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State of Georgia Reprimands Sun West for Employing Convicted Felon

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Last month the State of Georgia served Sun West Mortgage Company a cease and desist letter, banning the mortgage company from continuing to provide jobs for its nine convicted felon employees.

“Georgia mortgage brokers and mortgage lenders are prohibited from employing convicted felons,” the letter explains. “No person employed by or directing the affairs of any licensee may be a convicted felon and … it is the licensee’s responsibility to ensure compliance. Failure to comply is a revocable offense and subjects the licensee to a fine of $5,000 per felon.”

Just a week prior, the state had sent a similar letter to Hometown Lenders, which operates out of Huntsville, Alabama.

Image via flickr/Keith Allison

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Tips & Advice

One Important Thing to Consider Before Taking Out a Home Equity Loan

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There are several things to think about before taking out a home equity loan, but among the most important is to consider is what the loan will be used for.

“The best reason to take out a home equity loan is when it has some positive impact on your finances,” CNN Money’s Les Christie advises. “Using it to pay for a renovation that adds value to your property, for example, or to pay for an advanced degree that can increase your earning power.”

Conversely, taking out a home equity loan to buy a luxury car or to book a vacation is probably not the best idea.

Image via flickr/Alan Cleaver

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News

Feel Good Story: Mortgage Banker Thwarts Bank Robbery – Over the Phone!

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A mortgage banker for Primary Residential recently came to the aid of another bank while it was getting robbed – and he did it over the phone!

“Our sales Manager Corey Lewis was on the phone with a customer while she was at [Zions Bank],” recalls Primary Residential’s Don Worthington. “The customer was talking with him about what verification we needed from her bank when it got robbed. Corey had her on the phone in one ear and he had his cell phone in his other hand with police on the other line relaying information.”

Image via flickr/Victor

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News

Home Prices Spike in Nine States

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CoreLogic confirmed on Tuesday that its Home Price Index was up 0.3 percent in August from the month before and up 6.4 percent from the same time last year.

In addition, it revealed that housing prices had spiked to new highs in nine states: Alaska, Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming.

“Major metropolitan areas such as Riverside and Los Angeles, California, and Houston continue to lead the way with strong price gains buoyed by tight supplies and a gradual rebound in economic activity,” CoreLogic president and CEO Anand Nallathambi told Mortgage News Daily.

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News

Crowdsourcing Renovations: New Trend Alert?

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With the recent launch of FeatherTheNest.com, individuals can now opt to crowdsource the funding needed to complete renovation projects in their homes.

“There isn’t a great way to ask for money,” the site’s founder, Lindsay Oparowski told CNN Money. “I figured creating a third party to help make the request would remove the awkwardness.”

The site, which launched in May, currently has 14 “nests” or projects waiting to be funded.

Image via flickr/American Advisors Group

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Credit, News

Refinancing Remains Tough in Current Housing Market

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Ben S. Bernanke, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, revealed that attempting to refinance a home loan continues to be so difficult in the current market that even he got turned down from a refi request recently.

“I recently tried to refinance my mortgage and I was unsuccessful in doing so,” he said. “I’m not making that up.”

In fact, Bernanke believes that lenders “may have gone a little bit too far on mortgage credit conditions.”

Image via flickr/Simon Cunningham

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News

Foreclosure Inventory on Pace to Hit New Low

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A Mortgage News Daily reports, CoreLogic has found that the trend in foreclosures is a positive one for the real estate market: they’re going down.

“The number of foreclosures completed during the last 12 months is at the lowest level since November of 2007,” said Anand Nallathambi, CoreLogic’s president and CEO. “At current foreclosure rates, the shadow inventory could fall below 500,000 units by year-end which could provide a solid boost to the recovery in housing in 2015.”

From August 2013 to August 2014, the number of foreclosures dropped 22.2 percent from 58,000 to 43,000.

Image via flickr/Simon Cunningham

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News

Heidi Klum Looking to Purchase Jon Bon Jovi’s $37.5M NYC Penthouse

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Model Heidi Klum has her eyes set on purchasing Jon Bon Jovi’s New York City penthouse, which is located in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood and comes with a price tag of $37.5 million.

The 7,000-square-foot duplex is located inside the New Museum building and features six bedrooms, two kitchens, two fireplaces and 11-foot ceilings.

Klum recently put her Los Angeles home on the market for $25 million.

Image via cityrealty.com

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News

California Seeing Diminished Mortgage Borrowing Among Hispanics

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Bloomberg News is reporting that the number of Hispanic borrowers in California continues to decline, even more so than any other group in the state.

“The interest rates are low, but the prices are so high,” says Jose Ramos, a real estate agent who lost two homes to foreclosure when the housing market crashed in 2007. “Where’s the opportunity?”

According to Bloomberg reporters John Gittelsohn and Prashant Gopal, “The Hispanic share of the market for mortgages to buy homes fell to 22 percent in 2013 from 24 percent the prior year and barely half of the 2006 peak.”

Image via flickr/David Sawyer

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News

Flagstar Bank ‘Drove Borrowers into Foreclosure’

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced on Monday that Flagstar Bank “drove borrowers into foreclosure” by holding back important documents.

According to CNN Money, the bank was severely understaffed, and for documents that should have taken just days to file, it was upwards of nine months before some of them were looked at. Flagstar will now pay a $10 million fine, on top of shelling out $27.5 million to 6,500 victims.

“With this matter now behind us, everyone at Flagstar Bank is committed to building on the significant progress we have achieved while continuing to operate with integrity, responsiveness and a commitment to our core values,” CEO Alessandro DiNello said in a statement.

Image via flickr/Paul Sableman

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