Robert J. Bruss, an author, investment expert and syndicated real estate columnist whose advice appeared in newspapers across the country for more than two decades, died Wednesday at his Burlingame, Calif., home, according to Inman News, the Emeryville, Calif., news service that distributes his column. He was 67.
Archive for » September, 2007 «
You played it smart and were cautious. You have a fixed rate mortgage and escrow account for taxes and insurance. Everything is as it should be, NOT. Bankrupt American Home Mortgage is in the news again. This time the funds held in escrow to pay property tax and insurance premiums were frozen by bankruptcy courts. At least that is one of the things we are being told. Mortgage companies pay approximately 60 percent of tax bills through an escrow system, and the treasury department is wondering how escrowed payments got tied up in a bankruptcy.
Category: Archives, Editorial
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Countrywide Financial Corp handled billing and collections for almost 9 million loans at the end of August. The largest U.S. mortgage lender has provided one in five home loans this year. Countrywide has provided assistance on some 35,000 mortgages this year, including modifying terms on 17,000 loans. The federal government is strongly encouraging lenders to work with borrowers most effected by the ARM reset. To date fewer than 1% of the borrowers have had loan terms renegotiated by lenders.
Category: Archives, Editorial
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The U.S. subprime crisis is being felt around the world, regardless of early reports to the contrary. It seems that many early reports were an attempt to buy time, downplaying the seriousness of subprime around the world while banks and investors bought and sold. Here is one take from the International Monetary Fund:
Category: Archives, International, Outside the U.S.
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Another lender is singing the mortgage blues and more mortgage brokers are scrambling. Nationstar Mortgage, the subprime unit of Fortress Investment Group LLC said it is no longer accepting new loan applications from brokers, a signal the lender is winding down operations.
Category: Archives, Job Losses, Lenders
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