Getting Real

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

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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Why You Should Be Worried About Rising Mortgage Rates - And The Country

We’ve all heard about how bad our nation’s deficit is but just how bad is it really? As I was catching up on my investment reading and re-evaluating my strategy I started to wonder what the country’s debt situation really looked like. I mean…maybe I need to move to Costa Rica. You can find a... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
March 13, 2011 at 9:41 am

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Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac Are Toast

There has been an awful lot of discussion in the last couple of days about the fate of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government sponsored entities that have been providing liquidity to the mortgage market for decades. Thankfully, it appears more and more likely that these two black holes will be dismantled. Yesterday... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
February 11, 2011 at 11:14 pm

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Did You Just Miss The Lowest Housing Costs In 23 Years?

All the news stories and even this blog tend to focus on either home prices or mortgage rates. But in reality what we should be focusing on is the cost of owning a home, which combines the effect of both the price of a home and the cost of the mortgage on that home. So... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
January 21, 2011 at 10:26 pm

• 4 comments

Why A Mortgage May Be Hard To Get: The No Lend List

Russ Martin of Perl Mortgage sent out a newsletter late Friday with an example of one lender’s No Lend List – basically a list of condominium developments that they will not lend to. Although he was not at liberty to provide the bank’s name he did indicate that it was “too big to fail”. Here... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
December 11, 2010 at 10:35 pm

• 7 comments

How Many Chicago Homeowners Are Really Underwater?

Yesterday I posted on Zillow’s estimate that one third of Chicago homeowners are underwater on their mortgages – i.e. the homeowners owe more than their homes are worth. Later in the day I had the pleasure of speaking with Keith Jurow who writes for the Real Estate Channel and has also researched the looming... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
November 10, 2010 at 11:23 pm

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