Faucets at $1,000 Abound as Home Equity Spigot Opens
A year ago, New Jersey contractor Michael Mroz’s customers were focused on saving money when renovating kitchens and baths, he said. Now, with a resurgence of home equity lending, they’re ready to pay for the best.
“People don’t want granite countertops — they want marble costing at least 25 percent more,” said Mroz, owner of Michael Robert Construction in Westfield, an affluent town less than an hour’s commute to Manhattan. “Money is so cheap today, people can splurge on $1,000 faucets.”
Spending on home renovations is rising to records as banks such as Wells Fargo & Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) increase lending for home equity lines of credit, or Helocs, after property prices this year gained at a pace not seen since the last housing boom. Heloc originations could rise 16 percent this year and reach another five-year high in 2014, according to Mustafa Akcay, an economist for Moody’s Analytics, powering the earnings of Home Depot Inc. (HD) and boosting the economic expansion.
Helocs are making a comeback as the housing market recovers enough to make the junior mortgages a safer bet for banks more than seven years after the beginning of the housing crash that saddled them with billions of dollars of losses. The median price for an existing home probably will gain 11 percent this year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association in Washington, after plunging about 33 percent during the crash.
Rest here…
Because this time it’s different…
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This article on June 20, 2013 says “Last year, Freddie & Fannie tapped 12 percent of foreclosed borrowers for deficiency judgements in an effort to recoup more than 2 billion.”
http://mywaylending.com/2013/fighting-a-florida-deficiency-judgement-after-a-foreclosure/
How much of the 2 billion, in one year, is for force placed insurance commissions for servicers? How much of the commission was for more than 10% of what the home owner was paying before? (even with less coverage eg. some no content insurance, some no liability etc….) How much of the balance does not take into effect the prorated refunds on force placed insurance policies to the servicer? Did the servicer get paid by Fannie Mae and get the prorated refund? Just curious as my loan payoff did not provide a deduction for the prorated refund the bank would receive after my closing on my short sale. The insurance company confirmed the servicer received it.
Where are all the prorated refunds for annual force placed insurance policies if the servicer was switched every couple of months after foreclosure started? Why would it be beneficial to constantly switch services after foreclosure starts when all I see are new annual force placed insurance policies that are very expensive? My friend had three different insurance policies with some over lapping dates on all three policies but different servicers. If JPM is re-embursing Fannie for things it should not have billed them for, is this also being subtracted from the billions in deficiency judgements? I just feel sorry for people that bought when the prices were artificially inflated on homes, their job was allowed to go to the cheapest slave labor country so they could not make their payment, which caused them to have artificially inflated insurance placed on their home. All they have left is a bill, for the inflated insurance, which might include prorated refunds????? And the homeowners stuck with a bill for the inflated house value that the bank created, based on artificial demand, so the homeowner could not sell the home, when the banking system collapsed. Why is the government collecting Billions in fines but leaving these people out there making payments on inflated values and inflated insurance bills? It is time to write off these billions in deficiency judgements. Please don’t give this money to irrelevant first time home buyers and leave these people out there paying for the results of the banks actions.
Can home equity loans get Force Placed Insurance? This is a property secured loan right? What are the current insurance requirements for a Heloc? Why in the past are the loan numbers different, on different Force Placed Insurance policies for the same original home loan? Can the Heloc loans be bundled and sold? After foreclosure starts, can they shift to a new owner, every 2 months, to create a new Force Placed Insurance Policy, if they were not sold to Fannie? Can Heloc loan numbers change? On original home loans, why is the official loan number not on all the closing documents, assigned at origination, and stay with the loan for it’s life? Every time the loan changes hands a dot and a 4 number code (assigned to each loan owner) should be added to the loan. The loan number can tell you the exact owners and chain with 4 little numbers. We still do not have an easy chain of title system available to the public. No loan should be allowed to be transferred once foreclosure starts. This is why loans cannot be investigated properly and allows for multiple loan numbers and over lapping expenses. Rapidly, changing loan locations prevent accountability for duplicate expenses. Can Helocs change the loan number?
The official closing date for loans has not even been established yet. JPMC moved my closing date to the following year after my short sale (even though the property was released, in the right year, in the court house records). They continued to charge for drive by inspections, charged for interest and even added another force placed insurance policy, I recently learned, all after my home sold, according to their own documents. The official closing date needs to be when the third party closing agent has all documents signed, at the closing table and has possession of both parties consideration (money) as the official representative for both parties. Was this done to run up expenses to turn into Fannie Mae after my closing? I am having a hard time thinking of any other reason. Come on, we need an official closing date with a penalty for violations. JPMC sent me a letter saying they can consider my loan paid off when ever they want to “honor” the payment. Is this not racketeering if they are still adding expenses and I no longer own the home? What is the required closing date for a Heloc loan? We need a review of all deficiency judgements in this country. How many people are paying on deficiency judgements in this country? What is the current total balance of deficiency judgements in this country? How many of them are full of fake expenses, excessive expenses or expenses like force placed insurance commissions, for servicers, that Fannie has determined is wrong? Please do an article on Heloc’s and the statistics on deficiency judgements. Thank you so much for your contribution to transparency.