Mortgages

Only one county in the country–Fairfield, Conn.–will have a higher conforming loan limit in 2012. The ceiling in the other 3,200-plus counties will remain unchanged.

For the third consecutive month, builders in California pulled an increasing number of permits compared to the previous year.

Americans' confidence in their future retirement lifestyle reached a four-year low according to Sun Life Financial's Unretirement Index.Only 23% of those surveyed felt very confident they will be able to meet their basic living expenses in retirement. In the 2010 study, this number was 42%. Furthermore, one in five feel they will never be able to retire.

With the current low interest rate environment, a financial planner is saying unorthodox income-planning strategies need to be considered, such as using IRA or 401(k) funds sooner in the retirement timeframe to avoid drawing on Social Security benefits earlier than necessary.

Innkeepers USA Trust has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy by completing the sale of 64 of its hotels to a joint venture between the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management and the real estate investment trust Chatham Lodging Trust.

Wells Fargo is donating $1.2 million in real estate owned properties and $600,000 in cash to the nonprofit organization Rebuilding Together to help stabilize distressed housing markets.

Fitch Ratings has lowered the default rating from BBB+ to BBB for Washington Federal Savings, the savings and loan subsidiary of Washington Federal Inc.

Single-family originations by commercial banks and savings institutions jumped almost 17% in the third quarter from the prior period, but compared to a year ago production is down 23%, according to new figures released by the FDIC.

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded 16 private-label HECM reverse mortgage-backed securities from 12 deals in a move that affects $5 billion in bonds.

Awareness to the negative equity problem faced by millions of borrowers and their lenders continues to concern market insiders as they strive to come up with solutions that can help ease the setback. It is the goal of the new Home Affordable Refinance Program and some insurers whose products offer some degree of protection as an added incentive to homeowners interested in refinancing or taking on a new mortgage.

When a potential homebuyer is looking for a house, many variables are taken into account, but generally “location, location, location” are the top three. This becomes an especially important consideration if the family involved has children who will be attending public school.

Weak overall improvements in the delinquency and foreclosure rate during the third quarter point to weak near-future improvement expectations.

All of the 12 national banks under regulatory orders to correct their servicing and foreclosure procedures are making progress in that regard, according to an interim report released Tuesday by the Comptroller of the Currency.

Carrington Mortgage Services, Santa Ana, Calif., this week announced that it has hired Brad Nease as senior vice president in charge of capital markets.

Lennar Corp. is proposing to sell $300 million in debt, and possible uses of the proceeds include purchasing distressed portfolios of mortgage loans and foreclosed real estate.

Big banks are fleeing the reverse mortgage industry, leaving specialty lenders with more business than they know what to do with.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has reached a settlement with Wells Investment Securities Inc., where the latter will pay a $300,000 fine for using misleading marketing materials in the sale of Wells Timberland REIT Inc., a non-traded real estate investment trust.

For the second straight week, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program has terminated more alleged fraudulent online mortgage modification scams that prey on vulnerable homeowners.

A whistleblower lawsuit filed by two mortgage brokers has been unsealed in Federal District Court in Atlanta claiming that 13 banks and mortgage companies have cheated veterans out of hundreds of millions of dollars.

We all give thanks for many things on Thanksgiving, but do you who are owners and managers show your employees some gratitude for all the hard work they do for your business?