Posts Tagged ‘credit’Keepin’ It Real Estate: The Fed Loses the Mortgage-Rate Battle?This post first appeared on Minyanville. Despite the best efforts of the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department, the free market is winning the battle over mortgage rates. Tens of trillions of dollars in support for the financial system can’t change the stark reality: Giving out home loans remains risky business. Borrowers looking to take [...] Fannie, Freddie to Steal Banks’ Crutches?By ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. With mortgage rates at historic lows, housing prices plummeting, and Washington throwing billions at housing-market recovery efforts, why is it still so damn hard to get a loan? And while the easy answer is that banks are flat-out broke, the real answer may lie in an [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Going Green on Uncle Sam’s DimeThis post first appeared on Minyanville. It’s starting to make economic sense to go green. Last summer, with gas prices topping $4 per gallon and commodities of all kinds becoming more expensive, renewable energy advocates thought their day in sun — so to speak — had finally arrived. Investors flocked to industry leaders like First [...] Americans to More Debt: Talk to the HandBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. Washington just doesn’t get it: We don’t want more debt. While congressmen berating bank CEOs for their unwillingness to lend out their bailout money makes for a nice media clip, it reflects the growing disconnect between our elected officials and any semblance of reality. Not that [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: What’s My Mortgage Worth?This post first appeared on Minyanville. As the debate rages about whether or not we’re finally approaching a floor in home prices, let’s examine the value of another asset: The mortgage. When considering a home-buying transaction, buyers (and sellers) typically worry most about the value of the house. Lenders, on the other hand, are much [...] Fannie, Freddie Jump on GrenadeThis post first appeared on Minyanville. For anyone wondering where the billions of dollars in worthless mortgage-backed securities will wind up, look no further: The mirror. Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE), the formerly quasi-public, now taxpayer-owned mortgage behemoths, are stealthily sopping up the worst of the structured mortgage debt Wall Street churned out [...] Fannie and Freddie Have Been “Saved” — Now What?The former Goldman Sachs employees — err, the federal government — have decided to bail out Fannie and Freddie and the race to call another bottom in equities, not to mention housing, is on. Reality, however, is not a friend of these hopeful bulls. Let’s take a quick scan of the economic landscape and see [...] Credit Contraction ContinuesIn further evidence of the ongoing credit contraction, Mortgagedaily.com reports Lehman Brothers is shuttering its Small Business Finance unit. The division made small commercial mortgage loans to individuals and corporations. The closure is the latest in Lehman’s efforts to shrink its mortgage business and reduce exposure to the US housing market. Lenders everywhere are reducing [...] |