I was excited when I picked up this week’s edition of the Portland Business Journal last night and saw Kate Myer’s picture on the front cover. Kate was quoted in the story (click this link to download complete story-subprime-problems-loom-pdxbiz-kmyers2) not only because she recently purchased a home but also for her professional opinion on the […]
Mortgage rates are up across the board today. We shifted our outlook to a locking position on Friday and our shift proved timely. We alluded to technical trading patterns on Friday as a reason to lock and mortgage-backed bonds have now broken below the 100-day moving average which is partially why rates have moved […]
The Federal Reserve Board recently created this website which is designed to help consumers evaluate whether or a refinance of their existing mortgage makes sense. Typically I am skeptical of the Federal Governments ability to simplify this process for consumers. After all they were the ones who brought us the Good Faith Estimate & Truth […]
They say that you learn something everyday and thankfully I came across this article this evening because otherwise this may have been the exception. In the Washington Post a reader wrote and posed the question, “Is it time to sell some beaten-down holdings for tax reasons, and how do I decide which ones?” The reader […]
Brent Arends wrote this interesting article for WSJ.com money last week. In his article he took a very objective approach to measuring the cost and investment value of owning a second home. Among his comments that I found useful was his commentary on how costs associated with owning a second property typically exceed the owner’s original […]
I came across this article in the Huffington Post and was reminded that the virtue of “delaying gratification” coupled with compound interest can make a big difference when it comes time to decide whether or not a person can retire. According to this article more and more American’s are having to work past the age when we’ve gotten to […]
Mortgage rates are slightly lower today but we don’t expect that to last. This morning the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) report was released and showed worse than expected inflation pressures (bad sign for mortgage rates). The report indicated that prices in the PCE index rose by 4.5% from a year earlier which is the highest […]
One of the best tax breaks available to homeowners is the capital gains exclusion on the sale of a primary residence. This important tax benefit is fairly simple yet often misunderstood so I thought I would provide a summary of what the average homeowner should know about. What is the capital gains exclusion? The tax code […]
Mortgage rates are unchanged today. Better than expected Gross Domestic Product numbers for the 2nd quarter is helping the stock market this morning which is pressuring bonds. This marks the second consecutive day in which economic data has exceeded analysts’ expectations. Typically good news for the economy is bad news for interest rates so we’ll […]
Mortgage rates are unchanged today. Better than expected durable goods orders were reported today. This positive news for the economy is helping stocks which could pressure rates higher today. It is not often I talk of weather in the same sentence as mortgage rates but today I will break the norm. The financial markets will […]