Lender and tax rules for home buyers who haven't saved as much as they'd like for down payment.
ProfessionalBasis
For the past 2.5 years, the Fed has run two rounds of rate stimulus known as quantitative easing (QE), which is bond buying to drive prices up and rates down. QE2 ends June 30, so here’s a chart recapping 30yr fixed rates from crisis peak to now. It’s labeled to show how QE1, QE2, and
Recent existing home sales reports remind us that cash buyers are on the rise. In May, 30% of existing home sales were all-cash deals, down only slightly from 31% in April, and a record 35% in March. Is it more beneficial to pay cash for a home? Depends on your expected time horizon in the
No, that title isn’t a blatant search optimization tactic (though it can’t hurt). It’s a subject header to test TheBasisPoint’s new email machine. To all mail newsletter readers over the years: I want thank you, and let you know that me and my amazing team will now bring you market commentary using TheBasisPoint and its
Here are some alarming results from an April 2011 Zillow/Ipsos study: 55% of homebuyers don’t know that rates change throughout each day, 37% think getting pre-qualified means they’ve secured financing, and 44% said they’re not confident in their mortgage knowledge nor the mortgage process. So let’s review mortgage basics for new buyers and especially experienced
If you’re a homeowner with a mortgage, you’ve probably seen promotions for biweekly mortgage payments come from your lender or a third-party company. Promos usually lead with something like “How would you like an extra $59,314 in your bank account?” or “Pay off your 30yr mortgage five years early!” Let’s look past the promos to
Since it’s the time of year when home buying activity ramps up and people are thinking about taxes, it’s worth revisiting some common mortgage and tax rules. Below are some rules that are especially important for prospective homebuyers who haven’t saved as much as they’d like to put a down payment on a home and
Currently 95% of home loans are controlled by the government using Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA, but U.S. Congress is reviewing 3 options to overhaul home financing in this country. Below we examine how this will materially change loans and rates available to you in the future. This is part 2 in a series,
Before presenting rate predictions for 2011, it’s worth noting that all forecasts are subject to the whims of highly volatile rate markets. What follows is an explanation of how rate markets work, how rates have behaved since the financial crisis began in 2007, then the outlook for this year. All rates discussed are 30yr fixed
FHA Loan Fee Increases: Hundreds Per Month For Borrowers Effective for FHA loans October 4, 2010 or later, FHA mortgage insurance (MI) will be increasing on new loans—existing FHA borrowers are unaffected. Using money from MI premiums, the FHA helps troubled borrowers and backs lenders if loans go into foreclosure. Mounting foreclosures in recent years
As financial markets froze this very week in 2007, the real-time media market was catching fire. So instead of summarizing it all with a 140 character Tweet, below we offer some broader perspective by bringing everyone’s favorite obsessions together: mortgage rates, Twitter, and iPhones. Stat-filled timeline and rate chart are included. Home prices started falling
As financial markets froze this very week in 2007, the real-time media market was catching fire. So instead of summarizing it all with a 140 character Tweet, below we offer some broader perspective by bringing everyone’s favorite obsessions together: mortgage rates, Twitter, and iPhones. Stat-filled timeline and rate chart are included. Home prices started falling
Back in January, here’s what we said about rates and the economy: “As we move through 2010, our outlook is for waning Fed support to push rates approximately 1% higher, and for a choppy economic recovery marked by modest GDP growth and minimal employment improvement.” Conforming 30-year fixed rates were at 5% at the time.
Zero-point rates on 30yr fixed Conforming loans (up to $729k) held last week near record lows for a second straight week, and one-point rates on Jumbo loans (above $729k) are steady in the low- to mid-5% range. Rate Lock Advisory Week of June 14 WeeklyBasis continues its rate lock bias going into next week because
Zero-point rates on 30yr fixed Conforming loans (up to $729k) begin the week back at record lows, and one-point rates on Jumbo loans (above $729k) are steady in the low- to mid-5% range. The European debt crisis flared up again last week and Friday’s jobs report was drastically lower than expected. The result was that
Despite a volatile week, rates were net down .125%, bringing conventional conforming rates (on loans up to $417,000) within .1% of all-time record lows. Below is a recap of last week and rationale for a rate lock bias going into next week. And don’t forget that Friday is the last day homebuyers can be in
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