Real Estate Consumer News » Home Buyers

"You’ll never buy at the bottom" Interest rates are on the rise

Robert Fishel — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:52:53 +0000

Mortgage rates have been rising nonstop since the end of last week. If you are considering a refinance or taking the plunge and buying a new home, you'd better get moving. I just had a prospect shop rates and terms for his new home over the last couple of weeks and just called back; he finally decided on a lender and wanted an updated rate quote to lock his loan. Needless to say, he was terribly disappointed…the rates we originally spoke about on a 30 year fixed rate a couple of weeks ago was in the high 3’s, my quote yesterday was 4.25% (4.45% APR ). [...] Related posts:

Ninety-six percent of American’s think now is a good time to buy a house according to survey

Dennis Norman — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 20:40:32 +0000

According to a national survey released today by Prudential Real Estate, Americans are significantly more optimistic about homeownership than they were a year ago. According to the survey, 60 percent of Americans have favorable views toward the real estate market. That's up from 52 percent last year. The survey shows other signs of increased consumer optimism as well: [...] Related posts:

Mortgage Rate Update; Mortgage Insurance Premiums Increase for FHA Loans

Robert Fishel — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 13:49:04 +0000

Acting FHA Commissioner Carol Galante recently announced a new premium structure for FHA-insured single family mortgage loans. FHA will increase its annual mortgage insurance premium (MIP) by 0.10 percent . Upfront premiums (UFMIP) will also increase by 0.75 percent. [...] Related posts:

Mortgage Interest Rates Fall Again to Yet Another New Record Low

Dennis Norman — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:43:33 +0000

Today Freddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey, showing average mortgage rates have dropped to new all-time record lows! [...] Related posts:

Houses and the human body have a lot of similarities

Gerry Loesch — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:12:14 +0000

Have you ever thought about the similarities between houses and the human body? For example as our bodies age, things are not quite as straight, square and firm as they once were in our younger years. At one time I had a 44 inch chest and now with age it seems that chest dimension is closer to my waist line. In most cases, this aging in homes translates into floors not being totally level and windows and doors being skewed slightly or not latching. While this may create slight operational issues these conditions are quite common in older homes, some more so than others depending on the age, floor plan, design etc. While one could, in theory go through and re-level the floors, in my opinion in most cases this would be an unnecessary expense and cause additional problems. Quite frankly many look at these conditions as part of the “character” and “charm” of an older home. [...] Related posts:

Ten cities that receive the most online home searches

Dennis Norman — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:10:33 +0000

Realtor.com, which claims to have more traffic on it's website than any other real estate website in the world, released their report for December showing how 146 metro areas in the U.S. stack up in terms of popularity for home searches. Chicago was number 1 on the list again this month, followed by Detroit, MI, and Los-Angeles-Long Beach, CA. [...] Related posts:

St. Louis Mortgage Rate Update; What income is required for a mortgage?

Robert Fishel — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:26:28 +0000

What income is required to qualify for a mortgage? That largely depends on your monthly debt payments and the current interest rate. This calculator collects these important variables and determines your required income to qualify for your desired mortgage amount.(click here)

Mortgage interest rates have fallen this [...] Related posts:

Mortgage Rate Update; Trends that will affect the housing market in 2012

Robert Fishel — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:02:39 +0000

The National Association of Realtors' research staff recently released its comprehensive annual report: Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers for 2011. Market researcher, Paul C. Bishop, Ph. D., Vice President and Jessica Lautz, Manager of Consumer Survey Research state that they've identified "trends that have not been seen in the last 10 years," which will affect the housing market as we enter 2012. [...] Related posts:

Home sales jump in October to highest level in 18 months

Dennis Norman — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:04:39 +0000

The National Association of REALTORS Pending Home Sales Index for October shows an increase of 10.4 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and a 9.2 percent increase from a year ago. This is the first time in four months that the index has increased and marks the highest level the index has achieved since April 2010 when it was at 110.9. [...] Related posts:

Report shows homebuyers heading to the "burbs"

Dennis Norman — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:07:54 +0000

According to a new report from Trulia, its Metro Movers Report, 59 percent of the properties searched online by homebuyers are outside of their current metro area. My first thought would be there are a lot of people relocating to other states, however the report shows that most of these searches being done are in neighboring areas. [...] Related posts: