I believe it was Ben Franklin that said, “…the only sure things in life are death and taxes”. Well, it looks like Ben was on point back in 1789 because the tax bug just took a big bite out of our industry. Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae, who have been the two driving forces for the mortgage industry resurgence, have to take a dip (actually, more like a cannonball) into the Treasury watering hole. For the first time since 2012, both GSEs will need to take money from the Department o

Photo by Mike Tinnion on Unsplash Here’s a change-up for everyone… people are standing in lines to pay their taxes! Wait, what? The Wall Street Journal reported that taxpayers who live in counties where property values have risen (Fairfax County, VA; Montgomery County, MD; Norfolk County, MA to name a few) are lining up to prepay their property taxes and stay ahead of the new tax law that is set to kick in at the start of the new year. Before the Christmas Holiday, President

Photo by Jorge Alcala on Unsplash House and Senate negotiators are working on their first edits to the newly proposed tax legislation. Both sides have agreed (not officially) to limit the deduction for mortgage interest on loans to $750,000 or less, as compared to the $500,000 that the House’s original bill called for. Bloomberg has a nice article on the details here. This is a far cry from some game-changing negotiation, but it might soften the blow for the valued tax break.

This past Friday, our friends in D.C. added a late fix to the Senate tax reform bill to help avoid some hefty tax hikes for mortgage servicers. The original tax reform bill called for mortgage servicers to pay taxes upfront on projected income they would have received over the life of a mortgage… yikes! That could have been a MAJOR shakeup for our entire industry. Larger correspondent lenders would have had to adjust their margins and pricing to account for the larger tax pay

Yesterday, Republicans showed us what’s under the hood of their bill to overhaul the US tax code. Obviously, the biggest news for us was the legislation that caps the mortgage interest rate deductions. I read a good article this morning saying that home builders might feel it the most… but I’m not sure it’s going to scare away new home buyers. At least that’s what I think. What are your thoughts? #GOP #Taxes