stimulus package

New Home Sales Figures Show Unexpected Improvement

March 26, 2009

The national housing market got its third piece of good news in 3 days: Monday: Existing Home Sales up Tuesday: Home values appear higher nationally Wednesday: New Home Sales up And although national real estate statistics are irrelevant to the local markets in which real estate transactions happen, to a country of would-be and wanna-be home buyers, repeated positive news on housing can be a strong signal that it’s time to get off the sidelines. At least, that’s what the data is showing us. According to an industry trade group, first-time home buyers accounted for half of all sales of previously-owned homes.

Read the full article →

County-By-County: The 2009 “High-Cost” Conforming Loan Limits

February 24, 2009

As part of the stimulus package passed last week, Congress authorized a temporary increase to conforming loan limits in certain high-cost parts of the country. “High cost” is defined by a regions’ median sales price

Read the full article →

How will the Uncertainty about the Stimulus Package Effect Mortgage Rates?

February 23, 2009

Traders brushed off Tuesday and Wednesday’s passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the President’s mortgage relief plan, respectively. It showed how unsure markets remain about the stimulus package and its probable impact on the economy

Read the full article →

What The Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan Doesn’t Mean To Homeowners

February 19, 2009

In Mesa, Arizona, Wednesday, the President presented the Homeowner Affordability and Stability plan, a multi-pronged effort to support the housing market. The story made the front page of nearly every newspaper in the country . The president’s plan is sweeping: Incent mortgage servicers to work with at-risk homeowners before delinquency starts Let homeowners with good credit but little equity refinance to today’s low rates Fund Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to support mortgage markets It’s a broad plan with many positive angles, but for now, we can’t forget that it’s just a plan .

Read the full article →

What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates after the Stimulus Plan?

February 17, 2009

In anticipation of a strong, government-led stimulus plan, mortgage markets improved with fervor early last week only to fizzle with equal speed as efforts fell short of expectations. Neither the Fed, nor the Treasury nor Congress gave markets what they wanted. Between Monday and Friday, mortgage markets were essentially unchanged, ending a 4-week slide.

Read the full article →

Wouldn’t You Know It? As Consumer Confidence Falls, Home Sales Rise

February 16, 2009

Consumer Confidence fell this month for the first time in three months , reflecting Americans’ concern for the economy, housing, and the financial system. The reading isn’t much of a surprise given our collective exposure to a near-constant stream of negative news

Read the full article →

The Stimulus Package Helps More Than Just First-Time Home Buyers

February 12, 2009

With Congress reaching agreement on a $789 billion stimulus package for Americans and the President expected to sign it into law, the clock may be ticking for this year’s home buyers and homeowners. The package contains two benefits related to housing. The first provision is fairly well-known

Read the full article →

Did We Miss the Chance for 4.5% Mortgage Rates?

February 2, 2009

Consumer confidence reached an all-time low and 100,000 Americans were issued layoff notices last week, each playing a role in the mortgage market’s relative worsening. For the third consecutive week, mortgage rates rose and average loan fees increased, too. Amid all of the negative economic news, however, there were two bright spots worth identifying and discussing.

Read the full article →

Mortgage Markets In Review : January 20, 2008

January 20, 2009

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, in most respects.

Read the full article →