Ki's Austin Real Estate Blog

"Underwater" has become the popular term for a mortgage loan that is higher than a home's current market value. According to a recent New York Times article, as many as 4.5 million Americans find themselves in this predicament. That is like every home in Los Angeles plus every home in Boston bein...

After dropping for 4 weeks in a row the 30 year rate rose slightly this week moving from 4.98 to 5.01. The 15 year rose from 4.39 to 4.40. The 5 and 1 year arms rose from 4.25 to 4.27 (5 year arm) and 4.29 to 4.22 (1 year arm). Below are rates from the weeks from Jan 07, 2010 to Feb 04, 2010 Feb ...

It is a common misperception by the general public that fixed rate mortgage interest is tied directly to Federal Reserve interest rate movement. On the contrary, the determinant is the performance of mortgage backed securities (MBS), most of which are issued by Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae and Freddie ...

Experienced home flippers know that there are pitfalls to any promising piece of property, and avoid the most obvious ones. You can, too. Learning from others' mistakes can result in huge rewards if you find you are ready to start a home flipping business. The following are pitfalls and mistakes ...

The 30 year rate fell slightly this week moving from 4.99 to 4.98. This is the 4th week in a row where rates have fallen. Although rates have been falling for 4 weeks in a row all the drops have been slight. Four weeks ago rates the 30 year rate stood at 5.14 and today it stands at 4.98 for a tot...

What if the very programs that are supposed to help the unemployed are actually prolonging unemployment? Beyond the staggering cost to the government, there are other implications to extending unemployment benefits. Research strongly suggests that a long stretch of unemployment compensation actua...

Getting to the bottom of the financial crisis of the last two years has begun in earnest. The bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, made up of private citizens with extensive financial sector backgrounds, has been given the job of unraveling the cause of the biggest financial meltdown s...

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae are common names associated with federal lending and home loans. They have offerings that stem from no down payment home loans to helping dislocated residents of disaster areas, to providing assistance to the elderly. If you are any age and are considering a...

The politics of punishment are tricky. Take the playground, for example. The boy in the striped shirt not only pushed your child out of the way at the top of the slide, but also gives your child a good kick for his efforts when he reaches the bottom. You can comfort your own child, but you can't ...

The 30 year rate fell from 5.06 to 4.99 this week. This marks the 3rd week in a row where rates have fallen. Although rates have been falling they are still quite a bit off the all time low of 4.71 we saw on December 3, 2009. That said it's nice to see rates falling again. Looking at other rates ...