ARCHIVED BLOG POSTS

2011 

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  Homebuilder confidence held firm for the second straight month this month, according to the National Association of Home Builders. The monthly Housing Market Index registered 16 out of a possible 100. January's reading is three points higher than the 2010 low-point, set in September, and in-lin...
01/19/2011

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  Home remodeling projects can add function to a home, but don't always add value. Consider the latest report from Remodeling Magazine.  In it, the average cost of 35 projects are evaluated for the value they retain at the time of resale. Function beats flash, it seems, in today's housing market....
01/18/2011

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  Timing the market for the best possible opportunity to lock a mortgage rate on a new loan is certainly a challenge, even for the professionals. While there are several generic interest rate trend indicators online, the difference between what's advertised and actually attainable can be influenc...
01/16/2011

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  According to foreclosure-tracking firm RealtyTrac, the number of foreclosure filings nationwide dropped for the second straight month in December. After falling 21 percent in November, filings were down by an additional 2 percent in December. "Foreclosure filing" is a catch-all term, comprising...
01/14/2011

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  Consumers keep spending, the economy keeps growing. Mortgage rates are easing lower this morning on just-released, slightly worse-than-expected Retail Sales data from December 2010. Excluding motor vehicles and auto parts, December's sales receipts were $1.5 billion higher from November. Analys...
01/14/2011

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  For some homeowners, electing to take an adjustable rate mortgage over a fixed rate one can be matter of budgeting. ARMs tend to carry lower mortgage rates and, therefore, lower monthly mortgage payment as compared to a comparable fixed rate loan. Relative to fixed rate mortgages, current ARM p...
01/12/2011

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    Credit card debt, left unchecked, can pile up quickly. Especially for debtors making minimum payments.   According to the Federal Reserve, a credit card balance of $5,000 at 23.99 percent APR won't pay off for 16,127 years. That's one reason why it's important to manage your credit card rates...
01/11/2011

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  When your CDs, DVDs and game discs are "skipping", most times, a simple cleaning will set them right. Make sure you clean your discs properly, though. Clean them the wrong way and you could damage your discs forever. You might also cause your electronic devices permanent damage. There's lots of...
01/11/2011

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Mortgage Insurance, sometimes referred to as Private Mortgage Insurance, is required by lenders on conventional home loans if the borrower is financing more than 80% Loan-To-Value. According to Wikipedia: Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) is insurance payable to a lender or trustee for a pool of s...
01/09/2011

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  On the first Friday of each month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its Non-Farm Payrolls report. More commonly called "the jobs report", the government's data include raw employment figures and the Unemployment Rate. The jobs report hit the wires at 8:30 AM ET today. It's making big wav...
01/09/2011
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