Mortgage Rates Are At An All Time Low
In the U.S., the 30-year fixed average monthly mortgage rates have gone down to an all-time low of 3.94% from 3.99% against the previous week and against last year from 4.83%. The same goes for the 15-year mortgage rate from 3.21% to 3.27% against the previous week and 4.17% from last year. Regardless of the [...]
Questions About The Foreclosure Crisis, PT. 2
After writing part one of this two part post, The Federal Reserve came out with additional guidelines for banks to help those homeowners that are underwater in their loans or undergoing a foreclosure. I wanted to see what the response from banks would be as well as if the Fed would let us in on [...]
You Choose: Stay Informed or Not
This is one of the few posts that is not related to the mortgage loan business so I apologize in advance for those who look here expecting something about home loans. There are topics that I feel from time are important enough to place here and I hope you forgive my indulgence. I am amazed [...]
Loans Not Closing At The Last Minute
Even though I have retired from the mortgage industry, I keep in touch with friends and old associates on both the mortgage side and real estate side. One of the most surprising things I am hearing more and more often is the deal fell through at the last minute. It’s surprising because I thought the [...]
Housing in Nashville, TN
One of the things that have been abundantly clear in the last couple of years is that housing in many parts of the United States has been depressed. However, there are certain areas that have done better than others and Nashville, TN has been one of those fortunate areas. With that said, there are a [...]
Mortgage Applications Rates Drop
News in the mortgage industry continues to be hit and miss. Unfortunately the economy is still in a recovery state, and that is causing many Americans to tighten their belts and refuse to take on more debt. Also as a result is a serious decline in the amount of mortgage applications. A recent study showed [...]
Homeownership not as popular
According to recent statistics, homeownership is not as popular as it was 15 years ago. In fact, homeownership is down to rates that were once seen in 1998. So far in 2011, homeownership has dropped by almost 67 percent. The housing boom occurred in the mid-200s, and that is when we saw a peak in [...]
The Good & the Bad about the Fed’s Latest Rate Move
Anytime interest rates move up most people view this is a signal of the economy getting worse. However, when rates are this low, it’s really a signal the economy is getting better and can withstand higher interest rates. To better understand it, you have to think from an investor perspective. Making 4 to 5 % [...]
How Employment and Unemployment Affects Interest Rates
The December employment report came in relatively bond friendly. Though unemployment came in at 10% as expected; the payroll component showed job losses of 85,000 compared to the 35,000 losses that were expected by analysts. Though the mortgage bond market had a generally positive reaction to the report, improvements in rates were tempered by concerns [...]
What to Expect During the First Quarter of 2010
Over the holidays I did some research on what most “experts” (at least that is how they cast themselves) were saying about the coming year 2010 and found a common thread that had to do with what will happen as the government starts to back out of holding the interest rates down as well as [...]
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