From the monthly archives: February 2010

First Time Home Buyers Get Welcomed Relief

On February 25, 2010 By

First time home buyers have been watching an ever-shrinking housing supply tick higher for months now. It’s made the most desirable homes turn into multiple offer situations in many markets.

Continue Reading →

New Home Supply Can Help Home Buyers

On February 25, 2010 By

Housing continues to recover, but showed a weakness in last month — great news for home buyers taking advantage of the tax credit.

A “new home” is any home for which there was no previous owner.

Continue Reading →

Home Prices Are Recovering

On February 24, 2010 By

The Case-Shiller Index was released Tuesday and shows an improving real estate market.

Continue Reading →

Case-Shiller Data Shows A Recovering Market

On February 24, 2010 By

The most recent was released Tuesday and shows are down just 2.5% on an annual basis.

Continue Reading →

Mortgage Rates Aren't News

On February 23, 2010 By

Small changes in can mean big changes. Just a 0.25% means $45/month on a $300,000 home. Even bigger, it means over $16,000 of more or less total interest over the life of the loan.

The problem is that the “news” increasingly likes to cover [...]

Continue Reading →

Mortgage Rate Forecasts for This Week: February 22, 2010

On February 22, 2010 By

Mortgage rates jumped last week for the second week in a row. Largely, this was from hotter-than-anticipated inflation data and a surprise move by the Federal Reserve. Loans for first time home buyers rose by the largest margin in any week since late-2009. In brief, last week was all about the Federal Reserve.

Continue Reading →

This Week's Interest Rate Predictions

On February 22, 2010 By

lost for the second straight week and had their worst week since the end of last year. There was a little bit of pressure from the inflation reports, but the dominated the headlines [...]

Continue Reading →

Housing Starts and Permits Tick Higher

On February 19, 2010 By

Today’s headlines read about a 6-month high in housing starts.

Some headlines on the Housing Starts story included:

U.S. Housing Starts Hit 6-Month High (Reuters) U.S. Economy Receives Home Building Boost (Shepparton) Housing Starts Post Sharp Rebound ( Continue Reading →

Mortgage Rates Jump

On February 18, 2010 By

One of the big news items for the week was the minutes of the January meeting.

Continue Reading →

First Time Homebuyers – Tick Tock

On February 18, 2010 By

They were indeed influential, pushing rates to their highest levels of the year for most first time home buyer loans. The notable exception was the state programs as those are not typically driven by market fluctuation.

Continue Reading →