Jack M. Guttentag
As the unemployment rate rises, more mortgage borrowers must choose between default and making the payment out of savings. That can be an agonizing decision. See the letter below:
“I was laid off recently but am reasonably hopeful of finding another position soon… We have stayed current by drawing down our IRAs, but there is only about $4,000 left, enough to cover us for one more month…Our family is counseling us to keep the $4K left in our IRAs and not make the next monthly mortgage payments. Do you agree?”
Not making the payment will hurt your credit, but if the choice is between missing the payment this month and missing it next month, I would miss it this month and keep the cash. I would only use the rest of your cash to make the payment if you manage to get a job before 30 days after the payment due date. In that event, you have a reasonable hope of being able to work your way out of the jam you are in, so using your remaining money to save your credit makes sense.
This question is heavily value-laden, which is why I answered it in terms of what I would do, which is not necessarily what someone else with different values might elect to do. Some, especially investors, could take the position that a borrower is morally obliged to make the payment if there is any possible way to do it. This is a defensible argument, but it assumes that the borrower’s only duty is to the investor. The borrower in question has a family to consider as well.
The issue of a borrower’s obligation to continue making payments out of savings after their income-generating capacity has been impaired arises in connection with the government’s Home Affordability Modification Program. See another letter from a reader:
“I have applied to have my loan modified, and am in process of filling out the financial questionnaire that my servicer sent me. It asks for the amounts in my bank accounts. Although my income has dropped, I have enough money in the bank to cover the mortgage payment for three years. Should I take it out, and where should I put it?”
To be eligible to have your payment reduced under this program, you must document not only that your income is insufficient to meet the payment but also that you do not have “sufficient liquid assets” to make the payment. I have scrutinized the specs for this program issued by Treasury, and could not find a definition of either “sufficient” or “liquid assets.” It is a thorny issue that Treasury elected not to deal with. In effect, this leaves it up to the servicers to decide, raising the prospect of widely divergent approaches.
Don’t expect me to advise you on how to avoid the intent of this regulation, but I am willing to advise Treasury on how it might have created greater certainty in the rule by defining terms. I would define “liquid assets” as deposits without a specific term plus money market funds, and “sufficient” as an amount exceeding six months of payments.
My guess is that few if any borrowers are going to get caught by the “sufficient liquid assets” rule, that Treasury knows this and put the rule in to cover its backside. It does not want to read press reports about a borrower with millions in the bank successfully obtaining a rate reduction. If it happens, it can be blamed on the servicer. From this standpoint, leaving the rule undefined makes perfect sense.
Whitney UK and Rich Dad Education, a provider of educational programmes in property investment and financial well-being, have drawn up their own POSITIVE advice relating to the current mortgage market.
The advice is:
P lan ahead for the longer term. Try not to sell your home or investment properties unless you absolutely have to. Even if house price dips are making you fearful, historically in the UK, house prices will and do double every 10 years. So the only time you will potentially lose money is when you sell a property prematurely.
O ptions – speak to recommended brokers or lenders to look at your options. The mortgage product market is unlikely to dry up altogether – what you will find though is that only the major lenders will still be offering buy to let products for a short period, but perhaps with lower LTV built in, together with higher short-term interest rates and front end fees.
S supply and demand – understand that economic activity is cyclic and will change over time. The UK Government has said that we will need at least 200,000 new housing units until 2016 and we aren’t keeping up with this target. As demand continues to outstrip supply prices should remain strong. (Source: Whitney Development’s Wealth Club Newsletter: April 2008 Edition).
I nterest rates – economists are predicting that there will be at least two more rate cuts by the end of this year and that even fixed rates may also come down over time.
T ightening of credit? What this refers to is largely the availability of credit and mortgages in the domestic residential sector. For investors, different criteria applies so step on the investor ladder with a credible source of education from Whitney UK and Rich Dad Education.
I nformed. Keep yourself informed of how market changes affect you in real, not perceived terms.
V ictim mentality. Avoid this by finding solutions for your problems. With every perceived problem comes a viable solution. Don’t forget that as consumers we keep the banks and credit card companies in business! If one lender can’t help you, there is one out there who can and will.
E mployment levels are at record highs and stand at fractionally under 30 million people. Unemployment stands at approximately 1.6 million.
Go here to see the original:
A POSITIVE approach to the mortgage market
The mortgage business has been hard for many mortgage professionals as the real estate market has cools from a flippers dream or from the idea that just owning a home makes you rich. I’ve seen many many mortgage originators and brokers go into other lines of work and honestly who could blame them?
With Massachusetts adding the requirement of licensing, the number is now being seen as falling as much as 80% from the height of the real estate boom when mortgage brokers made easy money and lots of people entered the field. This comes from the Massachusetts Mortgage Bankers Association.
Read the article from the Boston Business Journal! Thanks go to Danielle Rocheford for forwarding the article to me.
There is likely a silver lining in this for the mortgage brokers that stick. They will have far less competition and the ones that stay should have a lot more business I’d guess.
See the original post here:
Number of mortgage brokers may be dropping by 80%!
