
Zero-down mortgages are making a comeback
CNN
Many Americans would love to buy a home, but they don’t have tens of thousands of dollars to cover a down payment.
Many Americans would love to buy a home, but they don’t have tens of thousands of dollars to cover a down payment. That massive roadblock is being removed by a new zero-percent down mortgage program launched two weeks ago by one of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders. However, the new program, offered by United Wholesale Mortgage, is making some experts nervous about how these loans could backfire on homeowners — especially if home prices stop going to the moon. And for some, it’s bringing back bad memories of the subprime mortgage meltdown that fueled the 2008 financial crisis. UWM, led by Mat Ishbia, the billionaire owner of the Phoenix Suns NBA team, said homebuyers who qualify won’t need to put down an upfront down payment. Instead, the program will allow buyers to pay for 97% of the home’s value with a first mortgage and then provide the remaining 3% (up to $15,000) in the form of a second mortgage. That second mortgage won’t accrue interest, but it will need to be paid back — in full as a balloon payment — when the home is sold, the mortgage is paid off or if the owner refinances.

A typical 401(k) plan only offers stock and bond funds that invest in publicly traded companies. But private companies — traditionally the domain of institutional and high-net-worth investors — have become a significant part of the overall investing market. Do they belong as an option in workplace retirement plans, given that they are often more expensive and less transparent than publicly traded securities?

President Donald Trump’s attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell are so commonplace at this point that they barely register in financial markets these days. The rapidly intensifying multi-pronged efforts by Trump’s advisers to amplify and expand on Trump’s attacks are a good reason to rethink that indifference.