Posts from the "mortgages" category
New Mortgage Reviews on SmartHippo
If you’re a regular visitor to SmartHippo, you may have noticed something new. SmartHippo now features consumer reviews of banks and mortgage companies front and center.
Why are mortgage reviews important? In a volatile market, with mortgage rates changing on a daily basis (or even more, depending on the lender) we felt it was important to use the power of the community to not just compare mortgage rates but also consumer experiences with lenders.
Consumer reviews include an overall rating as well as sub-ratings on the following aspects of their interaction with their lender:
- Customer Service
- Rate & loan terms
- Closing terms disclosure
- Closing process
Here’s a sampling of mortgage reviews from last month:
Do you have a mortgage experience you’d like to share with the SmartHippo community? Write a review and help the herd.
Ed McMahon, Evander Holyfield at Risk of Foreclosure
The mortgage crisis spares no one, or so it seems.
First came news that pitchman Ed McMahon had defaulted on his $4.8 million mortgage with Countrywide. He explained his situation to CNN’s Larry King this way:
If you spend more money than you make, you know what happens. You know, a couple of divorces thrown in, a few things like that. And, you know, things happen.
![Holyfield: \"Not broke, just not liquid.\"](http://blog.smarthippo.com/wordpress/wp-content/holyfield_evander.jpg "Holyfield: \\"Not broke, just not liquid.\\"")
Then came news that heavyweight champion Evander Holyfeld was also at risk of foreclosure due to his defaulting on a $10 million loan from Washington Mutual.
In the case of McMahon, being famous does have its advantages, however. He claims to have been trying to sell his home for two years with no takers. But after news broke of his ordeal, interest in purchasing him home — asking price $6.25 million — is up. In case you’re in the market, Trulia has details regarding the property.
California’s Next Mortgage Crisis
With California being particularly hard hit by falling home prices (a 26% drop in February compared to the previous year), Slate suggests the next wave will be prime borrowers simply walking away from mortgages that no longer make financial sense.
Lenders had no reservations about selling borrowers loans with rising payments that would be poisonous in a rising market. Now it seems borrowers have no reservations about leaving those lenders with the risks they begged to take.
You can read the full article here.
The Upside Down American Dream
The drop in real estate prices has left many Americans upside down — meaning they owe more on their mortgage than what their home is worth.
Morgan at blownmortgage.com observes that some of these people have no problem making their payments, but are wondering if they should just walk away anyway. He says that for some, The American dream is no longer home ownership; It’s getting out of their home.
Are you upside down? What do you think? Add your comments at the end of this post.