Getting Real

Posts in category "Mortgages"

Treasury Department Spotlight On Chicago Housing Market

On Friday the Treasury Department came out with their March Housing Scorecard with a Spotlight on the Chicago Housing Market for 14 area counties in 3 states. The headline of the report is that the Chicago housing market is more challenged than the nation as a whole and, while it showing some signs of recovery... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
April 8, 2012 at 11:17 am

• 3 comments

Why I Bought A Home Now After Renting For 12 Years

Realtor’s Home Purchase Ensures That Chicago Home Prices Will Crash On Friday, after renting for 12 years, my wife and I became homeowners for the 4th time. Obviously buying a home in Chicago was not a decision that we entered into lightly. When we first arrived in Chicago in 2000 we suffered from major sticker... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
March 19, 2012 at 6:32 am

• 8 comments

The Missing Solution For Underwater Mortgages

The government and the mortgage industry have spent a lot of energy trying to figure out how to help homeowners with their underwater mortgages. There are initiatives underway to help homeowners refinance their mortgages or to write down the principal balances for homeowners that would like to stay in their homes at a lower cost... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
March 5, 2012 at 6:12 am

• 5 comments

How Low Mortgage Rates Should Change Your View Of High Assessments

A couple of years ago I did an analysis of the tradeoff between assessments and purchase price when buying a condo. In that analysis I concluded that with mortgage rates of 5% a condo assessment that is lower by $100 per month would allow you to purchase a condo that costs $41,311 more. In other... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
February 27, 2012 at 6:45 am

• 6 comments

Low Mortgage Rates: It's Not Just About The Monthly Payment

I just locked in a 7 year ARM the other day at 2.875%. No doubt that is one of the lowest mortgage rates in decades and it is one of the primary drivers of my buying a house at this time after renting for about 12 years. In the economic analysis the low interest rate... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
February 26, 2012 at 6:44 am

• 4 comments

How Fannie, Freddie, And The Government Contributed To The Mortgage Crisis

When Charles Ferguson accepted the academy award for Best Documentary for Inside Job he lamented in his acceptance speech about the fact “that three years after our horrific financial crisis caused by massive fraud, not a single financial executive has gone to jail, and that’s wrong”. Well, it looks like Charles Ferguson may soon get... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
January 16, 2012 at 5:56 am

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Please Gore My Ox With Higher Fannie And Freddie Fees

Warren Buffett got a lot of attention a while back by begging the government to raise his taxes so I thought I would go for the same publicity by begging the government to raise the guarantee fees that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge on mortgages that they guarantee. The National Association of Realtors, The... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
December 17, 2011 at 8:26 am

• 2 comments

Is It Really Harder To Get A Mortgage Now?

You hear a lot of complaints these days that mortgages have become impossible to get. Real estate agents and various media pundits are the main dispensers of this wisdom. But is it true? Well, back in June DBRS, a credit rating provider kind of like S&P, provided a really nice summary of what has changed... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
December 8, 2011 at 6:00 am

• 2 comments

Government Price Controls Mandate Higher Compensation For Loan Officers

It seems that the damn government just can’t keep their hands off the economy. Of course, with such a great track record, can you blame them? The bureaucrats love to believe that they can micromanage any aspect of any industry but in reality there’s no getting around the laws of economics or the law of... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
November 5, 2011 at 7:07 am

• 1 comment

The Latest Trends In The Housing Market

Corelogic came out with their October Housing and Mortgage Trends report a little while ago and there are several interesting insights which I will summarize here. Unfortunately, they are pretty clear that they don’t want any part of their report reproduced so I won’t be displaying any of their graphs but you can click on... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
October 27, 2011 at 7:30 am

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