ARCHIVED BLOG POSTS

2009 

Home affordability improved this week after the Federal Reserve released its November 3-4, 2009 meeting minutes. The FOMC Minutes is a companion to the Federal Reserve's post-meeting press release. It's released 3 weeks after the Fed adjourns and details the internal debates that shape our nation...
11/29/2009
For many years I've attended Sales Mastery, Business Plan or some type of mortgage seminar to continue learning new, innovating ways to build my business.  Many of the top loan officers in our company, and other companies, also attend these events.  It wasn't uncommon for these seminars to have o...
11/26/2009
It's official -- home prices are no longer in free fall. According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Home Price Index posted its first quarterly increase since 2007 last quarter. The news was reported Tuesday. The Home Price Index is an interesting metric.  It's huge in its scope, accou...
11/24/2009
Another month, another piece of evidence that the housing market is in recovery. Existing Home Sales surged in October as the nation's homebuyers took advantage of low mortgage rates, low list prices, and, for some, a generous tax credit. Home resales are 23 percent higher versus a year ago and h...
11/23/2009
Mortgage markets worsened last week on a mixed bag of economic data.  Inflation data came in soft, but so did the start of the holiday shopping season. For the first time in a month, mortgage rates worsened last week, adding roughly 0.125 percent on conforming fixed-rate products, and a little bi...
11/22/2009
A "Housing Start" is a home on which construction has started and, for the 4th straight month, national single-family housing starts held steady last month. When the demand for homes grows faster than the number of homes for sale, prices increase. As recent home sales data confirms, buyers curren...
11/19/2009
A conforming mortgage is one that, quite literally, conforms to the mortgage guidelines set forth by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Each year, the government sets the maximum allowable loan size for a conforming mortgage, based on "typical" housing costs nationwide. Loans in excess of this amount are...
11/17/2009
APR is an acronym for Annual Percentage Rate.  It's a government-mandated calculation meant to simplify the comparison of mortgage options. A loan's APR can always be found in the top-left corner of the Federal Truth-In-Lending Disclosure. Because APR is expressed as a percentage, many people con...
11/16/2009
Mortgage markets improved last week as foreign buyers of mortgage debt helped to push mortgage rates to a 4-week low. It marked the 3rd consecutive week that rates improved, breathing extra life into this year's ongoing Refi Boom. Fixed-rate, conforming mortgage rates fell about 0.125 percent on ...
11/15/2009
Despite the economy's improvement and prodding from Congress, banks don't seem ready to open their purse strings just yet. Nationally, mortgage approval standards are tightening. The data comes from a quarterly survey the Federal Reserve sends to its member banks.  The Fed asks senior bank loan o...
11/11/2009
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Chris Brown- Florida Home Loan Specialist | Certified Mortgage Planner

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