Record low mortgage rates not enticing buyers

Payday loan 'alternatives'

Even with sellers slashing home prices the mortgage market is a dismal reflection of a housing market that can't hack it without the expired federal tax credit and other government incentives.

by Broderick Perkins
© 2010 DeadlineNews.Com


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Deadline Newsroom - The number of customers applying for a home purchase mortgage fell to the lowest level in 13 years last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) report for the week ending June 4.

Even with sellers slashing home prices the mortgage market is a dismal reflection of a housing market that can't hack it without the expired federal tax credit and other government incentives.

Other reasons consumers aren't buying lower rates include:

• Homeowners can't refinance because they remain "underwater" on their mortgages.

• Jobs. Enter, the new NINJA loan. No income. No Job. No approval.

• Credit scores have been damaged by unemployment, unaffordable interest resets on adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs), loan workouts, foreclosures and other distress on the home front.

• While consumers are suffering lower credit scores and weaker financials, lenders are demanding higher scores and stronger personal asset profiles.

Get the full story here: "Mortgage rates not low enough for housing consumers"

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Broderick Perkins, an award-winning consumer journalist, parlayed 30 years of old-school journalism into a digital real estate news service, the San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group, including DeadlineNews.Com, a real estate news and consulting service and Web site, and the Deadline Newsroom, DeadlineNews.Com's news back shop.

Perkins was the first Examiner to cover three beats for the Examiner.com news service:
• National Offbeat News Examiner
• National Consumer News Examiner
• National Real Estate Examiner

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