Freddie Mac

With mortgage rates on the rise and the volume of refinancing decreasing, the prevalence of 15-year fixed-rate mortgages remained constant last quarter compared with the first quarter of 1999.Freddie Mac reported that its quarterly refinancing study found the popularity of the 15-year term was unchanged from the first quarter for borrowers holding 30-year mortgages, while it decreased for borrowers with 15- and 20-year terms.According to the study, 31 percent of borrowers refinancing 30-year mortgages decided to refinance into 15-year loans, while 59 percent stayed with the 30-year, both unchanged from the first quarter of 1999.

Last year, almost half of the homeowners who refinanced their mortgages did so for amounts at least 5 percent higher than the balance owed, according to Freddie Mac's annual refinance review.Although the percentage was lower than in 1997, when 59 percent of refinancings were for 5 percent higher or more, the total number of loans refinanced last year was higher.With lower interest rates in 1998 -- the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.94 percent, down from 7.6 percent in 1997 -- homeowners who refinanced were able to lower their mortgage rate by 18 percent vs. 8 percent in 1997.

NEW YORK -- In his annual reports to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shareholders, Chairman Warren Buffett shows a table that pits his investment record against the Standard & Poor's 500 index, the benchmark for most money managers.This year, the reading will look like an aberration. For the first time since 1980, Buffett, widely labeled as one of the world's shrewdest investors, won't beat the market.Buffett compares the annual percentage increases in Berkshire Hathaway's book value -- and there have been nothing but gains starting with 1965 -- with gains and losses in the S&P 500. Berkshire's book value, or net worth, includes its earnings over the years, the market value of its stocks and bonds and adjustments for acquisitions.

Starting next month, private mortgage insurance, which costs many borrowers hundreds of dollars a year, will become a little bit easier for homeowners to eliminate.However, the method for determining how that will be done has sparked some outrage and suspicion among industry professionals.Freddie Mac, the quasi-governmental organization that purchases mortgages from lenders and uses them to back new securities, announced last month that it would now accept a real estate broker's evaluation of a property in determining whether a borrower can cancel his private mortgage insurance.

WASHINGTON -- It's one of the hidden success stories of the Clinton era. In the great housing boom of the 1990s, black and Latino homeownership has surged to the highest level ever recorded. The number of blacks owning their own home is now increasing nearly three times as fast as the number of whites; the number of Latino homeowners is growing nearly five times as fast as that of whites.These numbers are dramatic enough to deserve more detail. When President Clinton took office in 1993, 42 percent of blacks and 39 percent of Latinos owned their own homes.

For homebuyers who have been frantically shopping to find a home but haven't checked in with their mortgage lender lately, it might be wise to make a call -- rates are on the rise.Mortgages for a 30-year, fixed-rate loan have shot up to 7.75 percent in the Baltimore metropolitan market after having been as low as 6.5 percent last fall.The last time fixed rates were that high in the Baltimore area was Oct. 31, 1997, according to HSH Associates, a New Jersey firm that tracks and analyzes mortgage rates.

With interest rates remaining at affordable levels and home sales challenging last year's records, Freddie Mac expects the healthy housing market to continue into 2000.Freddie Mac supplies funds to lenders by purchasing mortgages and repackaging them into marketable securities. It expects the economy to grow by 2.5 percent next year.While mortgage originations for single-family homes swelled to $1.5 trillion in 1998, Freddie Mac economists expect 1999 to finish lower at $1.3 trillion, a 10 percent drop.

THOUSANDS OF homeowners who think they'll be able to stop paying for mortgage insurance with the help of a new federal law that takes effect July 29 could be in for a rude shock.They may discover that no matter what Congress decreed, they are locked into costly monthly premiums for years. That's because, often unknown to the homeowners, their mortgages carry fine-print terms requiring insurance coverage for a mandatory period of time -- sometimes as long as seven years.This is particularly true for thousands of loans owned by the behemoths of the mortgage industry, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.Though both companies have announced that they will allow eligible homeowners to request insurance cancellation when increased property values have pushed their equity in their homes to 20 percent, that policy has a little-known but important exception: Owners whose mortgages are part of "negotiated" packages purchased by Fannie or Freddie from major lenders may not be covered.

Homeowners using "jumbo" mortgages to finance their luxury homes end up paying more than a quarter-percentage point higher than those who qualify within conforming-loan guidelines.A Freddie Mac mortgage market survey found that when mortgage rates peaked in August, jumbo mortgages -- those that exceed Freddie Mac's conforming loan limit of $240,000 -- rose to 8.46 percent, while interest rates for conforming loans -- those at $240,00 or below -- were at 8.15 percent."This translates into a $12 billion per year savings for families with conforming fixed-rate loans," said Frank Nothaft, deputy chief economist for Freddie Mac.According to Freddie Mac, the average homebuyer with a $330,000 jumbo mortgage paid an additional $865 per year in interest.

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have announced that they will raise the limit on conventional loans for single-family homes from $240,000 to $252,700.The 5.3 percent change was made to keep pace with the increase in the national average home price between October 1998 and October 1999 as recorded by the Federal Housing Finance Board.Freddie Mac estimates that the higher loan limit will allow more than 150,000 additional families to qualify for conventional loans.The increase takes effect Jan. 1.Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy mortgages issued by banks, thrift institutions and other mortgage lenders, and then package the loans and sell them to investors as mortgage-backed securities.

Va. company buys Foundation Coal In a merger that would create the country's third-largest coal producer, Foundation Coal Holdings Inc. of Linthicum Heights said yesterday that it intends to combine with a Virginia competitor in a $2 billion deal. The merger of Foundation and Alpha Natural Resources Inc., based in Abingdon, Va., would create a new company that operates a combined 59 coal mines and 14 processing plants, and is worth more than $3.5 billion, company officials said. The merger is an all-stock transaction valued at about $2 billion, with the new company assuming roughly $530 million in debt from Foundation.

The headlines have had a similar ring: A Frederick County man underwater on his mortgage kills himself and his family. A man accused of financial improprieties does the same while staying at a Towson hotel. A top official with Freddie Mac, a company with major money woes, is found dead in an apparent suicide. With the economic crisis showing little sign of easing - and with a known link between suicide and unemployment rates - experts warn that stressful life events such as losing a job, a home or savings can unhinge those who are vulnerable to harming themselves and others.

U.S. mortgage rates again at record low WASHINGTON: Rates on 30-year mortgages fell to the lowest level on record for the second consecutive week after the Federal Reserve launched a new effort to assist the staggering U.S. housing market. Mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac said Thursday that average rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 4.78 percent this week, from 4.85 percent last week. It was the lowest in the history of Freddie Mac's survey, which dates back to 1971. Rates are down by more than a full percentage point from a year ago. "Mortgage rates followed other interest rates lower this week amid reports of slower economic growth," Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist, said in a prepared statement.

Citigroup stock falls below $1 a share CHARLOTTE, N.C. : Shares of Citigroup Inc., once the nation's most powerful bank, fell below $1 a share yesterday. The stock was as low as 97 cents in late morning trading and down 11 cents, or 9.7 percent, to close at $1.02 for the day. New York-based Citi has lost more than 85 percent of its value this year and is down more than 95 percent from a year ago, as the bank is pummeled by souring loans and the impact of the recession. But Citigroup's shares will remain on the New York Stock Exchange.

Though the final operational guidelines of the Obama administration's foreclosure-avoidance programs won't be released until Wednesday, key details have begun surfacing on the refinancing opportunities that will be available to an estimated 4 million to 5 million homeowners whose mortgages are owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Under the Obama plan, borrowers who have made their monthly payments on time but are saddled with interest rates...

Maryland-based Marcor acquired by Nuprecon/CST Nuprecon/CST, the nation's second-largest full-service demolition and remediation company, said it acquired Maryland-based Marcor Remediation this week, which increases the company's work force to more than 1,500 employees nationwide. Launched more than 25 years ago in the basement of a Catonsville rowhouse, Marcor's primary business is asbestos removal and demolition. But in recent years, the company has been involved in several high-profile environmental cleanups, including in the aftermath of the Sept.

Aberdeen Proving Ground signs first BRAC tenant A business park under construction outside the north entrance of Aberdeen Proving Ground has signed its first tenant related to federal base restructuring, the park's developer said yesterday. Columbia-based Corporate Office Properties Trust said it has a long-term lease with the MITRE Corp. for 54,000 square feet in the first building under way in North Gate Business Park. The three-story building is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of next year.

Martek income is down Columbia-based Martek Biosciences Corp. reported yesterday net income of $10.5 million, or 31 cents per diluted share, for the fourth quarter that ended Oct. 31, down from $18.3 million, or 55 cents per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2007. The manufacturer of infant formula reported revenue of $90.4 million, up 10 percent from $82 million in the corresponding period in 2007. Excluding the impact of tax benefits, the company's net income would have been $8.9 million, or 27 cents per diluted share, compared with $7.5 million or 23 cents per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2007.

You may have seen headlines about the latest public and private efforts to help financially distressed homeowners cope with their mortgage payments. But you might not have caught key details that could have a personal impact on you or people you know - now or in the recession months ahead. One of the most ambitious mass-market "loan modification" programs was outlined Nov. 11 by the Federal Housing Finance Agency - overseer of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - along with the 33 banks and mortgage servicers that make up the private-sector Hope Now Alliance.

WASHINGTON - In an attempt to keep struggling homeowners from losing their houses, federal officials announced yesterday a simpler and quicker procedure for modifying loans held by mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and expressed hope that it would be adopted by the entire industry. The plan targets people who have missed three or more mortgage payments, live in the home and have not filed for bankruptcy protection. The goal is to make cut the payments to no more than 38 percent of a household's monthly gross income by reducing the interest rate, deferring payments on part of the principal and extending the term of the loan to as long as 40 years.