Looking Beyond the Headlines
In reading the headlines this morning, you’d think that last month’s Existing Home Sales figure shows more trouble ahead for the housing market.

It’s actually the opposite.
Beyond the attention-grabbing headlines is the actual story;  the one that shows  (once again),  that housing market basics are coming back into balance.
Crunching Numbers
As home values tick lower, it [...]

What’s The Real Estate Market Doing?
Do you ever wonder how our real estate market is here in Des Moines? Unfortunately, we spend a lot of time listening to how rough things are in other cities around the country, but too often we don’t really consider what our real estate climate is like.

I’m a fan of [...]

Economic Stimulus Plan Gets Passed and Signed Into Law

The first plan, the Economic Stimulus Plan for 2009, was finally approved by Congress and signed by President Obama. In addition, the President unveiled the initial details of his Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, which is designed to help stabilize the housing market and keep millions of [...]

The Big Day
In Mesa, Arizona, Wednesday, the President presented the Homeowner Affordability and Stability plan, a multi-pronged effort to support the housing market.
The story made the front page of nearly every newspaper in the country.
Objectives Were Clear
The president’s plan is trying to:

Provide incentive for mortgage servicers to work with at-risk homeowners before delinquency starts
Let homeowners with [...]

Confidence is Down
Consumer Confidence fell this month for the first time in three months, reflecting Americans’ concern for the economy, housing, and the financial system. 
The reading isn’t much of a surprise given our near-constant stream of negative news. Before long, the reports become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Where There’s Bad News, There’s Good News
Despite falling confidence, [...]

Is The “Credit Freeze” Over?
If the unfreezing of credit is extremely important to an economic rebound, the first signs of a thaw might actually be here.
Last Monday, the Federal Reserve released its quarterly survey of 84 member banks.  In it, the Fed says that fewer than half of its responding banks tightened “prime” mortgage guidelines over the last [...]

Monday’s a Holiday
As a reminder, Monday is Presidents day and the mortgage market will be closed.  This makes for a short news week that could show some serious volatility.
What to Watch This Week?

Since there’s always a lot going on, I like to pick out the two most likely ‘market moving’ reports each week.  If [...]

For First Time Home Buyers

The tax credit in the Stimulus Bill has been scaled down to $8,000 from its previous level of $15,000, or 10% of the value of the home for a first time homebuyers who purchase homes from the start of the year until the end of November. It starts phasing out for [...]

They Finally Came to an Agreement
Congress reached it’s agreement on a $789 billion stimulus package.   The President expected to sign it into law later this week.  The clock may be ticking for this year’s home buyers and homeowners.
The massive package contains two benefits related to housing.
For First Time Homebuyers
The first provision is fairly well-known.  It [...]

Sometimes It’s What You Don’t Expect
The speech was much anticipated, but it was what our new Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner didn’t say Tuesday that caused mortgage markets to improve.
Mostly it was because of “safe-haven” buying.
Safe-haven buying is what investors do when they’re afraid of losing money elsewhere.  They move cash to the safest investments possible.
The [...]