Category Archives: Mortgage Information

California State Senate Votes to Extend Mortgage Law

Posted on January 29, 2012 | Leave a comment

California lawmakers have voted to extend a law passed during the peak of the mortgage crisis that provides added protections for property owners, renters and neighbors of foreclosed properties.

The law passed in 2008 says foreclosure proceedings can’t begin until the lender has tried for 30 days to work out alternatives with the delinquent homeowner. Lenders also must notify renters that they are beginning foreclosure proceedings. And they must give renters 60 days’ notice before evicting them from a foreclosed property.

They also are required to maintain vacant foreclosed houses or risk fines up to $1,000 a day.

The law was set to expire after this year, but senators voted Monday to extend it another five years, through 2017.

Senators unanimously approved a second bill, this one designed to prevent the California Housing Finance Agency from foreclosing on certain borrowers who rent out their homes.

The prohibition is limited to homeowners who are current on their mortgage payments, but rent out their homes because they owe more than their house is worth. The bill’s author, Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, said it is designed to help property owners who find themselves in financial trouble because of circumstances like a lost job or growing family, and is not aimed at helping housing market speculators.

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

What is an AMC? – Appraisal Managment Company

Posted on January 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

Ever had an appraiser come to your place from a different county; sometimes 100+ miles away? or It has been reported that the appraiser signing the appraisal was not the person that showed up to your home?

Ever wonder why you were charged $500 for the appraisal but the appraiser only received $200?

WASHINGTON — The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is working on a real estate issue that gets to the core of the agency’s purpose: Bringing clarity and better disclosures about the often opaque and costly fees that homebuyers, sellers and refinancers are hit with at closings.

One of the disclosures now under review might surprise you: appraisal charges. Why do they need clarifying? Doesn’t just about everybody who applies for a mortgage, whether it’s to buy a house or refinance, have to pay $450 to $600 — sometimes more — to find out what the property is worth?

Read entire article at: http://www.telegram.com/article/20120126/COLUMN69/120129842/1002/business

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only.

Banks Accept Mortgage Reforms

Posted on January 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

$25B nationwide mortgage deal goes to states

The nation’s five largest mortgage lenders have agreed to overhaul their industry after deceptive foreclosure practices drove homeowners out of their homes, government officials said Monday.

A draft settlement between the banks and U.S. states has been sent to state officials for review.

Those who lost their homes to foreclosure are unlikely to get their homes back or benefit much financially from the settlement, which could be as high as $25 billion. About 750,000 Americans – about half of the households who might be eligible for assistance under the deal – will likely receive checks for about $1,800.