Looking Back And Looking Ahead : November 24, 2008

November 25, 2008

As the stock market retraced to its 1997 level, mortgage markets improved last week — but not by much. Mortgage rates closed out the week slightly lower, but the week wasn’t without fireworks. Calls of deflation grew louder The automakers left Washington without a bailout Citigroup’s stock price fell to the equivalent of its ATM […]

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Deflation And What It Means To Americans

November 24, 2008

Business television and newspapers have made deflation a hot topic this week and, since Monday, Google has tracked 13,000 mentions of it. Deflation is a recurring cycle in which the prices of goods and services fall. Isolated to one industry or sector, falling prices is the natural result of competition. For example, when DVD players […]

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Plunging Housing Starts Is Bad News For Spring 2009 Home Buyers

November 20, 2008

When it comes to housing data, there are always two questions to consider: How does this impact buyers? How does this impact sellers? This is why housing data is rarely positive or negative on a universal level — one group of Americans is going to see benefit. Today, it’s home sellers. From the government, we […]

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Mortgage Rates Buck Conventional Wisdom And Rise Despite The Plunging Cost Of Living Index

November 20, 2008

If the presence of inflation causes mortgage rates to rise, then the absence of inflation should cause mortgage rates to fall. And, in most markets that’s true. Today, it’s not. Despite a deep, month-over-month dip in consumer prices not seen since 1947, mortgage rates are inching higher this morning. The main reason why rates are […]

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The 2009 FHA Loan Limits For Every U.S. County

November 19, 2008

In March 2008, HUD temporarily raised FHA loan limits around the country. Effective January 1, 2009, FHA loan limits revert. FHA home loans are mortgages made by private lenders and insured by the federal government. Historically, FHA home loans have been “easier” for which to qualify than their conforming mortgage counterparts and, therefore, tend to […]

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Simple Real Estate Definitions : Amortization

November 18, 2008

In the widest definition possible, amortization (pronounced: am-ohr-tih-ZAY-shun) is the scheduled process by which a loan’s principal balance pays down to $0. The opposite of an amortizing loan is an interest only loan for which there is no scheduled principal repayment schedule. With respect to mortgages, amortization is what determines how much of a monthly […]

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The 2009 FHA Loan Limits For Every U.S. County

November 18, 2008

In March 2008, HUD temporarily raised FHA loan limits around the country. Effective January 1, 2009, FHA loan limits revert

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The 2009 FHA Loan Limits For Every U.S. County

November 18, 2008

In March 2008, HUD temporarily raised FHA loan limits around the country. Effective January 1, 2009, FHA loan limits revert

Read the full article →

Looking Back And Looking Ahead : November 17, 2008

November 17, 2008

In another week of up-and-down trading, mortgage rates ended the week slightly higher last week. Ping-pong action like this has defined mortgage markets lately. It’s increasingly common for rates to soar one day, and then come crashing down the next. In response to market volatility, mortgage lenders issued as many as 8 distinct rate sheets […]

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Should you Prepay your Mortgage?

November 16, 2008

To pre-pay or not to pre-pay that is the question! Whether ’tis nobler in the mind…okay, I am not a huge Shakespeare guru, but I do fancy myself a bit of a mortgage finance guru. For those of you who like to “really get in there” there was a study released by the Chicago Fed in […]

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How The New Good Faith Estimate Form Can Help You Save Money On Your Mortgage

November 15, 2008

To help demystify the mortgage process, the federal government is giving the much-maligned Good Faith Estimate document a makeover. Effective January 1, 2010, the current, 2-page form will be replaced by a new, easier-to-understand version, spanning 3 pages. The biggest strength of the new Good Faith Estimate is that it uses everyday English to explain […]

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4 States Account For 51 Percent Of The Nation’s October 2008 Foreclosures

November 15, 2008

Foreclosure is a hot topic among the press lately. It’s hard to turn on the television or open up a newspaper without seeing a story about it. But what’s most interesting about foreclosures is that they appear to be concentrated in certain areas of the country. According to the foreclosure-tracking service RealtyTrac, 4 states accounted […]

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How Big Can A Mortgage Be And Not Be Considered "Jumbo"?

November 15, 2008

For the 4th consecutive year, the government has set the conforming mortgage loan size limit at $417,000. A conforming mortgage is one that, quite literally, conforms to the mortgage guidelines set forth by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. The 2009 conforming loan limits, as released by the government, are: 1-unit properties : $417,000 2-unit properties […]

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Weak Employment Data May Boost The Affordability Of Homes

November 15, 2008

On the first Friday of every month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its Non-Farm Payrolls report. More commonly, it’s called the “jobs report” and the October’s data is trending with the rest of 2008. After shedding another 240,000 jobs last month, the economy has now put 1.2 million Americans out of work this year […]

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As LIBOR Falls, Homeowners With Adjusting ARMs Get Lower Rates

November 15, 2008

The interest rate against which adjustable-rate mortgages change is falling — evidence that the global banking system is starting to stabilize. On any adjustable-rate mortgage, the initial “starter rate” remains fixed for some period of time, and then adjusts according to some pre-determined rules. For a conforming mortgage, an ARM will typically adjust once per […]

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Planning To Buy A Home In 2009? Expect A Tougher Mortgage Road Ahead.

November 15, 2008

The Federal Reserve confirmed what most of us already knew — getting qualified for a “prime mortgage” is increasingly more difficult. In a quarterly survey of 84 banks, 75 percent of respondent banks tightened mortgage guidelines over the last 3 months for the most qualified of home loan applicants. “Prime” is a vague term when […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : November 10, 2008

November 10, 2008

Mortgage rates fell last week, marking just the second time since September that rates improved on a weekly basis. The biggest news of the week was the U.S. Presidential Election. Markets appeared to cheer the Republican-to-Democrat transfer of power, posting large gains Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. This in spite of a spate of negative economic […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : November 3, 2008

November 3, 2008

As global credit markets deteriorated in October, mortgage markets displayed an unnerving amount of volatility. Last week was no different. But, unlike in previous weeks in which rates improved on some days and worsened on others, mortgage rates were mostly higher last week, finishing the month on a surge. The biggest reason why mortgage rates […]

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How The Presidential Election May Impact Mortgage Rates

November 2, 2008

More than a handful would-be home buyers stayed on the sidelines this year, waiting for Election Day to pass. The prevailing thought was that once the new President-Elect was identified, credit markets will systemically unfreeze and housing markets will return to normal. If history is a guide, this is an unlikely scenario. Election Day doesn’t […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : October 27, 2008

October 27, 2008

Mortgage markets followed the recurring trading pattern of 2008 last week — volatility, volatility, and more volatility. After opening with a strong performance that drove rates down, late-week fears of a global recession reversed that path.  Mortgage rates ended the week unchanged. This was an unexpected outcome for the week considering that: The dollar gained […]

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