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Mortgage Buybacks May Cost Banks Over $100 Billion

Bloomberg reported today that U.S. banks may face more than $100 billion in costs as more investors demand that issuers of mortgage-backed securities repurchase bad loans.

According to Paul Miller of FBR Capital Markets, U.S. banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. could face a price tag between $54 billion and …

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Mortgage-Bond Yields Reach Four-Month High

Bloomberg recently reported that mortgage-bond yields that guide home-loan rates have reached their highest levels in four months, suggesting that borrowing costs may rise from record lows.

As of 9:30 Monday morning, Fannie Mae’s current-coupon 30-year fixed-rate mortgage bonds went up to 3.71%, tracking 10-year Treasury notes today as those yields rose from 3.64%. This is …

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Home Prices May Keep Falling Throughout 2011

Economic experts are predicting another drop in home sales that will continue throughout the middle of next year, CNNMoney.com reported today. However, the housing market could bounce back by the middle of 2011, citing economic factors.

Fiserv, a market analytics company, initially predicted in February a 4% increase in home prices through the end of 2011. …

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Existing Home Sales Rise in September

The National Association of REALTORS announced today that existing home sales rose for the second month in a row during the month of September. Despite the good news, the figure is off from September 2009’s numbers.

According to the NAR, existing home sales — which are completed transaction that include single-family homes, condominiums and co-ops — …

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Fannie, Freddie May Need $154 Billion to Survive — Maybe More

Today’s Wall Street Journal reported that it will cost taxpayers another $154 billion to keep Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac afloat under the most likely scenario for home prices. But if the economy slides back into a recession and the housing market worsens, then the price tag to the taxpayers can be higher than that.

The …

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Citigroup Anticipates More Mortgage Buybacks

TheStreet.com reported yesterday that Citigroup saw its mortgage repurchase reserves jump by 30% in the third quarter of this year, foreseeing an increase in repurchase requests by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

According to TheStreet.com, Citigroup had $952 million in reserves for Q3 2010 —more than three times the amount the bank had reserved during the …

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Affordable Financial Services Weekly Finance Review

Fannie Mae announced on Friday that its Housing and Community Development division will now be called Multifamily Mortgage Business, or Multifamily. According to its press release, the new name parallels the government-sponsored entity’s Single-Family Mortgage Business, more clearly conveys what the business does and emphasizes the multifamily mortgage business platform.

The Associated Press reported on Friday …

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HOME Act Seeks to Encourage Refinancing, Prevent Foreclosures

MortgageOrb.com reported yesterday that California Congressman Dennis Cardoza is introducing a piece of legislation that he says would encourage refinancing, which, in turn, would reduce the number of defaults and help prevent foreclosures.

The Housing Opportunity and Mortgage Equity (HOME) Act would enable mortgages currently owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that meet certain criteria …

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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s New Role: Home Sellers

Fannie Mac and Freddie Mac — the two government sponsored entities who hold billions of dollars in mortgages — are trying their hands at the home selling business, as reported in today’s issue of REALTORMag.com.

According to the article, both lenders repossessed more than 191,000 homes in the first half of this year, twice as many …

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15-Year Mortgage Becoming Attractive to More Homeowners

Zimonet.com posted two articles over the past two days on how more homeowners are switching to a 15-year mortgage as a way to pay off their house and get out of debt more quickly. The articles also point out that, although it is an attractive option, it isn’t for everyone.

According to information from CoreLogic, a …

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