government assistance mortgage

Are You Eligible To Get Rid Of Your PMI Payments?

May 30, 2007

If you’re currently paying Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) and have been for several years, it may be time to petition your lender to have the PMI payment removed. Waiting for it to drop off “automatically” may mean you will be stuck with the higher payments for at least five to ten years from your original […]

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The Week In Review (May 29, 2007) : What To Watch For

May 29, 2007

Mortgage rates continued their climb higher last week as markets dealt with contradictory data about the health of the housing and the economy. New Home Sales registered its biggest gain in 14 years while Existing Home Sales reached a 4-year low; and purchases of “big-ticket” items such as computers, appliances and furniture unexpectedly jumped while […]

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Saving A Nickel May Have Cost You A Dime

May 25, 2007

This cartoon by Wiley applies to mortgages in 2007 like it did to stock trading in 1999. The least expensive mortgage options aren’t always the least costly.  A quick look at the Sunday paper’s Foreclosure Notice section can verify that. The right loan at a fair price saves far money money than the wrong loan […]

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Why You Should Re-Pre-Qualify Yourself Today

May 24, 2007

If you’re in the process of buying a home and are working without a rate lock, take notice:  over the past two weeks, mortgage rates have spiked to their highest levels since November 2006. Your actual mortgage payment will be higher than you originally anticipated. Depending on your preferred mortgage product, rates have increased by as […]

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One Method To Reduce The Amount Of Sub-Prime ARM Foreclosures

May 23, 2007

The graphic at right comes from The Wall Street Journal and it illustrates something that we all intrinsically know: Sub-Prime ARMs foreclose at a faster pace than all other home loan types. When adjustable rate mortgages reach the end of their “fixed rate” period, some homeowners are unprepared for the upward-adjusting mortgage payments and that […]

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How Lenders Protect Against Losses When Mortgage Markets Deteriorate

May 23, 2007

The graph at right shows the path of mortgage rates in May.  The rate run-up continued yesterday. After a fairly tame start, yesterday’s action rapidly slipped away from mortgage rate shoppers beginning at 12:00 P.M. ET. Many lenders responded by invoking their right to a mid-day reprice as well, with some adding as much as 0.25% […]

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The Week In Review (May 21, 2007) : What To Watch For

May 21, 2007

Mortgage rates moved substantially higher last week as traders reacted to Thursday’s Initial Jobless Claims. The amount of new unemployment filing dropped below 4-week trend line is now at its lowest levels in a year. Fewer unemployment claims coupled with increasing employee wages raised fears of inflation and inflation nearly always pushes mortgage rates higher. […]

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How “Repair Credits” To The Buyer Can Sabotage Your Home Sale

May 18, 2007

When buyers and sellers look for common negotiating grounds, it’s common for the buyer to request home improvements to be made prior to the sale. The request may be phrased in any number of ways: “The hardwood floors are warped and we think the seller should pay for it.” “There is a leak in the […]

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How Psychological Factors Are Pushing Mortgage Rates Higher

May 17, 2007

Mortgage rates have held in a very tight range over the past few months, but little by little, they are inching higher. Mortgage rates are not picked from thin air.  Just like stock prices, they are based on facts, opinions, and psychology. There is a lot of news and data to interpret but, for the […]

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Hot Housing Starts Figure May Push Mortgage Rates Higher

May 16, 2007

Each month, the Commerce Department releases a statistic titled “Housing Starts” that measures residential construction activity. This morning, the Commerce Department released April’s Housing Starts data (PDF) and the headline data reflected a 2.5% (±9.3%) increase in new construction. Markets had anticipated a 0.8% decrease.  This coincided with a decrease in available homes, as shown […]

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When You Can’t Pay The Mortgage, Pick Up The Phone Pronto

May 15, 2007

According to RealtyTrac, one out of every 783 homes in the United States filed for foreclosure in April.  This is down one percent from March, but up 62 percent from one year ago. If you are struggling to pay your mortgage and have not yet entered foreclosure, the best thing to do is to call […]

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The Week In Review (May 14, 2007) : What To Watch For

May 14, 2007

Last week in the mortgage markets was thick with hype and thin with action. Whenever the Fed meets, there is potential for wild swings in mortgage rates.  And, although the Fed doesn’t control mortgage rates, it’s views on inflation and the economy carry tremendous weight with traders, with economists, with banks, and with governments across […]

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As Expected, Housing Drags Down Retail Sales

May 11, 2007

When consumer spending slips, it can send shockwaves through the economy.  Consumer spending, after all, makes up 70% of the economy. The best measure of consumer spending data is Retail Sales, a monthly figure describing how much money Americans are spending, and where they’re spending it. Retail Sales unexpectedly fell in April and that would […]

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Today Is FOMC Day : What Will They Do/Say?

May 9, 2007

The Federal Open Market Committee meets today and markets will be hanging on their every word. There is virtually no chance that the Fed will change the Fed Funds Rate from its current 5.250% level, so its the Fed’s press release that will get all of the attention. We’ll disect the message in tomorrow’s blog […]

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The “Kick ‘Em While They’re Down” Rule

May 8, 2007

In his weekly syndicated column, Kenneth Harney pulled back the curtain on a nasty piece of IRS tax code that can penalize homeowners with foreclosures and short sales. Because the IRS treats canceled debt as ordinary income, homeowners that “work something out” with their lender may inadvertently add tens of thousands of dollars to their annual […]

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The Week In Review (May 7, 2007) : What To Watch For

May 7, 2007

Data painted a dismal picture for the economy last week including tempering inflation readings, slowing job growth, depressed home sale data, and ever-higher gasoline prices.  This gave markets hope that the Fed may start to ease up on the Fed Funds Rate. But, while the stock market rallied on the news, the bond market continued […]

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Where Does Your Town Rank Of America’s Top 100 List of 2007?

May 4, 2007

Relocate-America.com selected Asheville, NC as their #1 city in the annual report “America’s Top 100 Places To Live”.  This is the second time that the mid-size city of 70,000 ranked in the list’s Top 10, compiled since 1998. Rounding out the rest of the Top 10: Asheville, NC Traverse City, MI Ithaca, NY Chicago, IL […]

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How The ADP Jobs Report Impacts Mortgage Rates

May 3, 2007

If yesterday’s ADP Employment Report is any indication, tomorrow’s jobs report may fall short of the 100,000 new job expectation from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. ADP reported 64,000 new jobs were created in April. The ADP report has never been in lock-step with the “official” report from BLS, including this well-publicized event in June […]

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Why “Prime Rate” Is A Name And Not A Number

May 2, 2007

Pop Quiz: Which interest rate is lower?  8.25% or Prime Rate? If you answered anything other than “they are the same”, then you can understand first-hand why banks refer to Prime Rate by name instead of by number. It’s a neat little piece of sales psychology that keeps people from recognizing their true cost of […]

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Jobs Report Is The 800 Pound Gorilla In The Room

May 1, 2007

There’s a palpable uneasiness in mortgage markets right now and Friday’s payroll report looms large. Remember: it’s not the actual data that matters — it’s how close the data is to its expected levels. All week, traders have been jockeying for position based on a projected 100,000 new jobs created and if the number is […]

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