Because of a huge drop in home values, more and more households are having underwater mortgages. Citing data from Zillow.com, Bob Massey of REWealthCoach.com reveals that the percentage of single-family homes with underwater mortgages jumped from 23.2% to 27% in the fourth quarter of 2010. According to him, a report from Zillow has shown that home values declined by 5.9% during the same period from 2009 and many experts believe that home values will further decline by 5% this year. Check out Bob’s post to read the rest of his story.

It seems that there’s another ray of hope for struggling homeowners in California. According to Cory Boatright of ShortSaleFundamentals.com, distressed households are likely to receive more assistance that will enable them to keep their homes. He says the money that will be used for the initiative will come from the $6.5-million fund provided by Countrywide Financial Corp. Why did Countrywide Financial agree to provide a generous amount of money for the foreclosure-hit state? Find out why by reading Cory’s article.

Although Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke assured the people that interest rates will remain low in the coming months, Bob Massey of REWealthCoach.com believes that rates are likely to increase “sooner than later.” He stresses that economic activities in Europe and other emerging markets, including the sudden drop in Eurodollar futures, might cause an interest rate hike. Discover the other factors that might influence a sudden rate increase by checking out Bob’s post now.

For those who want to refinance their mortgage, here’s a quick heads up from Freddie Mac. According to Bob Massey of REWealthCoach.com, starting on May 1, the government-sponsored enterprise will implement new rules that will require the verification of funds for all refinanced mortgages. He says the move is in line with efforts to reduce the number of defaults. Read the rest of Bob’s post to learn more.

For those investors who want to learn more about their mortgage rate, Shaun of ShaunsRE.Blogspot.com has something that you’ll find very useful. In his latest post, he shares a matrix from Fannie Mae that shows what risk factors will increase your mortgage interest rate and by how much. Check out Shaun’s post and find out what this nifty mortgage interest rate matrix is all about.

Apparently, many loan servicers have failed to help many homeowners keep their properties. According to Bob Massey of REWealthCoach.com, the December HAMP Scorecard showed that failed trials and loan modification requests have increased by 22%. It was also revealed that the largest loan mod backlogs were held by the Bank of America with 73,185, followed by JP Morgan Chase and Citi Mortgage. Read on to learn more.

As many parts of the country are facing declining home values, there is a high probability that many homeowners will resort to strategic defaults in the coming months. According to Bob Massey of REWealthCoach.com, an “A. Gary Shilling’s December Insight” report reveals that some real estate markets will see a 20% decline in home values before prices bottomed out. Economist Nouriel Roubini, Bob says, shares the same sentiment as the conservative economist believes that a 5% decrease in home prices will cause a $8 million increase in negative equity. This will reportedly encourage millions of homeowners to walk away from their mortgages. Read Bob’s post to learn more.

It seems that lenders and mortgage servicers are in for another rocky year. Citing data from Moody’s, Bob Massey of REWealthCoach.com says that 2011 is likely to be a bad year for those who make money in the mortgage industry. According to him, there’s a high probability that government regulators will keep closer tabs on mortgage servicers because of the recent “robo-signer” scandal and propose more loan modification programs. What are the other changes in the mortgage industry that are likely to take place this year? Read the rest of Bob’s post to find out.

The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform is urging the government to slash the mortgage tax credit to control the country’s budget deficit. According to Bob Massey of REWealthCoach.com, the government watchdog recently submitted a proposal to eliminate mortgage tax credit for second homes. He adds that the commission also wants to limit the credit to mortgages from the current $1 million to below $500,000. However, industry experts expressed objection to the proposal, saying that such a move is unadvisable. Why do they think so? Read Bob’s post to find out.

One of country’s biggest financial institutions has received a poor mark for the way it handled mortgage delinquencies. Cory Boatright of ShortSaleFundamentals.com reveals that the Bank of America (BoA) got the lowest score from a Moody’s study when it comes to loan modification and foreclosure resolution. The Moody’s study, which compared the nation’s top 7 banks including JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, reportedly measured the banks’ speed and readiness at dealing with delinquent loans among other things. Discover the possible reasons why the financial giant received a low score by checking out Cory’s post now.

It is common knowledge that the country is struggling with the growing number of foreclosed homes and it seems that it would take quite some time before we see an end to this particular problem. Citing data from the Lender Processing Services (LPS), Bob Massey of REWealthCoach.com reveals that there are more than seven million homeowners who have delinquent mortgages or are facing foreclosure. Despite government efforts to help the people keep their homes, he says the country’s foreclosure rate is increasing yet again. Read the rest of Bob’s article to learn more.

Despite measures to help struggling homeowners to save their homes, it seems that more and more residential properties are going underwater. Citing data from real estate website Zillow.com, Bob Massey of REWealthCoach.com reveals that the percentage of single family homes that are worth less than their mortgages inched up to 23.2% from 22.5% in the third quarter of the year. He adds that Las Vegas and Phoenix are in bad shape as a huge percentage of properties in these cities are underwater. Read on to learn more.

Despite the controversy surrounding these financial institutions, Wells Fargo and Bank of America (BoA) have been chosen as the nation’s mortgage leaders. In his latest post, Bob Massey of REWealthCoach.om reveals that the San Francisco, California-based Wells Fargo has been chosen by Mortgage Daily as top mortgage originator. Bank of America, on the other hand, was touted as the country’s leading mortgage servicer. Read on to learn more.