Both long and short term interest rates dropped slightly last week according to Freddie Mac’s Primary mortgage Market Survey for the week ended November 8. “With mortgage rates remaining low, approximately 38 percent of applications were for refinance transactions in the third quarter…” Read More Now
E-Trade Suffers Subprime Wrath
It has long since passed the point where the downgrade of a company’s credit rating or an announcement of reduced earnings because of problems with mortgages or with mortgage-backed securities stuns anyone. However, on Monday there were particularly dire warnings about E-Trade, the on-line brokerage firm, which is apparently heavily invested in sub-prime mortgages in its own portfolio. Read More Now
Refinance or buy new home, the questions to ask
There seems to be a crossroads that many homeowners reach after being in a home a few years: should you refinance your current home or buy a new one?
Housing Starts? Hold the Applause!
The national media was trumpeting the good news about housing start data released Tuesday morning by the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, but it is not clear exactly what they were cheering about. Read More Now
mortgage Rates Fall, Refinancing Expected to Jump
Interest rates on 30-year fixed rate home loans fell to their lowest point in nearly six months today.
HR 3915 - Getting Warmer
The reason 3915 makes me so incensed is that it will still harm those who it professes to protect. I could care less about what you think CAUSED the CRISIS. If you are focused on blame, like Ralph Roberts and Barney Frank, you are missing the big picture… Now we get to the hardball… This may shock and amaze you. This may be the most radical thing that anyone has ever suggested, but I just have to say it. I may be shunned for all eternity for suggesting something so radical, but it has to be done. No more stalling, here goes nothing: Read More Now
What Drought? Palm Beach Is an Island of Green
Despite water restrictions and low reservoirs lush lawns and verdant hedges line the Florida island’s biggest mansions.
To Spur Sales, Developers Tout Political Correctness
People wracked with guilt about owning a vacation house might be an odd market for second-home developers. But that’s the target audience for a handful of communities designed to make people feel better about owning a getaway.
Zillow to Nationalize Local real estate Advertising
No matter what you may think about Zillow, the Seattle-based real estate firm and its somewhat crazy approach to the market, credit must be given for its constant innovation. On Tuesday it announced that it was joining 11 major newspaper publishing companies with a combined total of 282 newspapers throughout the country in a strategic partnership to extend the papers’ local classified advertising to Zillow’s online platform. Advertisers in these papers, whether sellers or real estate agents, will have the option of… Read More Now
mortgage applications fall, rates remain low
The mortgage Bankers Association announced this morning that applications for mortgage loans decreased 3.6 percent last week when compared to the week prior.