Archive for November, 2008
Mortgage Rates Fell But Be Careful Of History Repeating Itself
Like everything else on Wall Street, mortgage markets are based on supply and demand. When demand outweighs supply, mortgage rates fall.
So, Tuesday, when the government unexpectedly announced a $500 billion budget for buying mortgage debt from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the demand side of the mortgage market ballooned.
The surprise demand helped push mortgage [...]
Existing Home Sales Are Relatively Unchanged Going On 14 Months Now
In real estate, the term existing home refers to a “used” property; one that can’t be classified as new construction.
The number of existing homes sold each month is tracked by the National Association of REALTORS. The report is often used as a gauge for the health of the real estate market nationwide.
In October, nearly 5 [...]
Looking Back And Looking Ahead : November 24, 2008
As the stock market retraced to its 1997 level, mortgage markets improved last week — but not by much.
Mortgage rates closed out the week slightly lower, but the week wasn’t without fireworks.
Calls of deflation grew louder
The automakers left Washington without a bailout
Citigroup’s stock price fell to the equivalent of its ATM fee
Separately, each of these [...]
Deflation And What It Means To Americans
Business television and newspapers have made deflation a hot topic this week and, since Monday, Google has tracked 13,000 mentions of it.
Deflation is a recurring cycle in which the prices of goods and services fall. Isolated to one industry or sector, falling prices is the natural result of competition.
For example, when DVD players were first [...]
Looking Back And Looking Ahead : November 17, 2008
In another week of up-and-down trading, mortgage rates ended the week slightly higher last week.
Ping-pong action like this has defined mortgage markets lately. It’s increasingly common for rates to soar one day, and then come crashing down the next.
In response to market volatility, mortgage lenders issued as many as 8 distinct rate sheets in a [...]
How The New Good Faith Estimate Form Can Help You Save Money On Your Mortgage
To help demystify the mortgage process, the federal government is giving the much-maligned Good Faith Estimate document a makeover. Effective January 1, 2010, the current, 2-page form will be replaced by a new, easier-to-understand version, spanning 3 pages.
The biggest strength of the new Good Faith Estimate is that it uses everyday English to explain how the [...]
4 States Account For 51 Percent Of The Nation’s October 2008 Foreclosures
Foreclosure is a hot topic among the press lately. It’s hard to turn on the television or open up a newspaper without seeing a story about it.
But what’s most interesting about foreclosures is that they appear to be concentrated in certain areas of the country.
According to the foreclosure-tracking service RealtyTrac, 4 states accounted for [...]
Looking Back And Looking Ahead : November 10, 2008
Mortgage rates fell last week, marking just the second time since September that rates improved on a weekly basis.
The biggest news of the week was the U.S. Presidential Election. Markets appeared to cheer the Republican-to-Democrat transfer of power, posting large gains Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
This in spite of a spate of negative economic news:
Auto makers are [...]
Read More..>>Weak Employment Data May Boost The Affordability Of Homes
On the first Friday of every month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its Non-Farm Payrolls report. More commonly, it’s called the “jobs report” and the October’s data is trending with the rest of 2008.
After shedding another 240,000 jobs last month, the economy has now put 1.2 million Americans out of work this year and unemployment rates [...]
As LIBOR Falls, Homeowners With Adjusting ARMs Get Lower Rates
The interest rate against which adjustable-rate mortgages change is falling — evidence that the global banking system is starting to stabilize.
On any adjustable-rate mortgage, the initial “starter rate” remains fixed for some period of time, and then adjusts according to some pre-determined rules.
For a conforming mortgage, an ARM will typically adjust once per year, based on [...]
