Archive for January, 2009
Move-Up Homebuyers Face New Lending Challenges This Spring
When a homeowner sells his home and decides to buy a new one, there are 3 basic options for the residence — sell it, keep it, or rent it.
Unfortunately, no matter which path they choose, move-up homebuyers in need of a new conforming mortgage will find qualifying for a home loan to be more difficult this [...]
Could Mortgage Rates Have Already Bottomed Out?
After improving through 11 straight weeks, mortgage rates finally ticked higher last week. This, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage rate survey. The Freddie Mac survey showed that mandatory mortgage fees rose last week, too.
Unfortunately, the bad news for rate shoppers doesn’t stop there.
Because Freddie Mac’s rate survey is conducted on Tuesday but its reports aren’t [...]
Mortgage Rates Are Falling But Loans Require More “Points”
Another week, another screaming headline about mortgage rates falling to an all-time low.
Freddie Mac published its weekly mortgage rate survey Thursday and found that the “average” mortgage rate is now 4.96 percent, the lowest since the survey started in 1971.
But, if we look beyond the headline, we find that there’s another part of the story worth [...]
Mortgage Markets In Review : January 20, 2008
After a strong start Monday and Tuesday, mortgage markets suffered alongside stock markets in the latter half of last week, leaving mortgage rates higher on the week overall.
Market losses were especially steep Friday and mortgage rates headed into the long weekend on a strong uptick.
Regardless, the reasons that mortgage rates rose last week are ancient history, [...]
Mortgage Markets In Review : January 12, 2008
In 2009’s first full week of trading, mortgage bond markets traded back-and-forth, eventually closing the week improved overall.
Weekly mortgage rates fell for the first time since mid-December.
The most anticipated news of last week was Friday’s jobs report. According to government’s press release, the economy shed another 524,000 jobs in December, raising 2008’s total job losses [...]
It’s 2009 : Mortgage Loan Limits Fall As Scheduled In “High-Cost” American Cities
As part of the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, Congress authorized a conforming loan limit increase in “high-cost” areas around the country. Versus the national conforming loan limit of $417,000, for example, a Manhattan home buyer could secure a 2008 mortgage for $725,000 and still be within “conforming” guidelines.
Effective January 1, however, those limits rolled [...]
