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Tag: Mortgage Banks/Real Estate Credit

  • ‘He’s not willing to live in my house because it has fewer amenities’: My boyfriend wants me to move in and pay half his monthly costs. Is that fair?

    ‘He’s not willing to live in my house because it has fewer amenities’: My boyfriend wants me to move in and pay half his monthly costs. Is that fair?

    Dear Quentin,

    My boyfriend owns a house with a 30-year mortgage balance of $150,000 on a 4% interest rate. He has $275,000 in cash and retirement accounts. He is retired.

    My house is paid off. I have $50,000 in cash and retirement accounts. I would like to retire within one to two years.

    We wish to cohabitate but have not been able to agree on a fair “rent” to pay. He is not willing to live in my house because it has fewer amenities. 

    “‘He believes I should pay half of his monthly cost at his nicer, more expensive house. He could pay off his mortgage and save $600 a month, but he likes to have cash. ‘”

    He believes I should pay half of his monthly cost at his nicer, more expensive house. He could pay off his mortgage and save $600 a month, but he likes to have cash. 

    I have forgone that luxury and paid off my mortgage. I am now working on building my savings. I don’t feel it is fair for me to pay half of the mortgage interest expense. 

    I don’t know what repair and maintenance costs should be expected from me, if I have no equity in his house. There are many points of view, none of which feels fair.

    These are the options he set forth:

    · I live in his house and thus get to rent mine out. Pay him half of what I net from that rental.

    · Pay half of the actual costs of living expenses and upkeep on his house while I live there.

    · Pay him what I pay to live in my current home for taxes, insurance, and utilities: $800/month.

    What say you, Moneyist?

    House Owner & Girlfriend 

    Dear House Owner,

    I’m sure your house is just as nice. And just because he believes you should pay half his costs, does not make it so. If you are paying no mortgage on your own home, I don’t believe you should pay one red cent more to live in his home. 

    That is to say, you should not come out of this arrangement paying more, just because (a) he would like you to live in his home and (b) he would like you to help him pay off his mortgage, or his tax and maintenance.

    You both made different choices: Yours was to have a home that’s free-and-clear of a mortgage, so you can spend this time building up your savings for retirement and/or a rainy day. 

    You have worked hard to pay off your mortgage, and you have $50,000 in savings, less than 20% of your boyfriend’s savings. He has $150,000 left on his mortgage, and that’s his choice.

    “If his aim is to find help to pay off half of his mortgage, he can find a tenant to do that for him. ”

    You are not the answer to his long-term financial plans, you are his partner in life. If his aim is to find help to pay off half of his mortgage, he can find a tenant to do that for him. What do you expect of you? Forget what he expects.

    By the way he is approaching this arrangement, it seems like he wants the equivalent of a detergent and a fabric softener — a girlfriend and a tenant in one handy bottle to keep his financial plans smooth and clean.

    Bottom line: You should not compromise any plans to build your nest egg. The lady’s not for turning. Only acquiesce to his plan if — with the help of an actual tenant in your home — it helps you too. 

    In other words, the desired outcome for you is more important than the suggestions he has put forward. He could save $600 a month! That’s his business. Not yours. What do you want to have in your pocket every month?

    Figure out what you want, and then work your way backwards based on that goal. For instance, if you can pay him $800 a month, charge $1,600 rent for your home, and put $800 towards your savings, do that.

    You’ve come a long way. Don’t let these negotiations scupper that.

    Check out the Moneyist private Facebook group, where we look for answers to life’s thorniest money issues. Readers write in to me with all sorts of dilemmas. Post your questions, tell me what you want to know more about, or weigh in on the latest Moneyist columns.

    The Moneyist regrets he cannot reply to questions individually.

    By emailing your questions, you agree to having them published anonymously on MarketWatch. By submitting your story to Dow Jones & Co., the publisher of MarketWatch, you understand and agree that we may use your story, or versions of it, in all media and platforms, including via third parties.

    Also read:

    I built a property portfolio with 23 units while we were dating. How much should I give to my fiancé in our prenup?

    ‘We will not outlive our money’: How can we give $10,000 to our nieces and nephews without offending the rest of the family?

    ‘S‘I hate to be cheap’: Is it still acceptable to arrive at a friend’s house for dinner with just one bottle of wine?

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  • Mortgage industry group predicts recession next year, expects mortgage rates to come back down from 7%

    Mortgage industry group predicts recession next year, expects mortgage rates to come back down from 7%

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A mortgage industry group is expecting a recession to hit the U.S. economy.

    “We’re forecasting a recession for next year,” Mike Fratantoni, senior vice president and chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association, said Sunday during the industry group’s annual conference in Nashville, Tenn. 

    “The upside of that potentially for the industry is, that’s the thing that’s likely going to bring rates down a little bit,” he added.

    Also see: Mortgage bankers forecast rates to drop to 5.4% in 2023. Here’s what that means for home prices.

    In a statement, Fratantoni said the MBA’s forecast calls for a recession in the first half of 2023, and predicts the unemployment rate will rise from 3.5% to 5.5% by the end of next year.

    “We’re beginning to see some significant signs of softening in the labor market,” Frantantoni said. 

    He expects companies to no longer be scrambling to fill job openings, and that hiring will eventually cool off.

    On average in 2023, expect the economy to lose 25,000 jobs per month, he said, and end the year with employment at 5.5%. 

    That’s in stark contrast to the latest unemployment rate in September, which was 3.5%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    “So a very, very different job market to today,” Frantantoni said. “I do expect the next couple of months are gonna be a pretty abrupt transition.”

    With a recession on the horizon, expect mortgage rates to come down to close to 5.4% at the end of next year, he said, versus the 7%-plus rates that the market is seeing today. 

    “We are holding to our view that this is a spike right now, driven by financial-market dislocation, heightened level of volatility in the market and this global slowdown we’re about to experience, the likelihood of recession in the U.S. will begin to pull this number,” Fratantoni said.

    Mike Fratantoni, senior vice president and chief economist for the MBA, speaks in Nashville on Sunday.


    AARTHI SWAMINATHAN

    Given the massive rise in rates this year, with the 30-year fixed rate averaging 6.94% last week as compared to 3.85% a year ago, many potential home buyers have decided to wait as their projected monthly mortgage payments have become unaffordable.

    Home sales have plunged, and are dragging down home prices. Sellers are also making more concessions in their attempts to woo buyers.

    As a result of the slowdown, the MBA is expecting total mortgage origination volume to fall to $2.05 trillion in 2023 from the $2.26 trillion expected in 2022. 

    They’re also expecting purchase originations to drop 3%, and refinances by 24%.

    Fratantoni also expects delinquencies to rise from 40-year lows.

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  • Weekend reads: What to expect now for home prices, stocks and bonds

    Weekend reads: What to expect now for home prices, stocks and bonds

    This week Freddie Mac said the average interest rate on a 30-year mortgage loan in the U.S. had climbed to 6.70% from 6.29% the week before and 6.02% two weeks ago. The average rate a year ago was 3.01%.

    Would-be sellers who have low-rate mortgage loans are reluctant if it means they need to take out a new loan to fund their next home. Would-be buyers are forced out of the market, as the monthly principal and interest payment for a new 30-year loan, based on Freddie Mac’s figures, has increased 53% from a year ago.

    Home-sale contracts are being canceled at a record pace in some areas.

    But these factors could lead to a buyer’s market in 2023 if prices plunge. Here are the areas economists expect to see the largest home price declines.

    The strong dollar and the stock market

    Khaled Desouki/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

    The dollar has strengthened as the Federal Reserve has taken the lead among central banks in raising interest rates. This is reverberating across the world, making it more costly for countries to make interest payments on dollar-denominated debt and increasing the cost of any commodity traded in dollars.

    The rising dollar lowers prices on imported goods for Americans and can also lower their international travel costs. But Michael Wilson, Morgan Stanley’s chief equity strategist, warns that earnings for the S&P 500
    SPX,
    -1.51%
    would decline as a direct result of the strong dollar and called the current foreign-exchange backdrop an “untenable situation” for the stock market.

    On the other hand: Companies are trying to blame weak earnings on the strong U.S. dollar, but that’s a lame excuse

    This is what happens when bearish sentiment runs high

    Michael Brush interviews David Baron, co-manager of the Baron Focused Growth Fund
    BFGFX,
    -0.76%    ,
    who describes opportunities cropping up as institutional investors dump stocks. He also explains his winning long-term strategy, which has included a very long-term investment in Tesla Inc.
    TSLA,
    -1.10%    .

    A a positive sign for the stock market: These 12 stocks have seen strong insider buying

    Time to buy bonds?

    When interest rates rise, bond prices fall. But it also means that if you have money to put to work, bond yields have become much more attractive.

    Khuram Chaudhry, a European equity quantitative strategist at JPMorgan in London, makes the case for buying bonds now.

    What about preferred stocks?

    Getty Images/iStockphoto

    Preferred stocks feature stated dividend yields and prices that move the same way bond prices do. That means prices for many issues are now heavily discounted to face value and that current yields are much higher than they were at the end of 2021. Here’s an in-depth guide on how to research preferred stocks and make your own selections.

    Related: 22 dividend stocks screened for quality and safety

    The problem with macro market projections

    Stanley Druckenmiller predicted a “hard landing” in 2023 for the U.S. economy while speaking at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha Investor Summit on Sept. 28.


    Bloomberg

    Stanley Druckenmiller predicted a U.S. recession in 2023 as a result of monetary policy tightening by the Federal Reserve. That may not be much of a stretch, considering that the U.S. economy contracted during the first half of 2022, according to revised GDP figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

    But investors should be careful — macro forecasts often turn out to be incorrect, Mark Hulbert warns.

    More on stocks: It’s the worst September for stocks since 2008. What that means for October.

    Recessions and your retirement plans

    Getty Images

    Alessandra Malito has advice on how retirees and people planning for retirement can prepare for tough economic times.

    Also: Reset your retirement calculator now for today’s bleaker stock markets and make sure you’re still on track

    Investors tremble and a central bank scrambles

    The Bank of England’s headquarters.


    Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

    After the new U.K. government of Prime Minister Liz Truss announced a massive tax cut along with a new spending program to help counter rising fuel costs and new borrowing, the pound hit a new low against the dollar on Sept. 26 as investors and money managers panicked and sold-off U.K. government bonds. Steve Goldstein explains how and why the Bank of England came tot the rescue.

    A closer look at reverse mortgages

    Getty Images/iStockphoto

    Beth Pinsker digs deeply to explain how to use a reverse mortgage as a financial planning tool.

    Poking a little fun at Elon Musk

    Getty Images

    After Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the upcoming Cybertruck would be sufficiently waterproof to “serve briefly as a boat,” the San Francisco Bay Ferry offered this advice to patrons.

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