May 10, 2011 Home values showed the sharpest quarterly declines since 2008, falling 3% in the first quarter this year, according to Zillow’s real estate market report. Zillow said national prices were down 8.2% year-over-year to $169,000. Since peaking in June 2006, home values have fallen 29.5%. Out of the 132 markets covered by Zillow, [...]

April 1, 2011 As analysts expected, the unemployment rate decreased slightly to 8.8%.  While the employment numbers still have a long road to travel before getting to lower ground, the economy is slowly showing signs of life.  Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of interest rates.  The lower this number goes, the higher the rates [...]

Tuesday, March 8, 2011 The Obama Administration is pushing for closure on the mortgage crisis, and it may be coming at the expense on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  These two quasi-corporate government sponsored enterprises are being blamed for much of the mortgage meltdown due to their elasticized credit guidelines throughout the sub-prime gold rush.  [...]

Monday, March 7, 2011 The first Friday of every month always has me on edge.  As I’m watching CNBC at around 7:30 am, I’m tensed up as I await the employment report knowing the results can wreak havoc on the bond market thus moving mortgage rates.  Not that I’m a proponent of a high unemployment [...]

Some call it magic, I call it manipulation.  Somehow barely any jobs were added in January, but the unemployment rate still fell.  That’s almost a full percentage point in two months. In news released this morning, non-farm payrolls rose 36K in January and the unemployment rate stood at 9%. Economists’ estimates were for the economy [...]

The freefall continues.  According to many leading forecasters, home prices are expected to drop further in the first half of this year, then rebound later in the year.  The expectation is that unemployment will slide a bit, sparking purchases in housing.  Forecasters are looking for a 5-8% increase in home sales by the end of [...]

November 10, 2009 Although most folks choose to escrow their real estate taxes and homeowner’s insurance monthly, I am often asked whether or not this is wise.  As long as you have a minimum of 20% equity in your property, you actually have the choice of “waiving escrows” or paying the taxes and insurance on [...]

November 10, 2009 Ever wonder why there is such a disparity from lender to lender when it comes to rates and fees?  It really comes down to two things, marketing and their compensation.  You see, most lenders are compensated by the companies they sell the loans to and therefore the higher the rate, the more [...]

November 10, 2009 Ever wonder why you can get a better deal going through a mortgage broker than you can if you go directly to a lender?  After all, the mortgage broker just turns around and sells it to a major national lender anyway?  So logic dictates that cutting out the “middle man” should yield you [...]

November 10, 2009 I am frequently asked about bi-weekly mortgage programs and whether or not they are a good choice.  As my readers know, I always like to give the short and sweet answer first which is NO, they are not.  But for those looking for an explanation I offer an in depth look at [...]