Loan Think

On Friday morning when the world sees the Treasury Department's 'white paper' on restructuring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, citizens may ponder whether President Obama has switched political stripes. As one mortgage analyst told us: "The government is basically walking away from housing — except for FHA."

In our past few articles, we have been discussing the one sentence that will generate more clients for you. Here’s the sentence: People will do anything for those who encourage their dreams, justify their failures, allay their fears, confirm their suspicions and help them throw rocks at their enemies.

Yesterday, Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J. stunned the mortgage industry when he made a speech in Florida calling on the Obama administration to speed up the sale of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's mortgage portfolios to capture "unrealized gains" on these assets. Okay, maybe it wasn't such a stunner.

Part of the routine for outside mortgage sales staff is to drive to open houses, to meet with their clients, to the offices of their referral sources, etc.

We're about to test the two theorems of rising mortgage rates. One concept says that when rates rise (as rapidly as they have since early December) that new applications dry up — and fast. The other theory (the one promoted by optimists) is that rising rates spur home buyers sitting on the fence to apply because they fear that rates will rise even more and want to lock in now.

On Jan. 28, Federal Housing Administration Commissioner David H. Stevens extended the temporary waiver of the agency's "anti-flipping rule." The extension is intended to accelerate the resale of foreclosed upon homes in neighborhoods struggling to overcome possible property abandonment and blight.

THIS JUST IN No. 1: Here's an addendum to our “Obama GSE Plan” story below: The White House will unveil three options for government involvement in the secondary mortgage market. One could mandate that no low-income aide will be provided to homeowners unless it comes through the Federal Housing Administration…

I would hope that Dave Stevens has the ability to hire a lot more workers at Federal Housing Administration because if certain regulators get their way, his government insurer may soon be swamped with a flood of new business.

Personal energy is the only real asset that you have and you must protect it fearlessly. Unlike your car’s need for fuel, your personal need for energy is very complicated. The consequence of running low on personal energy is very damaging to your life.

Mortgage rates fell like a rock in Q4, that is, until early December. Now lenders (and consumers) are facing a benchmark 10-year Treasury that on Thursday morning was yielding north of 3.5%. Still, it should be pointed out that servicing balances at yearend were strong (according to preliminary 4Q figures compiled by National Mortgage News' Quarterly Data Report) with many firms reporting gains in their receivables.