The worst is over for the housing market -- at least according to Wall Street.
The government has bailed out Wall Street firms, giant banks, creditors of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- and is trying to bail out people who've defaulted or are about to default on their mortgages. But let's say you're a hardworking family that has done nothing wrong except buy a home when the housing bubble was at its peak a few years ago. Your mortgage is now way underwater, but you're still making payments because you want to stay in your home -- and you're actually honorable. You're paying for everyone else's bailout, but because you have no equity in your house, you can't refinance to take advantage of the ultra-low mortgage rates that Uncle Sam's bailout strategy has produced. To use the technical term, you're being screwed.
Categories: Economy, Interest Rates, Mortgage's, Refinance Tags: bailout, Creditors, Fannie Mae, Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac, freddie mac, Giant Banks, Housing Bubble, Low Mortgage, mortgage rates, Mortgage's, Uncle Sam, Wall Street, Wall Street Firms
The City of Cleveland's long-standing battle to pin its housing woes on Wall Street may have finally gone bust.
In the past decade, Nantucket Island has served as a barometer for the fortunes of Wall Street. The glass cracked after years of unsustainable pressures. But almost by magic, the barometer is rising once more even as something new and unexpected has come to the summer paradise: foreclosures, short sales, failed auctions, and a skinnier municipal budget. And while financiers can cut and run, it's the locals who are being hardest hit.
Categories: Economy, Interest Rates, Mortgage's, Refinance Tags: Auctions, Barometer, Decade, Financiers, foreclosures, Fortunes, Locals, Magic, Municipal Budget, Nantucket Island, Summer Paradise, Wall Street
Predatory lending would likely become a thing of the past if proposed regulatory reform rules are put into practice. And that may mean that mortgages get more expensive and more difficult to get, lenders warn.
Bonuses are making a comeback on Wall Street and that might help stabilize the Manhattan real estate market.
Since the crash, we've gotten used to thinking of real estate as a market shaped by national forces: Interest rates went down, Wall Street and homebuyers went nuts, regulators fell asleep at the switch, and -- voilà -- we had ourselves a bubble.
Categories: Economy, Interest Rates, Mortgage's, Refinance Tags: Boomtown, Crash, Homebuyers, Hometown, Interest Rates, National Forces, Nuts, Real Estate, Regulators, Wall Street
Karen Weaver, global head of Deutsche Bank's securitization research division -- responsible for analyzing credit default swaps, collateralized mortgage obligations, and other exotic Wall Street products -- said last week that 48% of U.S. mortgage owners will end up owing more than their home is worth by 2011.
