Arizona Mortgage

What Are The Country’s Best Affordable Suburbs?

February 27, 2009

Nationwide, home affordability has received a serious boost from the combination of falling home prices and falling mortgage rates. Today, because of the sagging economy, in most parts of the country, the cost of owning a home versus renting one is now very close to its historical average

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2009 Conforming Loan Limits Return To $729,750 In High-Cost Areas

February 20, 2009

Everything old is new again. Conforming mortgages are limited by loan size, based on “typical” housing costs around the country

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How Does the Economic Stimulus Plan Help Homeowners?

February 19, 2009

Tax Credit for Homebuyers First-time homebuyers who purchase homes from the start of the year until the end of November 2009 may be eligible for the lower of an $8,000 or 10% of the value of the home tax credit. Remember a tax credit is very different than a tax deduction – a tax credit […]

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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.

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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

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Signs of rebirth in the Economy not Translating to Mortgage Rates

February 9, 2009

Despite a weakening employment outlook for Americans, the economy flashed signs of a rebirth last week. It wasn’t enough to reverse the recent mortgage rate trend, however

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Selling your Home Quickly Without Lowering your Price

February 4, 2009

Selling Real Estate has become more difficult as the market has changed. In areas where housing inventories are high, it can be very difficult to make one home stand out from the other homes in the subdivision. When this happens, the initial reaction is to lower the price so that buyers choose the lower priced […]

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How To Sell Your Home For 17% More, 40% Faster This Spring

January 30, 2009

Super Bowl Weekend traditionally marks the start of the Spring Buying Season in real estate. Anecdotally, real estate agents will tell you that buyer activity tends to tick higher at this time of the year

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Explaining What The Federal Reserve Did In Plain English (January 28, 2009 Edition)

January 29, 2009

The Federal Open Market Committee voted to leave the Fed Funds Rate unchanged today. It remains within a target range of 0.000-0.250 percent. In its press release , the FOMC reiterated most of the key points from its December 2008 statement, including: The U.S

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Could Mortgage Rates Have Already Bottomed Out?

January 22, 2009

After improving through 11 straight weeks, mortgage rates finally ticked higher last week.

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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.

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Mortgage Rates Are Falling But Loans Require More "Points"

January 16, 2009

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.

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How The Right Amount Of Economic Weakness Can Help A Home Buyer

January 15, 2009

After a weak holiday shopping season, annual retail sales declined in 2008. It marks the first annual Retail Sales decline since the government started tracking the data 40 years ago

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When Is A 5.000 Percent Mortgage Rate Really 3.600 Percent?

January 14, 2009

An oft-touted benefit of homeownership is its tax benefits. However, like most IRS-related items, understanding how the benefits work is not always clear

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Half The Story : The National Housing Inventory Fell In December

January 13, 2009

Home prices are largely based on Supply and Demand. If demand outweighs supply, home prices rise If supply outweighs demand, home prices fall It’s good news for home sellers, therefore, that “used” homes for sale fell 6 percent nationally last month . Less supply often means higher prices.

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Mortgage Markets In Review : January 12, 2008

January 12, 2009

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.

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It’s Semi-Official : New Conforming Mortgage Fees Go Into Effect Monday

January 9, 2009

Even though its effective date is April 1, 2009, mortgage applicants should start seeing Fannie Mae’s new fee structure from lenders beginning this Monday, January 12. The reason why Fannie Mae’s mandatory loan fees are hitting lender pricing so far in advance is because lenders can take up to 30 days to package and sell a loan to Fannie Mae post-closing. In effect, this moves the April 1 start date to March 1

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New Fannie Mae Loan Fees Target Condo Buyers, Among Others

January 8, 2009

When conforming mortgages started defaulting en masse in late-2007, mortgage guarantor Fannie Mae created a loss-offsetting, fee-generating scheme dubbed “loan-level pricing adjustments”. The concept was basic: For mortgage applicants with high-risk profiles, collect up-front payments to offset potential long-term losses

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Sure, Mortgage Rates Are Lower, But Mandatory Fees Are Not

January 7, 2009

With respect to mortgage rates, you can’t always believe what you read in the papers. Or what you see. A terrific example is the chart at right

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Top 4 Predictions for Real Estate Market in 2009

January 6, 2009

The New Year is not yet one week old but that’s not stopping market “experts” from predicting what’s in store for 2009. The calls on housing and mortgage rates run the gamut: Home prices have farther to fall Home prices have touched bottom Mortgage rates will dip Mortgage rates will rise Put it all together and it’s clear that the experts have no better idea about the future than you or I. Their guesses are educated ones, but they’re guesses nonetheless

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