jfksellshomes: Land of the free, home of the brave, but not the cheap appraisal labor

7/05/2013

Land of the free, home of the brave, but not the cheap appraisal labor

On this day after the celebration of our country's birthday, I found an interesting article about Bank of America. This was written by Jen Wilson of the Charlotte Business Journal:

" Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) has opened a unit in India to handle the work of reviewing home-valuation reports as the Charlotte-based bank tries to rebuild its share of the U.S. mortgage market at a lower cost, Bloomberg reports.

Workers in BofA’s new Bangalore, India, unit follow checklists to determine whether the appraisal paperwork — one of the biggest problems in the mortgage business, according to one independent banking consult — has been completed properly, according to the report.

The move comes as BofA eliminated U.S. positions in its appraisal division, according to Bloomberg."

I guess I find it interesting because of the name of the bank...

Good To Know

Those who had a short sale or foreclosure in the last few years are now beginning to re-enter the housing market. How long do they need to wait? According to Laura Neves of imortgage:

"The rule of thumb is, on a short sale we need it to have been closed for two years for a conventional loan with 20% down, and 3 years on FHA. (Note:Buyer must demonstrate re-established satisfactory credit score per guidelines on a purchase transaction only. Not all buyers will quality)."

Lenders are being very picky so it's a good idea to be pre-approved, not just pre-qualified before putting an offer on a home to buy.

The Word on the Street...

Mortgage rates continue to be the lead story in the financial press, and for good reason – rates are up a full-percentage point over the past month and are now at July 2011 levels.

It's understandable that the spike in mortgage rates would slow refinance activity. Indeed ,that's been the case: Refinances have dropped considerably over the past month, and the latest weekly data show yet another drop, with activity falling 5%. Refinances are now at a two-year low, and their percentage of overall lending has dropped to 67%.

Purchase activity is a different story: Purchases were up, rising 2% from the previous week. Total purchase applications are actually up 16% year over year, indicating homebuyers have yet to be put off by rising mortgage rates.

jfksellshomes

7/05/2013

Land of the free, home of the brave, but not the cheap appraisal labor

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