Fannie Mae Removes Its 4-Financed Property Limit

February 10, 2009

Friday, Fannie Mae rolled-back one of its least popular mortgage guidelines updates of the last 12 months.

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Signs of rebirth in the Economy not Translating to Mortgage Rates

February 9, 2009

Despite a weakening employment outlook for Americans, the economy flashed signs of a rebirth last week. It wasn’t enough to reverse the recent mortgage rate trend, however

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10 Cities For Job Growth In 2009

February 6, 2009

Employment figures released this morning show that the economy has now shed 3.6 million jobs since December 2007, included close to half that in the last 3 months alone. The Unemployment Rate is now 7.6%.

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How Today’s Mortgage Rates Impact Home Affordability

February 5, 2009

Comparing July’s conforming mortgage rates to today’s average rates, there’s a 1.5 percent difference in favor of homeowners.

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Would You Believe That Home Buyers Are Out In Full Force?

February 5, 2009

A real estate trade group reported Tuesday that Pending Home Sales ticked higher in December 2008. A “pending home sale” is a home under contract to sell, but not yet closed

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Selling your Home Quickly Without Lowering your Price

February 4, 2009

Selling Real Estate has become more difficult as the market has changed. In areas where housing inventories are high, it can be very difficult to make one home stand out from the other homes in the subdivision. When this happens, the initial reaction is to lower the price so that buyers choose the lower priced […]

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Mortgage Guidelines Don’t Tighten, But Don’t Loosen, Either

February 3, 2009

If the unfreezing of credit is paramount to an economic rebound, the first signs of a thaw may be here. Monday, the Federal Reserve released its quarterly survey of 84 member banks . In it, the Fed says that fewer than half of its responding banks tightened “prime” mortgage guidelines over the last 3 months

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Did We Miss the Chance for 4.5% Mortgage Rates?

February 2, 2009

Consumer confidence reached an all-time low and 100,000 Americans were issued layoff notices last week, each playing a role in the mortgage market’s relative worsening. For the third consecutive week, mortgage rates rose and average loan fees increased, too. Amid all of the negative economic news, however, there were two bright spots worth identifying and discussing.

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How To Sell Your Home For 17% More, 40% Faster This Spring

January 30, 2009

Super Bowl Weekend traditionally marks the start of the Spring Buying Season in real estate. Anecdotally, real estate agents will tell you that buyer activity tends to tick higher at this time of the year

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Explaining What The Federal Reserve Did In Plain English (January 28, 2009 Edition)

January 29, 2009

The Federal Open Market Committee voted to leave the Fed Funds Rate unchanged today. It remains within a target range of 0.000-0.250 percent. In its press release , the FOMC reiterated most of the key points from its December 2008 statement, including: The U.S

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What To Expect From The Fed Today And How It May Impact Mortgage Rates

January 28, 2009

The Federal Open Market Committee adjourns from its 2-day meeting today.

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Did We Just See The First 2 Signs Of A Housing Recovery?

January 27, 2009

Don’t let the plunging median sales price fool you — December’s Existing Home Sales data has home sellers smiling. Just one month after falling below the 5-million unit trend line, sales volume roared back by 300,000 homes in December, surprising housing analysts and making a case that this spring’s Buying Season could be a competitive one. Falling home prices helped fuel home sales

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China’s Anger over Treasury Secretary to Be Tim Geithner’s Comments could Impact Mortgage Rates

January 26, 2009

Mortgage markets deteriorated last week on the heels of weak economic data and uninspiring corporate earnings. Mortgage rates rose for the second week in a row

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What You Should Know When Buying A Short Sale or A Bank Owned Home (Part 1)

January 25, 2009

Today’s post comes from our new real estate writer Hugh Lorch. Hugh is a 20 year veteran of real estate in Arizona. He is an agent working for Keller Williams Realty in the east valley. Hugh will be covering the tools, tactics, strategies and market dynamics of real estate here in Arizona. His website is […]

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Move-Up Homebuyers Face New Lending Challenges This Spring

January 23, 2009

When a homeowner sells his home and decides to buy a new one, there are 3 basic options for the residence — sell it, keep it, or rent it. Unfortunately, no matter which path they choose, move-up homebuyers in need of a new conforming mortgage will find qualifying for a home loan to be more difficult this season than in the past

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Could Mortgage Rates Have Already Bottomed Out?

January 22, 2009

After improving through 11 straight weeks, mortgage rates finally ticked higher last week.

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An Interactive Chart For Home Values

January 21, 2009

The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index is a popular measure of domestic home prices, released monthly. The index reports on the largest 20 U.S.

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Mortgage Markets In Review : January 20, 2008

January 20, 2009

After a strong start Monday and Tuesday, mortgage markets suffered alongside stock markets in the latter half of last week, leaving mortgage rates higher on the week overall. Market losses were especially steep Friday and mortgage rates headed into the long weekend on a strong uptick. Regardless, the reasons that mortgage rates rose last week are ancient history, in most respects.

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Mortgage Rates Are Falling But Loans Require More "Points"

January 16, 2009

Another week, another screaming headline about mortgage rates falling to an all-time low. Freddie Mac published its weekly mortgage rate survey Thursday and found that the “average” mortgage rate is now 4.96 percent , the lowest since the survey started in 1971.

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How The Right Amount Of Economic Weakness Can Help A Home Buyer

January 15, 2009

After a weak holiday shopping season, annual retail sales declined in 2008. It marks the first annual Retail Sales decline since the government started tracking the data 40 years ago

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