According to HUD, the sum of all fees and charges from origination-related services required as part of the good faith estimate “will most often exceed the specific origination fee caps set for government programs.”

Without the cap, some consumer advocacy groups argue the fees charged to borrowers for government-backed loans could rise too much, but HUD says it expects competition among lenders to temper excessive increases.

The new RESPA rule standardizes the good faith estimate provided to applicants detailing mortgage terms and closing costs, making it possible for the first time for consumers to compare fees charged by different lenders and shop around for the best possible deal.

HUD says FHA will also be monitoring lenders to ensure the fees charged for origination services are “fair and reasonable.”

The agency also stressed that the FHA commissioner still has the authority to set future limits on the amount lenders can charge borrowers for obtaining a government-insured loan and indicated that additional guidance on origination fees would be forthcoming.

This is a great idea due to falling values. If a loan originator provided financing on a property that cost $30k, they would only make $300 and they would work as hard if not harder than they would if it was a $150k house. Now originators will be more willing to finance lower priced homes and give the same level of service to all.

My team member Natasha sent this over this morning and I thought it was an excellent visual. I will have to use this one in class.

Foreclosed homes for sale in lower-income Chicago neighborhoods may again be snapped up by speculators, according to community advocates.

These advocates fear that cash-rich speculators would only be concerned about getting back returns on their investments in a few years when prices go up and would not be concerned about maintaining them to preserve neighborhoods.

In lower-income communities in Chicago, home prices have fallen so low that buying foreclosed homes in bulk has become easier for investors with cash. City officials have been facing difficulties finding the owners of vacant foreclosed properties and forcing them to maintain the properties to prevent blight.

Foreclosure analyst Geoff Smith contended that foreclosures will continue to pummel Chicago neighborhoods in 2010 because of lack of jobs and decline in home values. Other analysts said that foreclosures will continue to clobber African American neighborhoods in the southern and western parts of the city.

According to Woodstock Institute researchers, foreclosure postings in Chicago have been rising since 2005 when there were 7,449 filings. In 2009, foreclosures soared sharply to 20,592, with almost 15,000 filings in the first three quarters of the year.

In the six counties that comprise the Chicago metro area, foreclosures sharply increased from 21,252 filings in 2005 to nearly 58,000 filings in 2009, with more than 46,000 filings occurring in the first three quarters of the year.

Smith of Woodstock Institute explained that while the rise in foreclosed homes for sale at the beginning of the housing crisis was due to subprime lending, the increase in foreclosures in the latter part of 2009 was largely due to unemployment and the sharp decline in property values.

In the Chicago metro area, the jobless rate in November 2009 hit 10.3 percent, a sharp rise from the November 2008 rate of only 6.3 percent. Smith contended that unless the unemployment situation improves, foreclosures will continue to batter Chicago.

Additionally, an improvement in employment will not immediately translate into sharp drops in foreclosure filings because there is a time lag between employment and the restoration of mortgages into current status.

Home values are also expected to decline further, according to economist Geoff Hewings who also heads the University of Illinois Regional Economics Applications Laboratory.

In metro Chicago, median home prices dropped by more than 18 percent over a 12-month period. Hewings predicted that home prices will drop further by another 4.4 percent, prompting concerns about speculators buying in bulk cheap foreclosed homes for sale in the lower-income communities of Chicago.

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I have had much debate with homeowners over the past few weeks who still want to price their homes to high in todays market place. Foreclosure rates are going to soar in the first half of 2010 and this will increase our supply of properties in Chicago, while FHA(lenders) has implemented new credit guidelines and lenders are remaining closed handed with the money. Economics 101, supply and demand, price it to sell or wait to sell.

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Didn't know that there was 171 Wordpress Plugins. Now I can update out site.

This is a great way to implement technology into your business. I must try out doing a TwitterView. As a business owner you must connect with your customers where they are (on the Internet).

I'm glad that they offer multiple times to enjoy their training. I will be in Virtual REBAR on Monday but i think I will squeeze one of their sessions in on Tuesday.

Mortgage rates have been declining in concert with falling interest rates on long-term Treasury bonds. The situation in the mortgage market facilitates the plans of home buyers, who can find 30-year fixed rate at 5.08% (as of 12/17/09). However, there is no guarantee that these rates will last. The mortgage market is highly fluctuating and a possible rebound in long-term Treasury yields is likely to cause mortgage rates to increase again.

If you worry about a mortgage rate spike before you can find a new property, there are ways to hedge against this probability provided you realize that if mortgage rates rise considerably, you may end up ‘trapped’ in your property. When mortgage rates are so low, consumers do not sell their properties until their mortgage matures. Although the solutions available may not the simplest, they are worth considering because they can save you from the cost of even a slight rate change, which can be a lot of money on an amount of $200,000 mortgage.

In particular:

a)      Investing in index funds that track long-term interest rates

There are several exchange-traded funds that track long-term interest rates. One of the most commonly known ETFs and the most successful ones that track long-term interest rates is the ProShares Short 20+ Year Treasury fund (TBF).  This ETF calculates daily returns of an index that can be equal to 200%. Due to the compounding of daily returns, your returns over a period of time may differ in amount from the target return. Therefore, you need to monitor your ProShares investments on a daily basis to make sure they are consistent with your investment profile and strategies. ProShares Short 20+ Year Treasury fund (TBF) can be purchased on the stock market like shares.

Another successful ETF is the Rydex Inverse Government Long Bond Strategy mutual fund (RYJUX). This ETF is inversely correlated to the price movements of long-term Treasury bonds and seeks total returns before expenses and costs. Through investment to a significant umber of derivatives including futures, options and interest rate swaps, the Rydex Inverse Government Long Bond Strategy mutual fund focuses on financial instruments that perform opposite to fixed-income securities.

b)      Investing in call options of index funds

ProShares Short 20+ Year Treasury fund is highly volatile because it tracks daily moves rather than long-term moves. Its high volatility may double the market up but it may also double the market down. This means that, in case of a mortgage rate spike before you find a new house, you may save money on the mortgage, but will lose money on the ETFs.

A very good alternative is investing in call options of these funds.

By purchasing call options on an ETF, you actually purchase a sort of insurance if mortgage skyrocket out of the blue.

To illustrate better, we assume that today with 30-year Treasury rates a 4.375% (as of 12/19/09), the ProShares Short 20+ Year Treasury fund (TBF) has a net asset value of $49.22 per share (as of 12/18/09). However, for $1.20 per share you can buy a $50 call option on the TBF anytime between December and March that allows you to buy the fund at $50 between December and March. This means that, having the right to buy the fund at $50 per share, even if mortgage rates rise over the next months, and the TBF increases to $60 from $49.22 per share, you will have a profit of $10.78 per share minus the $1.20 that you gave to buy the call option.

As it is impossible to know the correlation between long-term Treasury rate and the price of TBF in the future, buying a call option is a good strategy to trade off the possible losses from tracking daily performance.

c)       Understand your budget

To properly evaluate the impact of a mortgage rate spike on your finances, it is extremely important to understand how you are spending your money. Setting up a budget in Excel or using a financial planning software will enable you to list all your expenses and keep track of your finances. In doing so, you will be able to see how an increase in mortgage rates affects each item in your household budget and what changes you need to make to lower your basic costs.

d)      Consider debt consolidation

Debt consolidation is another possibility when mortgage rates are on the rise. The aim is to lower the interest expenses by consolidating your debt payments and putting your debt payments and salary payments in sync. For instance, if you’re paid weekly, arrange to have your mortgage paid on a weekly basis so that you reduce your total interest costs and boost your cash power. Besides, you may consider a high-interest savings account rather than a regular bank account to ensure more cash.

Major considerations

Lower mortgage rates actually translate into less of a safety net.  Currently, homeowners have less equity in their properties because they are using it to borrow it to take advantage of the lower mortgage rates. However, this is likely to lead in a higher debt than their properties’ real value. Besides, even if their first mortgage is controllable, there is always a risk involved in paying the additional costs of refinancing.

As the integrity of prime mortgages deteriorates, the pool of money where borrowers can draw from becomes smaller, making it harder for consumers to get loans. Therefore, although the mortgage rates are low, the cost of loans is directly proportionate to the increase in defaults, enabling fewer people to refinance their taxing existing mortgages. This situation creates a chain reaction of events including foreclosures, lower property prices, crumbling equity, and a growing number of prime mortgage defaults.

In conclusion, there is no strategy that can offer 100% protection against a mortgage rate spike. However, there are always solutions provided you are prepared and well-informed. Questioning your spending habits is a good start to protect yourself from a cycle of increasing mortgage rates. The more careful your financial planning is today, the better positioned you will be to cope with a future mortgage rate spike as it comes.

Sources:

http://quote.bloomberg.com/markets/rates/keyrates.html

http://quote.bloomberg.com/markets/rates/index.html

http://www.proshares.com/funds/tbf.html

Christina Pomoni has acquired her MBA Finance from the American College of Greece. Her advanced familiarity with financial statement analysis, capital budgeting and market research has been acquired through her professional career at high-esteemed organizations. As part of her long journey, Christina has served as an Equity Research Associate at Telesis Securities (EFG Eurobank) and a Financial & Investment Advisor at ING Group. Besides, having lived at Chicago, IL, Boca Raton, FL and Paris, France has helped her, not only to be a successful professional, but mostly to see life under a more creative and innovative perspective.

Since 2005, Christina provides high quality writing services to numerous websites and research companies contributing her knowledge and expertise. Her areas of specialization are Business, Finance & Investment, Society, Politics & Culture. She also has a very good knowledge of Entertainment, Health & Fitness and Computers & Technology.

Christina currently designs the website of her own writing company. Believing that knowledge is the road to opportunity and development, her mission is to promote her already established knowledge to a growing number of visitors and to provide high quality writing services to meet the most demanding customer requirements.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/mortgage-articles/how-to-protect-your-finances-from-a-mortgage-rate-spike-1656660.html

I like sound advice that doesn't make promises, plus I learned about call options of index funds. I