you save to a PDF?

We received your transcript from Brevard Community College on March 25, but, for some reason, it didn’t include your fall grades. Would you please save a copy of your BCC degree audit as a .pdf file and email it to me?

I need to do that ^ lol but idk what it means!
I have Mico2003