Vermilion Realty Blog

August 27, 2010

Rates Down, Applications Up

Filed under: Financing — Tags: — Don Grafues @ 7:03 am
 
Mortgage applications rose last week driven by refinancing. The overall gain over the prior week was 4.9 percent with 1 percent gain from purchase applications and 5.7 percent gain in refinance.

Rates on adjustable rate mortgages remained flat this week while 15 year and 30 year fixed rate mortgages fell. 15 year fixed rate mortgages fell to 3.86 percent.

Rates can be found at www.freddiemac.com.

Resource: REALTOR®Mag & FreddieMac.com
 

August 24, 2010

At Risk Cities

Filed under: Market Info — Tags: — Don Grafues @ 6:33 am
 
Andrew Gledhill, economist with Moody’s has identified 22 cities most susceptible to a worsening economy. At first, one would expect to see cities in Arizona, California and Nevada on the list. Cities in those states generate the gloomiest news. But not so.

The biggest risk is in manufacturing. A community with an industrial economy stands to fall the most. The cities are;
  1. Missoula, Mont.
  2. Salem, Ore.
  3. Idaho Falls, Idaho
  4. Lake County-Kenosha County, Ill.-Wisc.
  5. Lafayette, Ind.
  6. Wichita, Kan.
  7. Hot Springs, Ark.
  8. Pine Bluff, Ark.
  9. Little Rock, Ark.
  10. Wichita Falls, Texas
  11. Akron, Ohio
  12. Charleston, W.Va.
  13. Macon, Ga.
  14. Gadsden, Ala.
  15. Gulfport-Biloxi, Miss.
  16. Mobile, Ala.
  17. Utica-Rome, N.Y.
  18. Lebanon, Pa.
  19. Springfield, Ohio
  20. Wilmington, N.C.
  21. Anderson, S.C.
  22. Athens-Clark County Ga.
Resource: REALTOR®Mag
 

August 21, 2010

Rates Holding At Low Levels

Filed under: Rates — Tags: , — Don Grafues @ 8:10 am
 
Rates on adjustable rate mortgages remained flat this week while 15 year and 30 year fixed rate mortgages fell 0.02 points. Even with the low rates, mortgage applications fell 3.4 percent the prior week.

Rates can be found at www.freddiemac.com.

Resource: REALTOR®Mag & FreddieMac.com
 

August 19, 2010

Shorter Term Loans Save Money

Filed under: Financing — Tags: — Don Grafues @ 12:23 pm
 
REALTOR®Mag ran an article about refinancing to shorter term loans and the money that can be saved. Many older people are taking advantage of the low rates and refinancing with shorter term loans.

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August 13, 2010

Rates Edging Down

Filed under: Rates — Tags: , — Don Grafues @ 2:45 pm
 
Rates continue to creep downwards this past week. 30 year fixed ended the period at 4.44 percent, down from 4.49. One result of this slow but steady trend is an increase in refinancing. Unfortunately, as is pointed out in a REALTOR®Mag article, the people who would benefit the most from a refinance will probably not qualify under the tighter rules used by lenders.

Freddie Mac weekly data can be seen at “Weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey”.

Resource: REALTOR®Mag & Freddie Mac
 

August 11, 2010

Loan Officers Now Licensed

Filed under: Financing — Tags: — Don Grafues @ 10:04 am
 
At the height of the lending frenzy in Arizona prior to the “crash,” there were 10,000 unlicensed loan officers handling borrower confidential financial information and arranging loans. Some of the loans were just risky while other were downright fraudulent.

In 2008 the Arizona legislature passed a law requiring all loan officers to be licensed along with fingerprinting and background checks. The law went into effect July 1 of this year.

So far over 4300 applications were submitted for licensing with a little over 2400 approved. Approximately 1000 applications are on hold pending more information or further checking.

Hopefully the licensing process will weed out unscrupulous loan officers and make those who commit fraud easier to identify and catch.

There is a lot more to the law than simply licensing. You can read the entire Arizona Republic article by clicking here.

Resource: The Arizona Republic
 

July 31, 2010

Rates Drop Slightly

Filed under: Financing, Rates — Tags: , — Don Grafues @ 11:06 am
 
Rates fell slightly flat last week. For example, 30 year fixed fell 0.02 point to 4.54 percent while 15 year fixed fell 0.03 point to 4.00 percent.

Freddie Mac weekly data can be seen at “Weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey”.

Resource: REALTOR®Mag & Freddie Mac
 

July 30, 2010

Rural Development, USDA Loans

Filed under: Financing — Tags: , — Don Grafues @ 6:45 am
 
Congress has finally passed a bill restoring and funding the Rural Housing Service, the provider of USDA loans. The bill now goes to President Obama for signature.

USDA has been issuing conditional loan approvals while waiting for bill passage.

The timing of this passage is important for there are buyers in escrow with conditional loan approval who want to close by September 30 so they can benefit from the first time home buyer tax credit.

More information is available on the web at Rural Development and USDA Mortgage Guidelines.

USDA will issue new mortgage guidelines shortly.

Resource: REALTOR®Mag
 

July 29, 2010

HUD Opens Investigation

Filed under: HUD — Tags: , — Don Grafues @ 10:52 am
 
On July 19 we published a post “Applying For A Loan? Pregnancy Is Out!” in which it is reported that lenders are denying loans because a working mother who is pregnant will have reduced earnings.

This seems like a raw deal and possible discrimination.

HUD has opened an investigation into these practices. You can read their announcement here.

Resource: HUD
 

July 28, 2010

Rates Holding

Filed under: Rates — Tags: , — Don Grafues @ 2:31 pm
 
Rates remained essentially flat last week. For example, 30 year fixed fell 0.01 point while 15 year fixed fell 0.03 points.

Freddie Mac weekly data can be seen at “Weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey”.

Resource: Freddie Mac
 
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