The financial reform law includes tough new mortgage regulations, to stop the deceptions (and self-deceptions) that have driven millions of homeowners into foreclosure. Here’s how the market will change in 12 to 18 months, when the new rules start to take effect:
1. The fees you can be charged at closing will be capped at 3 [...]
If unemployment hits, which bills do you cover first? Traditionally, that would be food, utilities, transportation and housing. If you couldn’t stretch your income to cover credit card payments, you let them go.
Such thinking is so pre-2008. Since the real estate meltdown, growing numbers of straitened borrowers are changing their priorities. They’re protecting their credit [...]
Say that your house is way underwater. Say that you can pay your mortgage but are sick of throwing good money after bad. Say that you’ve decided to walk away. Say that your credit rating has always been good. What happens?
That depends on the state you live in and what kind of loan you have—a [...]
You’re hearing a lot about “strategic default.” That means walking away from your mortgage, even though you can afford the payments. The house is worth so much less than the loan against it that making payments feels like throwing money down a rat hole. It could be a decade or more before you actually have [...]
“I need a mortgage for the tax deduction.” Every time someone says that to me I go nuts. It’s the mortgage lenders’ longest-running, most successful scam. People keep their mortgages when they don’t have to, and even take larger ones, because they think the tax deduction helps them out. When you write off mortgage interest [...]
