Appraisal Pros Prose

Some tidbits of current information!

• GMAC's loss grows to $1.6 billion as mortgage revenues fall. The auto and home lender division partly owned by General Motors continues to drag down the automaker's bottom line.
• Citigroups shares fall 4.9% due to problems with the mortgage and debt market. The combined losses are estimated to by more than $30 billion, and many worry that more losses are in Citigroup's future.
• The new relief bills for homeowners that were being touted in Washington have either stalled or dropped from the radar. So far, only one relief program, the FHASecure program, has been put into action, but with strict regulations. It is feared that the program will not help those homeowners most in need of assistance to keep from losing their homes.
• Did you know of a piggyback credit card scheme that offers those with excellent credit to be paid to open accounts as authorized users for those with not such good credit? Then, the authorized users show an excellent FICO score and can qualify for the mortgage they would not normally be approved for. Industry experts state that much of the current foreclosure mess is due to score-inflation fraud.
• Homeowners that are current on their mortgage are not eligible for any loan modifications. So, even though the homeowner may be acting diligently in foreseeing a future problem in making their payments, the lenders will not even consider them for modification until they are at least two months behind in their payments. Even though recommending someone to stop paying their mortgage sounds like bad advice, lenders are afraid that those that are current on their mortgage will take advantage of the modification system though they do not need it. Loan mods are expected to account for 5 to 10% of all loan activity over the next 12 to 18 months.