Sam in Reverse

Mortgage rates greatly benefited from headline news yesterday. Around mid-morning we learned that Standard and Poor's had cut Greece's government debt rating all the way down to junk. That is as low as ratings go! Stocks, which have rallied for eight consecutive weeks, sold off sharply on the news. This was a positive for mortgage rates because stock selling led to a "flight to safety" rally in the bond market which pushed benchmark Treasury yields lower and mortgage-backed security prices higher. Gains in the secondary market were large enough to allow lenders to reprice mortgage rate sheets for the better. Mortgage Rates Tip-Toe Around Headline News and Events

Goldman Carries Heavy Burden. One The Mortgage Industry Knows Too Well

Several of the bankers testifying before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday drew a close connection between principal reduction and the impediment to loan modifications posed by the existence of second mortgages. As was  covered in our earlier report , David Lowman, CEO for Home Lending at J.P. Morgan Chase was the most outspoken of the four witnesses on the topic of principal reduction, drawing what several newspapers called "a line in the sand" about what his bank is willing to do in that area. He took a similar tack on second mortgages. First, he stressed that Chase  borrowers were no more likely to be delinquent on second mortgages than on the primary loan .  He said that Chase data shows that 97 percent of borrowers in Chase's $98 billion second lien portfolio are performing on their loans, a percentage that drops only two points when the borrowers have a loan to value (LTV) exceeding 100 percent. See the rest of the article at http://www.mortga

BORROWERS in New York may not be aware of this: They pay some of the highest closing costs in the country, because of a mortgage-recording tax that few other states levy. But depending on the outcome of a lawsuit now being argued in New York Supreme Court, those who obtain mortgages through federal credit unions in the state may be able to avoid that tax, and save thousands of dollars on a purchase or refinancing. Click to read more http://www.nytimes.com/external/gigaom/2010/04/02/02gigaom-10-simple-google-search-tricks-58674.html?src=me&ref=general