Whitney Minnich Real Estate and Community Updates

More Homeowners Paying Their Mortgages on Time March 4, 2019 More Americans are paying their mortgages on time than at any point in nearly two decades, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Delinquency rates are a key economic measure, closely watched by economists. The last time a large number of homeowners stopped making mortgage payments on time, from 2007 to 2008, it impacted the entire economy. Borrowers who have conventional mortgages are the most likely to pay on time, while borrowers with loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration tend to pay late nearly three times more often. (Still, 91 percent of FHA borrowers pay on time.) FHA borrowers tend to have lower credit scores, higher debt-to-income ratios, and lower down payments. All three factors multiply the risk that borrowers will pay late, according to the MBA. But the FHA delinquency rate of 8.65 percent is still a big improvement over a decade ago, when it was about 14 percent. W...

Survey: Americans See More Affordability in Housing February 8, 2019 As rate hikes ease and growth in home prices slows, Americans are gradually becoming more confident about their purchasing power in the real estate market, according to Fannie Mae’s newest monthly consumer housing survey. And though this shift is relatively small now, economists are hopeful that it foreshadows a larger, more positive turn in consumer sentiment. The share of Americans who say now is a good time to buy a home increased 4 percentage points month over month to 15 percent in January, according to Fannie Mae’s survey. Since last summer, growth in home prices has decreased to the slowest pace in more than six years, real estate data firm CoreLogic reported this week. Thirty percent of consumers now say they think home prices will fall in the near future—which is still down 22 percentage points from a year ago, according to Fannie Mae. Nonetheless, consumers appear to have a more favorab...

Fannie Says Mortgages Can Still Be Issued in Gov’t Shutdown January 3, 2019 The verification of employment, Social Security numbers, and more could prove problematic during the partial government shutdown. Fannie Mae released guidance this week to lenders on how they can continue to originate mortgages. The partial government shutdown is now 13 days in and could leave some home closings in jeopardy as Congress continues to be stalled in passing a spending bill that meets the president’s approval. Fannie also released guidance  involving obtaining IRS transcripts and information through the Social Security Administration during the government shutdown. For example, tax transcripts from the IRS can be received after closing, in some cases. But according to the rules, a Social Security number must be validated prior to the sale or Fannie Mae will not purchase the loan. The government shutdown does not mean borrowers who are employed by the government are in...

Fannie, Freddie’s Holiday Gift: No Foreclosures December 11, 2018 Mortgage financing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced a nationwide suspension of eviction lockouts on foreclosures for the holiday season. The foreclosure moratorium will last from Dec. 17 to Jan. 2, 2019, and applies to all foreclosed occupied homes owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “As we have done in past years, we are suspending evictions from Freddie Mac-owned homes to help provide families with a greater measure of certainty during the upcoming holiday season,” says Yvette Gilmore, Freddie Mac’s vice president of single-family servicer performance management. The moratorium, however, does not apply to other pre- or post-foreclosure activities. Legal and administrative proceedings for evictions can continue, but families will be able to remain in their home during the holiday moratorium. “We believe it is important to extend the timeline of help for struggling borrowers duri...

FHFA Ends Effort on Credit Scoring Overhaul July 25, 2018 The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced this week that it is suspending an initiative to update the credit score model used by government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That initiative would have potentially helped to provide millions of creditworthy Americans who have been unable to be scored with a credit score and a path toward homeownership. The FHFA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac have been evaluating the impact of a new credit score model on access to credit. However, the FHFA says that it needs to instead shift its focus to the implementation of Section 310 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act that was enacted in May. The act modifies many of the changes that were made by the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. It also contains a provision that requires the FHFA to use alternative credit score models. "After careful evaluation, ...

Most homes are spending less than a month on the market. There are many factors you should look at when selling your house. If you've been thinking about selling, contact me at 571-970-7195 or whitney@whitneyminnich.com, to learn about what you can do to sell your home quickly. More Home Owners Warm Up to Idea of Selling DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | WEDNESDAY, JULY 08, 2015 Home owners are becoming more upbeat about potentially selling their home, which should bode well for purchase activity this year, according to Fannie Mae’s June 2015 National Housing Survey, a survey of 1,000 Americans about their attitudes toward housing. Thanks to increased job and income growth, more consumers are viewing the current selling climate more optimistically, which could help reverse the low inventory.  The share of Americans surveyed who say now is a good time to sell reached a new survey high in June, increasing three percentage points to 52 percent. It’s the first time the metric had cr...