Call to ARMs “Forget the subprime mess. These days adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) are a good deal,” reports Ashela Ebeling, Financial Reporter for Forbes magazine, especially for certain well-off home buyers looking to purchase or home owners wanting to refinance. Many borrowers who purchased houses with ARMs during the subprime boom got hooked into using […]
Buying Power for First-Time Homebuyers
If you are in the market or considering a purchasing your first home you should consider the economic factors and market conditions. Forecasters are telling us that mortgage rates will continue to fall slightly before stabilizing. We hear regularly that the housing market is at or near the bottom and a turn around is likely […]
Fed Slashes Rates
Daily Real Estate News | March 17, 2008 In an effort to boost market liquidity, the Federal Reserve lowered the discount rate to 3.25 percent from 3.5 percent and launched a new lending program through which money will be moved from securities dealers to the securitization markets. The effort — the latest attempt to stabilize […]
Housing Market Ready to Rebound?
Daily Real Estate News | February 25, 2008 Is housing about to enjoy a spring thaw or will it remain in the deep freeze? Some observers are optimistic. “I think this is the best buyer’s market that has existed in a decade, maybe longer,” says Russell Shaw, in his 30th year with John Hall & […]
Not All Markets Are Equal
by Lawrence Yun, NAR Chief Economist Copyright National Association of REALTORS®, Reprinted from REALTOR.org with permission Though the national headlines have been pounding out the news of a housing market meltdown, implosion, and collapse, all markets are not equal. In NAR’s latest metro price survey, roughly half of the country experienced a price increase. Upstate […]
States, Insurers at Odds Over Rising Rates
Florida’s persistent battle with insurers over rates and coverage is spreading to other states and could have an affect on insurance customers nationwide. New York, which prevented insurers from forcing residents to buy car and homeowners insurance from the same company in order to avoid cancellation, now wants to order insurers to set aside their […]
Mortgage Applications Rise Despite Higher Rates
Mortgage applications rose last week after falling for three weeks, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association weekly survey. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 652.0, an increase of 2.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 636.7 the previous week. On an unadjusted basis, the index increased 2.4 percent […]