Redwood Trust Inc. announced Friday that it would partner with Citigroup to issue the first new mortgage-backed bonds in the jumbo mortgage category since 2008. That means more money flowing to lenders in this category, which includes loans too big to be backed by Fannie Mac and Freddie Mac (typically, loans over $417,000 in most markets, but up to $729,750 in some markets now). Interest rates on these big loans have fallen to 5.5 percent this week; they hit 7.95 percent at the height of the financial crisis. Moreover, the spread between jumbo loans and regular loans has fallen sharply, according to Bankrate.com.
read more at http://moneywatch.bnet.com/economic-news/blog/daily-money/good-news-for-luxury-home-sales/321/

(Bloomberg) — Homeowners with mortgages of more than $1 million are defaulting at almost twice the U.S. rate and some are turning to so-called short sales to unload properties as stock-market losses and pay cuts squeeze wealthy borrowers. read more at http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/dec2009/bw20091217_756151.htm

If you owe more than your house is worth and can’t afford your payments, you might be able to sell it for less than you owe — without having to pay the lender the difference.

If you can no longer make your mortgage payments and your home is now worth less than you owe on it, foreclosure may not be your only option.

A short sale, in real-estate terms, is the sale of a house for less than what the owner still owes on the mortgage. If the lender agrees to a short sale, the rest of the homeowner’s debt typically is forgiven. Lenders sometimes agree to the procedure in order to take a small loss and avoid the lengthy and costly foreclosure process.

While there are some significant negative consequences to a short sale, an ever-increasing number of properties are being advertised with that label.
Short sale: Win-win-win situation
The beauty of short sales is that they can be a win-win-win situation for seller, buyer and lender. Here’s how:

* The seller gets out of the mortgage liability without facing bankruptcy.

* The buyer gets the home at a reduced price.

* The lender agrees to a loss it considers minimal without going through a foreclosure and being saddled with an unsalable property.

While it may seem surprising that lenders would agree to accept less than what they are owed, they benefit from the process, too.

“The lender benefits by not having to go through the protracted process of foreclosing on the borrower and then having to put the property on the market and go through the whole marketing process,” says Stuart Wilson, a real-estate agent with Paragon Real Estate in San Francisco.

A market saturated with foreclosures can cost lenders billions — and as much as $50,000 per foreclosure — according to a study by the congressional Joint Economic Committee.