National Home Price Index Rises:


Seal of the United States Federal Housing Fina...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI) covers single-family housing, using data provided by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The House Price Index is derived from transactions involving conforming conventional mortgages purchased or securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

According to FHFA, their national Housing Price Index for purchases rose 0.9% and is the third consecutive month of home price increases and shows that the housing market does have some real fundamental “bright spots”.

What Happened to Rates Last Week:

Mortgage backed securities (MBS) lost -40 basis points last week which helped to move mortgage rates higher from last Friday to the prior Friday.  We had enjoyed a string of four consecutive weeks of mortgage rate declines until last week.  Mortgage backed securities pulled back from their highs in reaction to a very good week for the stock market and lower than average demand for our country’s debt in the form of Treasury bond sales.

The Economic News is NOT All Bad…


Seal of the U.S. government's Small Business A...

Granted, the headlines are not pretty.  Our government seems committed to making the greatest number of mistakes possible, but I am here to tell you that underneath all of that, small businesses are really making things happen!  This is a VERY good thing.

At McDevitt Capital, we are busier than we ever have been, and since most of my loans are to small businesses, this is a positive for the economy. Many of the CDC’s I know are also having very good years (CDC’s are companies that administer the seconds on SBA 504 loans). If the SBA is busy, then again, small businesses are working. There is almost a mini-boom happening in franchising right now. It seems like every franchise out there is very busy which again, means new businesses are starting. This means jobs are being created. I am also seeing another big trend-a lot of boomers are quitting corporate America for good, cashing out or rolling over their IRA’s and starting their own businesses. Now financial planners may cringe at that point, but the owners I speak to are putting it this way, “These large companies I have invested in don’t seem to be very “with it” and with so many risks, I feel better controlling my own destiny”.

I say all of this not to debate investment strategy but to share what I am seeing in the front lines, in the trenches of this economic battle. There are warriors out there, small business men and women and they are cautious, but they are determined and they are not backing down. As a small business owner myself, I acknowledge that there are dangers ahead, not the least of which is our Government’s essential bankruptcy, but I also see opportunities everywhere and I am attacking those opportunities because sometimes, the best defense is a strong offense and I am not alone.

So take what you hear on the news with a grain of salt and know that there are people fighting the good fight. Maybe you are one of us. Take heart!  Because behind the news, on every street corner, the fight goes on. And these warriors will find a way to win. Opportunities abound today, in spite of or possibly because of, the broader economic news. Properties are cheap, rates are low, and there are some people doing very well. Those stories are all around you and THAT is what will keep America going. Entrepreneurship lives on and with it, lies the hope of this economy. We are America, and we are not dead yet!

Have a great weekend!

Michael McDevitt

P.S. If you know a small business owner or investor cheer them on!  If they need money, make sure to let them know about me. My former mentor and commercial partner is closing more commercial loans than anyone in the country and we are successfully bringing capital from around the country to the small business owner or investor. I can pay referral fees as well! Give me a call today at 888.950.9910 Ext.100!

White House Contemplating Major Refinancing Program?


So now what? Well apparently the Obama administration is looking at creating a major refinancing program to help the housing market and give the economy a jolt, according to industry officials. I thought the loan modification boom was suppose to take care of this? Well ever since the Treasury gave incentives to banks (in a non-flamboyant way) to not modify existing loans…

However, sources have said that at this point in time there are few specifics on the table regarding the plan.

Mortgage executives say the White House is finally realizing they cannot get the economy rolling again until they provide some payment relief for the estimated 11 million under water borrowers. “You are not going to have the kind of robust economic recovery that you need with so many homeowners struggling under this debt,” said Glen Corso, managing director of the Community Mortgage Banking Project.

Mortgage rates are at record lows.  Yet these borrowers are blocked from refinancing and lowering their monthly payments because of negative equity.

“My best guess is the administration will offer incentives to lenders to allow borrowers who are current, but under water, refinance,” one source said.

This source also added the refinancing program will focus on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guaranteed loans as well as mortgages in private-label securities.  The GSEs already have a special refinancing program for borrowers with loan-to-value ratios above 105% – but the effort has not reached many underwater borrowers.

President Obama is expected to discuss housing in an economic speech slated for September.

Fed: Risk of Recession “Quite Low”


Modern-day meeting of the Federal Open Market ...

According to William Dudley, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the risk of a double-dip recession is still quite low.

Dudley said that only some of the the restraints on growth, such as high oil prices and Japan‘s earthquake in the first half of the year, can be considered temporary.

“The risks have risen a little bit, but I think we very much still expect the economy to recover. We expect … growth to be significantly firmer than it was during the first half of the year,” he said. “But obviously there is some concern.

The central bank‘s policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) took the unprecedented step last week of promising to keep interest rates near zero for a set period of time—at least until mid-2013. The Fed also said it was weighing other options to help strengthen a weak recovery.

Dudley said that market interest rates fell after the announcement, “which should help provide some additional support for economic activity and jobs.” The president of the New York Fed has a permanent voting position on the FOMC and plays a prominent role within the U.S. central bank.

What Happened to Rates Last Week:

Mortgage backed securities (MBS) gained +21 basis points last week which helped to move mortgage rates lower from last Friday to the prior Friday.  We did pull back from our our best levels of 2011 which occurred in the middle of the week.  The gains were primarily due to much weaker than expected economic news as well as continued concern over weakness in Europe.

How And Why Commercial Loan Modifications Are Completely Attainable By Real Experts


Mortgage Guaranty Building, aka City Lofts, 62...

It’s entirely possible for struggling commercial-property owners to obtain a loan modification, Capital Mitigation Group is a commercial-foreclosure-prevention firm that specializes in modifying rates, terms and amortization schedules. They employ a vareity of Seasoned Commercial Mortgage Pro’s including bankers/brokers, asset managers, negotiators, mitigators, certified auditors, underwriters and attorneys displaying an ecleptic group on a mission. 

The problem is that most commercial-mortgage borrowers don’t know the proper way to ask, I don’t think that it’s not the borrowers’ fault, think about it. Did the clients faciliatate their own loan? No, of course not, they use a professional, so it only makes sense to do the same in attempting to modify. I say this because Commercial is very different than Residential, with Residential you have these huge conglomerates called Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that basically own all the paper on conforming loans. Commercial loans on the other hand are usually the banks own money.

The point I’m tyring to make is the borrower discloses their Personal Financial information, if it is disclosed innacurately I’m going to have a hard time trying to convince the underwriters at the bank how and why your financials are unusually different from when you applied 4 months ago. If someone sued you would you represent yourself in court?  If you have very complex financials would you file your own taxes? No, lawyers speak a different landguage and certain CPA’s understand Tax Strategy and know how to disclsoe income and expense information in a manner that allows their clients to pay the least amount of money,  We do the same thing.

Obtaining a loan modification can be difficult, especially if the loan is what’s known as a commercial mortgage-backed securities loan, or CMBS loan. CMBS loans are often tricky to modify, because the original issuer of the loan is no longer involved and the beneficiaries are individual and institutional investors, often scattered across the globe.

A CMBS loan, usually in default, is regularly managed by a loss-mitigation specialist known as a special servicer. It’s easy for commercial-property owners to get discouraged when trying to obtain a loan modification from a special servicer, because the negotiation process can resemble talking to a wall.

With my experience in the commercial finance industry, special servicers were essentially limited to accepting or rejecting the borrower’s offer. They usually are prohibited from making a counteroffer or disclose why a borrower’s offer was rejected. As a result, I’ve experienced first hand that borrowers have often given up after a couple of rejected offers.

CMBS loans, which total about $36.5 billion, was issued in Arizona with little improvement in the value of commercial real estate, Arizona could be headed for more serious problems economically if a high percentage of CMBS loan defaults end with foreclosure. Currently, about $3.5 billion of CMBS loans in AZ have already filed Notice of Defaults.

The value of outstanding CMBS loans is $800 billion Nationwide. More than 60 percent of those loans were issued between 2005 and 2007, when commercial real estate was heavily overvalued. Most commercial-mortgage loans don’t face a serious risk of foreclosure until they reach maturity, usually after 10 years… usually. The meaning behind this is that foreclosures seen so far among commercial properties barely scratch the surface of the problem.

There is no question in my mind that the worst has yet to come in Commercial Real Estate. The situation isn’t hopeless, Capital Mitigation Group specializes, for a fee, the structuring of a loan-modification proposal based on deals special servicers have accepted in the past.

While Capital Mitigation Group has a business model that is relatively unique, it isn’t the only company in this business that has successfully prevented a CMBS loan from being wiped out by foreclosure.

A landmark case decided in 2010, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge held that a receiving commercial investment company could sell seven Arizona apartment complexes formerly owned by the by a “investor group” based in California, without requiring the assigned special servicer to foreclose on the properties.

An “investor group” financed the purchase of the seven apartment properties with a $164.5 million CMBS loan in 2007 and subsequently defaulted on the loan. By allowing a new buyer to assume the CMBS loan, rather than wiping out the debt and forcing the buyer to pay cash, the court protected bond holders connected with the loan and prevented the seven apartment properties from losing at least $50 million in combined value, so I’ve read.

Since Capital Mitigation Group has opened millions in CMBS loan restructures / modifications and are using a variety of methods which include term extensions, discounted payoffs, interest-rate reductions, forbearance agreements and extension of adjustable rates to fixed rates for underwater properties.

Unless more commercial-building owners can work out deals with their lenders to avoid foreclosure, the real-estate and lending crises are likely to continue for years to come and Capital Mitigaiton Group is a provider that ensures success.

Investment funds and pension plans, too, will suffer if more CMBS loans cannot be modified. Because of its early successes with obtaining commercial loan modifications, Capital Mitigaiton Group has expanded.  Capital Mitigation Group intends on expanding and being very selected in candidates. CMG also offers, for a fee, the opportunity to be a Net Branch and leverage and use ALL of our Marketing Platforms, Customer Database Management / CRM, Forms and Tools, and a variety of very useful training.

For more information send me a message.

CoreLogic Technology Forecasts Mortgage Performance


CoreLogic Technology Forecasts Mortgage Performance.

The Market Chart Online


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HomeSteps Provides Condominium Buyers with Limited Time Offer


HomeSteps, the real estate sales unit of Freddie Mac, is now offering a special limited time offer of $1,500 to help condominium buyers pay for future associates dues.

The “condo cash” offer is available to buyers who submit offers on a property between Aug. 15 and Nov. 15. Escrows have to be closed on or before Dec. 30 to be eligible for this offer.

HomeSteps’ condo cash offer can only be used on HomeSteps homes that have been on the market for at least 120 days and sold to owner-occupant buyers. The offer is not valid on HomeSteps condominiums purchased through auction, sealed bids, bulk sales or in areas where such offers are prohibited by law.

Some of the condominiums will come with a two-year home protection warranty that covers electrical, plumbing, air conditioning, heating and other major systems and appliances. Home Protect also provides discounts of up to 30% on the purchase of appliances.

Mortgage Fraud Down, But Still At Elevated Risk


National mortgage fraud risk is down 2.3% from a year ago and is 1% lower than the previous quarter, but is still at an elevated risk, Interthinx said in its latest Mortgage Fraud Risk Report.

According to the Agoura Hills, Calif.-based firm, the changes coincide with lender reports that borrower quality has greatly improved.

For the fifth consecutive quarter, Nevada and Arizona are the two most risky states for fraud. California, which contains five of the ten most risky MSAs, is now the third highest state for fraud risk after holding the fifth spot last quarter. Florida and Colorado, which jumped eight spots in the report, round out the top five states.

The ten states with the lowest fraud risk include West Virginia, Kansas, Iowa, Maine, Kentucky, New Mexico, Nebraska, Wyoming, Mississippi and Montana.

The report also found a shift in fraud risk for local zip codes. Two zip codes in Chicago had the highest fraud risk for the last four quarters, but as of this report, the Chicago area does not appear in any of the top 20 fraud indices—identity, occupancy, property valuation and employment/income—the firm tracks.

The recent decrease in mortgage fraud risk in the Chicago zip codes was as dramatic as it was sudden as the city has been drawing attention for a year,” said Kevin Coop, president of Interthinx. “It suggests that when the industry has actionable intelligence and increases its scrutiny of an area, word gets out and the fraudsters move on.”

CDS Written on B of A Surge


Credit-default swaps on Bank of America, the nation’s largest residential servicer, this week surged to the highest level since April 2009 before paring those gains.

The contracts have been pushed to the highest ever relative to its peers as investors speculate that B of A will have to bolster capital as mortgage investors sue to force the bank to buy back faulty home loans or pay damages on MBS.

According to combined news reports, Fannie Mae, in particular, has increased its buyback claims against the bank.

B of A is in the process of trying to sell some of its mortgage servicing rights. (See related story on this website.)