In the News
35 TX DOT
Houston District of Texas Department of Transportation is conducting a Major
Corridor Feasibility Study for an approximate 47-mile segment of SH 35, located
in Harris and Brazoria Counties, from I- 45 in Downtown Houston to SH 288 in
the City of Angleton. This study will be used to evaluate all reasonable alternative
modes of transportation and travel routes and select the Most Feasible
Alternative that will improve existing and future mobility and safety conditions
along the SH 35 corridor. Cities and communities along the corridor include
Houston, Pearland, Brookside Village, Alvin, Manvel, Hillcrest Village, Danbury
and Angleton.
Look for the conclusion of this study in the Fall 2007.
For complete information please click on the TX DOT link to the Right of this
screen
Houston District of Texas Department of Transportation is conducting a Major
Corridor Feasibility Study for an approximate 47-mile segment of SH 35, located
in Harris and Brazoria Counties, from I- 45 in Downtown Houston to SH 288 in
the City of Angleton. This study will be used to evaluate all reasonable alternative
modes of transportation and travel routes and select the Most Feasible
Alternative that will improve existing and future mobility and safety conditions
along the SH 35 corridor. Cities and communities along the corridor include
Houston, Pearland, Brookside Village, Alvin, Manvel, Hillcrest Village, Danbury
and Angleton.
Look for the conclusion of this study in the Fall 2007.
For complete information please click on the TX DOT link to the Right of this
screen
REAL ESTATE
Keep you eyes on the 33-story building at Allen Parkway near Waugh. A
Canadian investor recently purchased 80 units from the Las Vegas based
Hallier Properties, Group.
The units will be resold. They are listed at prices from $375,000.00 to $2
Million.
More information on this please visit Houston Chronicle 3/31/07 Canadians
buy Royalton units
Keep you eyes on the 33-story building at Allen Parkway near Waugh. A
Canadian investor recently purchased 80 units from the Las Vegas based
Hallier Properties, Group.
The units will be resold. They are listed at prices from $375,000.00 to $2
Million.
More information on this please visit Houston Chronicle 3/31/07 Canadians
buy Royalton units
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| April 4, 2007, 3:36PM REAL ESTATE LARGER THAN LIFE Development near Pearland to feature busts of presidents Click Here for full Story |
Tips to sell your home - Video
Money magazine has some useful tips on how to help you sell your home.
Money magazine has some useful tips on how to help you sell your home.
Risky loans - alive and well
Please click on title for more articles similar this one.
Despite the subprime meltdown, many lenders are still finding a place for
exotic mortgages.
By Stephen Gandel, Money Magazine senior writer
April 10 2007: 5:25 PM EDT
NEW YORK (Money) -- Option ARMs remain an option. Despite problems in the
mortgage market, brokers say lenders are still willing to make risky loans -
including those that allow borrowers to make monthly payments that don't even
cover the interest (so-called "option ARMs").
Also still widely available are "no-doc" loans, which require no income verification,
and mortgages with no downpayment.
All of those loans fall into the so-called Alternative-A or Alt-A mortgage market,
which caters to people with average credit scores who want riskier mortgages
and has been one of the fastest growing segments of the home loan business in
recent years.
Jim Moore, a mortgage broker in Grand Rapids, Michigan who also writes about
mortgages for Miamibeach411.com, said he recently completed a $3 million
refinance on a second home for a borrower who was out of work. "This wasn't
even a no-documentation loan," says Moore. "This was a no-income loan, and the
lender knew it."
Other brokers say they haven't had to turn away customers, either. George
Duartes, who is the president of Fremont, Calif.-based Horizon Financial
Associates, says his firm continues to be able to find banks who want to lend to
the 30 percent of his clients who fall into the Alt-A category. "So far those clients
have been able to get the loans they wanted," said Duartes.
5 tips if you're in too deep
Losses in loans made to the riskiest borrowers have raised fears that lenders
would cease making many of the exotic loans that have become popular over the
past few years. Nearly 40 percent of all loans made in 2006 fell into the subprime
or Alt-A category.
Like most mortgages, Alt-A loans are sold by lenders to Wall Street investments
banks, which package those loans into bonds called mortgage-backed
securities. Mortgage-backed bonds are then sold to investors. Bonds based on
he Alt-A loans are potentially riskier because in many cases borrowers do not
prove their income, or have very little invested in their house.
In early March, rising delinquencies caused a dramatic sell off in the bonds
backed by mortgages to the borrowers with poor credit quality. Analysts predicted
that the investor distaste for those mortgages would spread into the Alt-A market
as well. Indeed, in the past week two New York lenders American Home Mortgage
and M&T Bank said they would pull back from making loans to the Alt-A market
because investors were willing to pay less for those securities.
But mortgage bond traders say investors, who seemed nervous about the bonds
a month ago, in the past few weeks have been coming back to the market. "We
are seeing demand for these bonds picking up again," said a bond trader at one
of the largest mortgage lenders in the country. He said yields, which rise with
investor concerns, on most Alt-A bonds are up less than one tenth of a percent.
And George Hanzimanolis, who is president-elect of the National Association of
Mortgage Brokers, says that while lenders in some instances are requiring higher
credit scores and larger downpayments, it is only the riskiest of all loans that they
are ceasing to make. "What lenders don't want to do anymore is layer their risks,"
says Hanzimanolis. "Most lenders have walked away from doing a pay option
ARM mortgage when the borrower is just stating their income."
The problem is what may be good news for borrowers for, might have
consequences down the road for lenders and investors. "We are going to see a
lot of people lose lots of money in the Atl-A market," says Richard Bove, an analyst
at Punk Ziegel. "Whatever pull back is happening is just happening for the
moment."
Please click on title for more articles similar this one.
Despite the subprime meltdown, many lenders are still finding a place for
exotic mortgages.
By Stephen Gandel, Money Magazine senior writer
April 10 2007: 5:25 PM EDT
NEW YORK (Money) -- Option ARMs remain an option. Despite problems in the
mortgage market, brokers say lenders are still willing to make risky loans -
including those that allow borrowers to make monthly payments that don't even
cover the interest (so-called "option ARMs").
Also still widely available are "no-doc" loans, which require no income verification,
and mortgages with no downpayment.
All of those loans fall into the so-called Alternative-A or Alt-A mortgage market,
which caters to people with average credit scores who want riskier mortgages
and has been one of the fastest growing segments of the home loan business in
recent years.
Jim Moore, a mortgage broker in Grand Rapids, Michigan who also writes about
mortgages for Miamibeach411.com, said he recently completed a $3 million
refinance on a second home for a borrower who was out of work. "This wasn't
even a no-documentation loan," says Moore. "This was a no-income loan, and the
lender knew it."
Other brokers say they haven't had to turn away customers, either. George
Duartes, who is the president of Fremont, Calif.-based Horizon Financial
Associates, says his firm continues to be able to find banks who want to lend to
the 30 percent of his clients who fall into the Alt-A category. "So far those clients
have been able to get the loans they wanted," said Duartes.
5 tips if you're in too deep
Losses in loans made to the riskiest borrowers have raised fears that lenders
would cease making many of the exotic loans that have become popular over the
past few years. Nearly 40 percent of all loans made in 2006 fell into the subprime
or Alt-A category.
Like most mortgages, Alt-A loans are sold by lenders to Wall Street investments
banks, which package those loans into bonds called mortgage-backed
securities. Mortgage-backed bonds are then sold to investors. Bonds based on
he Alt-A loans are potentially riskier because in many cases borrowers do not
prove their income, or have very little invested in their house.
In early March, rising delinquencies caused a dramatic sell off in the bonds
backed by mortgages to the borrowers with poor credit quality. Analysts predicted
that the investor distaste for those mortgages would spread into the Alt-A market
as well. Indeed, in the past week two New York lenders American Home Mortgage
and M&T Bank said they would pull back from making loans to the Alt-A market
because investors were willing to pay less for those securities.
But mortgage bond traders say investors, who seemed nervous about the bonds
a month ago, in the past few weeks have been coming back to the market. "We
are seeing demand for these bonds picking up again," said a bond trader at one
of the largest mortgage lenders in the country. He said yields, which rise with
investor concerns, on most Alt-A bonds are up less than one tenth of a percent.
And George Hanzimanolis, who is president-elect of the National Association of
Mortgage Brokers, says that while lenders in some instances are requiring higher
credit scores and larger downpayments, it is only the riskiest of all loans that they
are ceasing to make. "What lenders don't want to do anymore is layer their risks,"
says Hanzimanolis. "Most lenders have walked away from doing a pay option
ARM mortgage when the borrower is just stating their income."
The problem is what may be good news for borrowers for, might have
consequences down the road for lenders and investors. "We are going to see a
lot of people lose lots of money in the Atl-A market," says Richard Bove, an analyst
at Punk Ziegel. "Whatever pull back is happening is just happening for the
moment."
Risky loans - alive and
well
Please click on title for
more articles similar this
one.
well
Please click on title for
more articles similar this
one.