Question: I have a friend who took out a reverse mortgage with his wife. His wife passed away and he has since remarried. What happens to his new wife — or more specifically, the house — when he dies? Will she have to move out? If so, what can she do now to possibly prevent that when the fateful day comes?

Answer: If the new wife is 62 or older, which is the cutoff age for home-equity conversion mortgages, your friend should go back to his original lender to determine if it is possible to refinance the reverse mortgage so she can be added to the loan. If there is enough equity available (based on the youngest borrower’s age) to create a new loan, this process would protect her in the event she would outlive her husband.

One of the best things about reverse mortgages is that they are non-recourse loan. That means that if there is no equity left in the property at the time of the borrower’s death and it is worth less than what is owed, your pal’s new bride would be able to just walk away having no liability to the lender.

But getting her name on the new loan is so important that if the current lender balks, your pal should try other lenders. Because if he does nothing, his new bride would have to either pay back the loan when he dies or move out.

Full story is available on Market Watch

If you can qualify for a mortgage, you may not get an opportunity like you have right now for a very, very long time. This may, in fact, be one of the best times in history to get a mortgage because of the low mortgage rates.

Last week, the mortgage rates for a 30-year fixed payment mortgage plummeted to a whopping 4.56 percent. That’s the lowest rates have been since the early 1970s, according to Freddie Mac.

Those tax credits for first-time homebuyers
have been expired for a few months now, but if you qualify for the 4.56 percent interest rate, you can still benefit. In fact, the low interest rate may make up for the $8,000 tax credit. Although the tax credit is something you can see and experience in the price right away, the historically low interest rates are long-term benefits which can provide homeowners with a much higher savings after the term of the loan is over and paid off.

However, before rushing into the mortgage market, it is important to compare the type of mortgage that is best for you. The rules of the mortgage industry have changed in recent years so there are some things to consider before getting too excited.

Full story is available on BestCashCow.com

Homeowners with a J.P. Morgan Chase home loan have been in need of mortgage assistance, as have many homeowners with various lenders all over the nation. Yet, trouble between homeowners and lenders have come in many forms as well, specifically regarding the Making Home Affordable trial modification program. Homeowners believe that they have been disqualified from a permanent modification or had their trial modification canceled due to lenders being unwilling to aid homeowners in their pursuit of a more affordable mortgage payment.

However, lenders have stated that homeowners have trial modifications canceled as a result of missing documentation on their Making Home Affordable paperwork, a debt-to-income ratio that is below 31%, or the simple fact that some homeowners cannot afford their home loan payment even when a modification is in place and, as a result, these homeowners default.

J.P. Morgan Chase has also cited the fact that homeowners who have their modification trial canceled can find alternative assistance plans, which can help keep homeowners in their home or avoid foreclosure. As an example, according to the June Making Home Affordable servicer report, 58,605 homeowners had their trial modification canceled with J.P. Morgan Chase as of May 2010. Yet, 31,973 alternative modifications were offered to homeowners, 712 homeowners were current on their home loan at the time of their cancellation and 58 homeowners were given a payment plan outside of a traditional modification. While these numbers do show that homeowners who are being denied a home loan modification are getting alternative assistance, many homeowners point to the other side of the coin.

Full story is available on Red,White, and Blue Press

The economy is stabilizing. Home prices are holding. It’s not just as good a time as ever to buy a house.  It’s one of the best times ever.

ForSaleByOwner.com presents five overlooked reasons why now is a great time to buy a house.

1. Low mortgage rates serve as an equity shock absorber. When buyers borrow at today’s record-low rates, they start building equity as soon as they close. That means they have a little give to absorb a few ups and downs as the still-recovering housing market gains traction.
2. Houses are in move-in condition. Homeowners have continued to spend on maintenance and repair, according to the Harvard Joint Center on Housing. Homeowners who have been holding back kept their houses in good shape while they waited. As those houses enter the market, they are in marked contrast to tattered foreclosures.
3. Terrific houses are coming on the market. Foreclosures are finally starting to clear the system – and this is just the opportunity that owners of many desirable properties have been waiting for.

Full story is available on PR Newswire

Everyone needs a place to live, but no one needs a second home. So the experience of choosing which vacation home to buy and where must be thoroughly enjoyed. Still, people routinely buy second homes that end up being less than they expected, or worse.

I speak from experience. My wife and I own a condominium in Naples, Florida. One of our neighbours is as bad as neighbours come. In Florida real estate parlance, he is a “condo commando” – a busybody who questions other residents on what they are doing and then routinely complains to the condo’s board about them.

Bad neighbours abound everywhere, but they seem particularly bothersome when they are in places where you go to relax. Shouldn’t everyone just be grateful to be sitting in the sun or at a fireside by ski slopes? The dynamics of second homeownership often conspire against this, says Milton F Pedraza, chief executive of the Luxury Institute, an organisation that does research on wealthy consumers. “People become slaves to their homes. They buy into the headlines and that makes them pretty miserable with their vacation homes.”

Pedraza says one common cause of second-home misery is that an owner fails to factor in how much time and money is needed to maintain a place from hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away. Ask yourself these questions:

Why do you want a second home? What are you going to use it for?  Do you have any idea how much it is really going to cost?

Before you jump in, here’s a look at what you should know before buying a second home.

Full story is available on Deccan Herald

If you’ve made enough money to start building a family and you’ve got a good college savings fund going, you’ve probably considered the question: Should you rent an apartment or buy a home?

Each has its advantages and disadvantages, and the answer might come down to personal preference. Let’s take a look and some of the pros and cons of each:

Why Rent?

The main argument for renting is the flexibility it affords you. Say you receive a once-in-a-lifetime job offer at a company two states away. If you own a home you might not be able to uproot your financial life and purchase another home in the new town, giving you two options: Turn down the job or make a long commute that could deprive you of valuable family time. If you’re a renting family, you can move to a new town at your leisure. Your only expenses will be the fee to break your lease, which in the big scheme of things, probably won’t set you back too far.

You don’t risk losing money on your investment when you rent. You’ll pay on a per-month basis to live in your apartment but you won’t be penalized if the housing market crashes like it did over the past several years. If you sink hundreds of thousands of dollars into your home but need to sell it during a market downturn, you could lose thousands.

Full story is available on MyBankTracker

Dallas-area home prices could dip slightly in the months ahead if a new housing forecast proves correct. But the same data from researchers at Fiserv Inc. predicts that home prices here will rise again slightly from 2011 into 2012.

“We expect to see prices bounce up and down around their lows for the next two to three years,” said David Stiff, an economist for the Wisconsin-based financial services industry information firm. “This will result in alternating bouts of optimism and pessimism regarding the housing market recovery, similar to what we have seen for the economy as a whole.

“This will make it difficult to know exactly when the housing market has reached its bottom.”

Fiserv’s forecast calls for Dallas-area home prices to fall 1.1 percent by the first quarter of 2011 from a year earlier. Then residential prices in the area will rebound by 0.3 percent through the first quarter of 2012 – if the researchers are right.

Full story is available on dallasnews.com

The financial reform bill enacted last week is a significant step toward a much-needed modernization of our regulatory structure. It will provide tools to help mitigate and manage the next financial crisis. But the job remains unfinished until Congress addresses the housing policies that fueled the crisis — a big part of which requires reforming and dramatically scaling back Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-sponsored housing enterprises that brought our nation’s financial system and our entire economy to the brink of collapse.

A significant root cause of the crisis was the combined weight of government policies promoting homeownership; these are apparent in the housing GSEs, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the Federal Home Loan Banks, the federal tax deduction for mortgage interest and various state programs. Homeownership was overstimulated to the point that it was unsustainable and dangerous to the broader economy.

The GSEs, now placed in conservatorship, and the FHA still provide a massive subsidy to our housing market, touching more than nine out of 10 new mortgages. When the housing market is clearly recovering — and it is still far from robust — we must have the fortitude to create a more level playing field between housing and other productive investments.

Full story is available on The Washington Post

A home mortgage from Bank of America may change the lives of many people with real financial burdens.

Nowadays, people might be bothered with the present condition of the economy across the globe. There are individuals who are default on their Bank of America home mortgage, and they feel foreclosure isn’t not far off. There are also individuals who racked their mind to think of possible solution to their problem unsuccessful. It seems people have no other options and are almost sure that they will lose their home.

However, a Bank of America Loan Modification could alter people’s situation.

People should understand that often Bank of America doesn’t truly want to foreclose on their homes. The bank itself understands that foreclosure is costly and needs more time to execute. In the latest serious real estate failure, a foreclosed home can rest empty as well as financially worthless for longer period than expected.

There are individuals, who may be eligible for a Making Home Affordable Loan Modification Program (MHA), a program funded by the government for worrying homeowners ready through the 2009 Stimulus Packaged. The program offers approved, participating creditors a financial incentive to alter mortgages. Fortunately, the Bank of America is on the authorized creditor listing for this program.

Full story is available on Seedol.com

The reverse mortgage industry, hammered for high fees and high pressure sales tactics, has steadily improved its procedures and its image. Loan fees and interest rates have been lowered, consumer disclosure has improved, and the federal government’s insured reverse mortgage program has provided stability and credibility to the industry. A-list lenders have expanded their presence in the market; Wells Fargo and Bank America are the nation’s top two reverse mortgage lenders.

Now that the industry is cleaning up its act, it is finding that customers are very hard to find. The volume of reverse mortgages is off nearly 40 percent so far this year, and is on an annual pace to record only 70,000 transactions nationally for the entire year. The number of lenders active in the reverse mortgage market has plunged by more than half in the past year to roughly 600, according to Reverse Mortgage Insight, which tracks industry trends.

Reverse mortgages allow qualified borrowers (the youngest owner must be at least 62) to tap the equity in their home, pay off their existing mortgage balance, and remain in their home as long as they’re able. Homeowners remain responsible for all home maintenance expenses and property taxes. Under certain conditions, the products are a sensible solution for aging homeowners who are running short on retirement funds.

Full story is available on USNews.com