I’ve been doing a lot more mortgage reading this week than usual, so I thought I’d share.

Countrywide Watching – The New Gladiator Sport
A lot of the news this week has been about Countrywide.  On Wednesday I was mesmerized on and off by watching its stock explore the depths below $5.00 per share on rumors of bankruptcy and accusations that they forged documents in a bankruptcy case involving one of their borrowers.  By Friday the news was that Bank of America was in talks to purchase Countrywide, so naturally it was time to make up a new rumor, this time that the Fed was behind the deal and the Federal Government is guaranteeing BofA against Countrywide-related losses.  Next week no doubt we’ll be watching “Countrywide, The Movie”, directed by Oliver Stone.

Mortgage Stocks In Trouble
To see how your other favorite lenders and mortgage related companies are doing, “Mortgage Cicerone” Tony Gallegos recently published this article showing about thirty-five troubled mortgage stocks. 

California is Up in ARMs
BusinessWeek recently published this map of the most prevalent Option Arm areas.  Looks like Sacramento’s fairly “light by California standards” — which is another way of saying we have more even in Sacramento than the state averages in other parts of the country.

But With All That BAD News…

Borrowers, Now Is a Good Time To Buy (And Not Just Because I Say So)
For borrowers who might be able to take advantage of a (generally lower cost) conforming loan, Daily Mortgage Reports had this article discussing changes afoot in loan fees, minimum down payment requirements, and credit based based pricing that will go into effect on March 1st, 2008 at Fannie Mae, with Freddie Mac to follow suit soon. 

The net result is that there may be more and better options available now than after March 1st.  However Huck Ferrill recently emailed in to tell us how FHA may fill in the gaps for 100% financing for some borrowers — Maybe we can prevail upon Huck to work that up into a future post.

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