A weekly thing over here - a gracious thank you to the sponsors that support Blown Mortgage.  We have two new sponsors this week:
The Truth About Mortgage - is a great blog providing all sorts of mortgage-related information; including the inside tips and secrets surrounding how mortgages work. A great reference for anyone wanting to […]

If you’re not on the Blown Mortgage email list you could be missing out (depending on your opinion of this site, that is). Blown Mortgage publishes a weekly email that goes in to a bit more depth on the hot issues of the week. The last two issues are linked below.
Note: Even if […]

I sit in Redfin’s West Wing, with the folks who answer our telephones in easy earshot, and most of our software engineers everywhere else. It’s a pleasant place, which every day seems to turn up strong opinions, small revelations, useful squibs, useless facts.
It seems a shame that we go to such great lengths to figure […]

It’s been a busy news day already as President Bush outlined his initial plans to for the government to aid in softening the mortgage and housing disaster.  You can read more about it here, here, and here.
From Bush’s speech this morning:
On Friday, Bush said he planned to:

Urge Congress to pass legislation that would give the […]

Casual observers may smile at the names of condominiums that strain to convey a sense of luxury or privilege that bears no relation to their design or setting. But in the big-money world of condo development, where a lifestyle is being sold along with the floor plan, names matter.
The christening of any product “” whether […]

Housing Market Decline Impacts First-time Buyers America’s shifting housing market is having a ripple effect on buyers of different income levels and causing some mortgage companies to close. We asked Mark Zandi, Chief Economist, Moody’s Economy.com about the effect that this downturn is having on individual groups of people, starting with first-time buyers.

MARK ZANDI, Chief […]

Caveat emptor, qui ignorae non debuit quod jus alienum emit.- Let a purchaser, who ought not to be ignorant of the amount and nature of the interest, exercise proper caution.
The common law for the resale of real estate does not imply any promises of quality, habitability or reasonable fitness for a particular purpose. In […]

Countrywide issued an official response to the scathing New York Times expose on the mortgage lender’s alleged institutionalized practice of steering borrowers in to high cost loans.  The lengthy, 3 page statement can be found here. (PDF)
In short, Countrywide categorically denies institutionalized steering and highlights everything the company does to ensure the highest percentage of […]

As I mentioned in my last post, Option One has switched their underwriting guidelines from subprime to Fannie-eligible only according to this email below. While its understandable, I can’t see how you make a profitable business model out of it right now. There are tons of players who have been servicing the A-paper […]

Bloomberg is reporting today that the sale of Option One, H&R Block’s subprime mortgage unit, may be in jeopardy as the company is in default of many of the originally agreed-to deal points with buyer Cerberus Capital Management.
From Bloomberg:
H&R Block Inc., the biggest U.S. tax- preparation company, said it may shut a subprime-mortgage unit if […]