(This is Part 1 of a two-part series.)

Wholesale mortgage prices are those quoted by wholesale lenders to their clients -- mortgage brokers and smaller ("correspondent") lenders. (I will use the word "client" to cover both.) Clients mark up these prices to offer retail prices to borrowers.

Wholesale price data have never been...

(This is Part 2 of a two-part series. Read Part 1, "Too much equity can deny homeowners loan mods.")

The first article in this series pointed out that when a mortgage borrower is unable to make the required payments, the servicing agent has an...

(This is Part 1 of a two-part series.)

A loan modification is a change in the loan contract agreed to by the lender and the borrower. The modifications of major concern today are those designed to reduce the payment burden on borrowers faced with impending rate increases that will make the mortgage payment unaffordable to...

"My house is worth $400,000. The balance of my 5.5 percent first mortgage is $270,000, and I need $50,000 to pay off debts and make some improvements. I spoke to three mortgage brokers, and all advised me to refinance my first mortgage for about $325,000. I was thinking that I would just take a second mortgage for $50,000, but the ...

I recently returned from a boat tour in Indonesia, and was impressed with the quality of the service provided by the tour company. The employees go out of their way to make the experience a pleasurable one for the customers. Other tour companies we have used in the past were equally good. My impressions are consistent with those of many other...

In a recent article, I examined Bank of America's new no-fee program for house purchasers, under which lender and third-party fees are absorbed by the bank. On a fixed-rate mortgage, the borrower pays the interest rate and points, and that's it. Price...

Gifts of equity within the family are common. Parents often provide the down payment on their child's first home purchase. Many parents, however, can't afford a sizeable gift -- among other things, they may be concerned about the adequacy of their assets for retirement. Yet they might welcome an opportunity to help...

In recent weeks, my mailbox has overflowed with messages of distress from borrowers faced with an imminent rate adjustment on their adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs). Most of them want to refinance, but many of those who had earlier taken 100 percent loans are stuck. With the current softness in the housing market, they now owe more...

Most recent commentary on the subprime market looks to removing abuses from that market -- not shutting it down. Underlying this note of caution is an assumption that, while a lot of bad things have happened in the subprime market, on balance it serves a socially useful purpose. While foreclosures are too high, the market has made home...

These days, I hear many complaints from home sellers. Among them: "It's been on the market for nine months with nary a nibble"; "I cut the price three times, still hasn't sold"; and "Three other houses on my block are up for sale, so I took mine down."

In a buyer's market, sellers not only compete with each other, they are also in...