Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight Director James B. Lockhart announced yesterday that the maximum 2008 conforming loan limit for single-family mortgages purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) will remain at the 2007 level of $417,000 for one-unit properties for most of the U.S.
The conforming loan limit determines the […]

This is the first item I have read that is written by someone (well two people actually) that knows what they are talking about.  Most people today think that lowering the discount rate or the fed funds rate is going to save the US real estate markets….guess again Beavis. The only thing that should do, […]

The Fed will be making an announcement tomorrow and the media as well as everyone else who doesn’t know what they are talking about, are hoping that they will announce a rate cut of some sort. While this will bring increased liquidity into the financial markets, it doesn’t mean the housing market will improve or […]

According to the TBWS.com daily update:
Washington Mutual is to stop providing warehouse lending lines (ouch)
Option One (Sub Prime) is to cut 575 jobs
First Horizon to cut 1,500 jobs in their secondary division
Countrywide funded ~$34Billion in loans in August of 2007, off 17% from August of 2006
tags: economy, loans, market, mortgage, residential

Related:

BofA Buys $2B of Countrywide’s […]

Rumors this morning that Citibank re-packager Lown Home (catchy name right?) is not funding loans anymore. This is just a rumor at this point, but I would suspect that their time in the market may be numbered based on what I have heard and read from a number of different sources.
tags: economy, financing, home loan, […]

Well, I can smell blood in the water, and apparently B of A could as well. Yesterday’s late announcement that B of A would pick up $2B of Countrywide’s preferred stock (that means that if Countrywide goes under, preferred stock holders have access to assets) and the deal funded today.  Good pick up for BofA […]

Just received this via email:
Due to continued uncertain market conditions, effective as of 1 pm EDT (10am PDT) today, August 21, 2007, 1st National Bank of Arizona (FNBA) will focus on Retail originations and has suspended Wholesale and Correspondent originations.
Wholesale and Correspondent locks received prior to 1 pm EDT (10am PDT) […]

Looks like First Magnus Financial Corp. will be next to close up shop. An article in a local Arizona newspaper confirms the rumors I heard this morning and that is that First Magnus has stopped funding loans. Another victim of the credit crunch that should continue.
tags: bk, closing doors, credit, economy, first magnus, lender, sub […]

It seems I get new emails every day from lenders that are either 1) offering what everyone else is no longer offering or 2) telling me that they no longer offer entire lines of product.  I received emails from a local lender about a month or so ago and they were much more aggressive in […]

I just received an email from one of our parent company’s execs stating that Aegis Mortgage will be ceasing operations.  Another email I received shortly after from another lender stated that they have filed for BK. I cannot find any news right now on their website or on Google News, but I am confident that […]