I came across this article in the WSJ today and was surprised to see it. Embedded in the 700-page housing bill that President Bush signed into law was a change to the way the IRS will allow homeowners to exclude capital gains tax for the sale of a primary residence. Under the previous rules a […]
As you’ve probably heard by now the Fed did elect to leave short-term rates unchanged in their policy announcement yesterday. If you watched yesterday’s you tube video you know that in and of itself their decision to leave rates unchanged has not directly impacted mortgage rates. Instead, their post policy statement is what can drive […]
Last week President Bush signed the new housing bill into law. One of the provisions which was included in this bill to help the ailing housing industry is a tax credit for first time home-buyers. I wanted to take a quick moment to highlight the details for those of you who will qualify for this […]
When it reains it pours……according to this article on yahoo.com Fannie Mae will be increasing it’s “adverse market” delivery fee from loan originators. What does this mean to consumers today?…..higher costs for loans. The adjusted fee will impact ALL mortgage lenders and be built into the points and/ or fee structure that gets proposed to […]
As expected the Fed announced that they’d keep the Fed Funds Rate unchanged @ 2.00%. Here is a link to the NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/business/economy/06fed.html?_r=1&oref=slogin. Fed Funds Rate In their post-policy announcement statement they seemed to back away from concerns about inflation. Their comments may help ease inflationary concerns in the financial markets which would […]
Mortgage rates are slightly higher this morning following an afternoon sell-off in the bond market yesterday. The big news of the day today is that the Fed is scheduled to release their monetary policy statement at 2:15 EST. In today’s you tube video I have summarized the Fed’s role in our economy as well as […]
In order to do a FHA loan on a condo the condo devlopment must be approved by HUD. In order to search if a specific condo is HUD approved (so that a buyer can obtain a FHA loan) visit this link.
Mortgage rates are unchanged this morning despite relatively hot inflation data. The Commerce Department released the monthly Personal Spending Report. Imbedded in this report is the Fed’s favorite gauge of inflation known as the Personal Consumption Expenditure Price Index. Because of the significance this report has on inflation expectations it is very important to mortgage […]
Mortgage rates are unchanged this morning. However, we are going to shift our outlook to a locking position. The Labor Department released their much anticipated monthly jobs report this morning. Their report showed that the US economy lost 51,000 jobs in the month of July. This marks the seventh consecutive month of job losses. For […]
Mortgage rates have improved modestly this morning after an economic report showed surprisingly week data. The Labor Department released their quarterly report on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which showed that 2nd quarter GDP grew at a 1.9% pace, far less than economists had been expecting. Furthermore, the report revised the 4th quarter of ’07 lower […]