Rick Kellow's (dad4_2) Blog

Homebuyers who don't put at least 20 percent down when they purchase a residence usually have to buy private mortgage insurance, or PMI, on that home loan. PMI is a policy that, as a homebuyer, you pay for, but it protects your lender in case you default. In this tax tip: Making your PMI claim Ti...

Federal authorities are investigating Countrywide Financial Corp. for securities fraud, according to media reports. The FBI is in the early stages of an inquiry into whether company officials misrepresented its financial position and the quality of its mortgage loans, The Wall Street Journal firs...

The benchmark mortgage fell back near 6% this week, reversing a big jump over the previous two weeks, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. The national average rate on the 30-year dropped to 6.03% in the week ending Thursday, down from 6.24% a week ago. A year ago, the 30-year, fixed-rate loan averaged...

A Loan Officer died and met St. Peter at the Pearly Gates to present himself for admittance to Heaven.Peter said, "You did a lot of good helping people get into homes and you donated a lot to charity. You even worked on that Habitat house. But you told too many fibs to the underwriters and were v...

Rather than cling to the illusion that they'll get repaid in full, banks should face up to their losses from all those bad mortgages they underwrote, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told bankers Tuesday.It's time to take the losses onto the books, so they and the rest of the economy can mov...

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke called Tuesday for additional action to prevent more distressed homeowners from falling into foreclosure. "This situation calls for a vigorous response," Bernanke said in a speech to a banking group in Florida.Even with some relief efforts under way by indust...

New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo announced an agreement on Monday between his office and Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae under which the two largest purchasers of home loans will buy home mortgages only from those lenders that meet new standards that it is hoped will ensure independent and re...

During the run-up in real estate prices over the last decade, many millenials were either in college or in entry-level jobs, watching helplessly as they were priced out of the market while aging boomers gleefully cashed in their newfound equity and used excess money for real estate speculation, d...

Senate Republicans this week thwarted efforts by their Democratic counterparts to vote on a housing stimulus bill that President Bush said would "bail out lenders and speculators." But that doesn't mean Congress is done trying.Democrats are likely to push ahead on legislation they argue would sof...

Already straining under the housing slump, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are being peppered with increasingly pessimistic forecasts from Wall Street just days before their fourth-quarter earning announcements.Shares of both government-sponsored mortgage companies fell Monday after a major investment...