Man sentenced to five years in prison for mortgage fraud scheme. A Carlsbad-based real estate consultant was sentenced to five years in prison for a multimillion dollar mortgage fraud scheme involving properties in Georgia, Florida and California, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. John J. Borzellino was also ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Janis [...]

The Obama Administration is launching a revised version of HARP to expand the borrower which will qualify essentially helping many more people refinance who otherwise wouldn’t have under the original program.  Below is a list of FAQ’s. What is HARP? The Obama administration in 2009 rolled out HARP to refinance borrowers whose loans were backed [...]

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced that it is increasing both upfront and annual premiums for its insured single family loans. An increase of 0.10 percent in the annual premium mandated by the Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011 will be effective for all loans written after April 1. In addition, FHA is [...]

                                                                                                 Proposed FHA Changes… FHA Proposed Rule on Seller Concessions Yesterday, HUD published a request for comments (due in 30 days, by March 26) on their revised changes to policies for seller concessions. The new proposal is to limit seller concessions as follows: • Reduces the amount of permitted seller concessions to 3% or $6,000, [...]

Waiting for the next onslaught of news from the world’s credit markets, here’s some musing on “recovery.” The Sacramento-Stockton area, since it was an epicenter of foreclosure activity, has more recently begun to demonstrate the ways local real estate markets can emerge creatively from the depths of the economic crunch. The community of Elk Grove, [...]

Standard and Poors™ has downgraded the US sovereign rating to AA+, and kept the rating outlook at negative, suggesting improvement in the fiscal situation will be needed to avoid further downgrades. Federal agencies have issued guidance clarifying that this action will not affect risk weightings for US Treasury or agency debt. Key Points: 1. At [...]

Did You Know? Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in the number of reported mortgage frauds in the U.S. According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, banks are reviewing their loan portfolios for questionable loans made during the housing boom, and that has caused a 31 percent increase in the number [...]

<!– –>   This newsletter is compliments of: Eric M. Burgess Mortgage Consultant NMLS# 240240 Office: 707-526-6100 Cell: 707-508-5600 San Diego Direct: 619-238-2700                     Thought of the month “A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. You must break out of your [...]

Friday, the Labor Department reported the economy added 244,000 jobs in April. After adding 235,000 and 221,000 jobs in February and March, this should indicate the economy is finally accomplishing momentum; however, rising gas prices and sluggish consumer demand cloud the outlook. A surge in April first-time jobless claims indicate growth is stuck at depressed, [...]