mortgage rates

First Time Buyer Tax Credit Video

Here’s an informative video on this topic. Watch the Chief Economist of NAHB answer frequently asked questions about both the First Time and the Repeat Buyer  tax credits.

Friday Morning Mortgage Update

Mortgage rates should improve a bit this morning on news that October job losses of 190,000 were higher than analysts expected.  Unemployment topped 10% for the first time in a long time.  The...

Is This the Turning Point for Mortgage Rates?

Are you waiting for lower mortgage rates?  Don’t be silly. Mortgage rates have started to creep slowly northward these past couple of weeks. The normal volatility associated with stock trading...

FHA Loans to Get Tougher? You Betcha

In the past few months, we have felt HUD yanking insistently on the leash of of FHA underwriting.   We’ve all been wondering, in the absence of overt policy change announcements, what’s...

ALERT: PROPERTY TAXES IN A DECLINING MARKET CAN MESS YOU UP!

This is a repost of an article I wrote in March.  It came to light again because an agent I work with had a deal that hung up last minute over the issue of property taxes.  Here, with a few edits and...

Ah, There is Justice in the World….

There are moments where faith is restored in small increments.   This is one.

Fed Says “No” to $8k Tax Credit For Down Payment

Well, it was a good idea while it lasted.   Concerns about similarities between this proposal and seller-funded down payment assistance programs has scuttled the idea before it ever left port. May....

FHA to Allow First Time Buyers to Use $8k Tax Credit for Down Payment

I haven’t heard the official announcement,  and banks often take awhile to adopt these changes formally, but this would be great news indeed. …from Realtor.org “Shaun Donovan,...

Home Affordable Refinance & Fannie Mae’s “Refi Plus”

Fannie Mae has clarified its implementation of the Obama Administration Making Home Affordable Plan announced on March 4, 2009.   The refinance pice of the Obama plan–Home Affordable...

Do You Owe Taxes on Cancellation of Debt?

For those who have lost a home or defaulted on other debt, the salt in the wound might be the income liability associated with cancellation of debt.   As you may know, when you are relieved of debt,...