HBA Newswatch
February 4, 2008
MORTGAGE BROKERS’ RANKS ARE THINNING
CONSUMERS AND BANKS ALIKE ARE TURNING THEIR BACKS ON REMAINING BROKERS
By ALAN ZIBEL, AP Business Writer
Mortgage brokers who haven’t fled the industry or been forced out are in survival mode.
They’re coping with little or no business as the economy slows, accusations that they’re to blame for the mortgage meltdown, stricter lending standards and the threat of new regulations. Efforts to persuade would-be customers that they’re ethical and helpful abound.
“The general consensus is we’re all holding on by our fingernails,” says Melbourne, Fla.-based mortgage broker Ritch Workman, whose 21-employee company closed an estimated $35 million worth of home loans in 2007, compared with $100 million in 2005, when the market was at its peak.
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SENIOR APARTMENTS WILL DOUBLE THE HICKMAN’S SIZE
THE PLAN IS FOR CHESTER COUNTY’S HAZLETT BUILDING TO PROVIDE LOW- TO MODERATE-INCOME RENTERS WITH AFFORDABLE, SAFE APARTMENTS
By ANNE PICKERING, Staff Writer
WEST CHESTER — Plans for a third building at The Hickman on North Walnut Street are moving forward with the retirement community announcing recently that it has applied for funds from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency.
The proposed new facility with 60 independent-living apartments will nearly double the size of the current facility.
“This will be our third building in our third century,” John Schwab, executive director of The Hickman, said in a recent interview.
The Hickman, which first opened its doors in 1891, has wanted to expand for many years.
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MORTGAGE CRISIS HITS HOME
Study analyzes housing delinquencies in Pa., predicting no relief in sight with foreclosures.
By Kathleen Carey kcarey@delcotimes.com
While Pennsylvania and Delaware County have largely avoided the housing conundrum seen in other parts of the country, officials here recommend residents be cautious.
The non-profit Keystone Research Center conducted a study entitled “A Building Storm: The Housing Market and the Pennsylvania Economy” to address the housing situation here and across the country.
Discussing it, U.S. Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., said Pennsylvania ranked fourth in the country for mortgage delinquencies and the number had increased by 40,000 in the state between the third quarter in 2005 and the same period in 2007.
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RATE CUTS COULD AID ARMS, SUBPRIME LOANS
By Alan J. Heavens
Inquirer Real Estate Writer
The Federal Reserve's decision to lower its benchmark federal funds rate by one-half of a percentage point, to 3 percent, could have a positive effect on subprime and adjustable-rate mortgages, economists said yesterday.
Rates for adjustable-rate subprime loans are typically based on other short-term indexes, especially the LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rates) or the 12-month Treasury average (MTA). But those rates also have dropped in the last two months.
"It will help those whose adjustable loans are about to reset big time," said Brian Bethune of Global Insight Inc., of Lexington, Mass. "The LIBORs have come down dramatically since December, with the one-month rate falling to 3 percent from 5.5 percent." The more the Fed lowers rates, "the lower the reset rates," said Joel Naroff, chief economist of Commerce Bancorp Inc., of Cherry Hill. What happens "depends upon what the original mortgage contract says about the reset rate. Still, this has to help, at least to some degree."
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