Rates Improved Again Last Week, the Refi Boom Continues

August 2, 2010

Non-Farm Payrolls hits the wires Friday at 8:30 AM ET. Markets are expecting a 75,000 net loss of jobs last month. If the actual number is higher, mortgage rates should rise. If the actual number is lower, mortgage rates should fall.

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Big News Week This Week, Rates Will be Volatile

July 29, 2010

2 New Pieces to Impact Mortgage Rates This Week: New Homes Sales (Monday) Case-Shiller Index (Tuesday) Both will have an impact on mortgage rates. In general, better-than-expected data should cause rates to rise in Iowa ; worse-than-expected data should cause rates to fall. Also this week, there’s two consumer confidence reports, the Fed’s Beige Book, […]

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June Home Sales Were Up but Gains Are Relative

July 27, 2010

June’s New Home Sales data is a major improvement over May, but gains are relative. It’s possible that the true “new home market” may be softer than the statistics suggest.

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Rates Went Up Slightly Last Week but Still Remain Near Lowest Levels Ever

July 26, 2010

Mortgage rates rose last week, but only slightly. Rate are still hovering near their lowest levels of all-time.

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Home Buyers Benefit from Lousy Builder Confidence

July 20, 2010

Remember, it wasn’t too long ago that most builders were flush with home inventory, unable to find willing buyers. To help move product at that time, builders dropped prices and offered incentives including free upgrades. If confidence continues to sag going forward, home purchase deals of that nature may return — especially as the foreclosure market gets larger.

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Rates Could Go Either Way This Week

July 19, 2010

Rates Have Very Little Room to Move Lower The news for this week: Monday : National Association of Home Builders Index Tuesday : Building Permits and Housing Starts Thursday : Existing Home Sales Strength in any, or all three, of these housing-related reports should push mortgage rates higher on higher hopes for the economy. Weakness, […]

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Rates Are Lower Than Any Time in History

July 19, 2010

Mortgage rates are artificially right now so even the slightest jolt could cause them to spike. It would be similar to what happened in June 2009 when rates rose 1.125% in just 10 days’ time. Therefore, if you’re shopping for a mortgage and like the rate you’ve been quoted, consider locking in as soon as possible.

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Foreclosure Figures Point to Investment Property Opportunties in Iowa

July 15, 2010

June marks the 16th straight month the filings topped 300,000. 1 in every 411 U.S. homes received some form of notice last month with foreclosure density varying wildly from state-to-state. Like everything else in real estate, it seems, foreclosures are a local phenomenon.

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Higher Risk Means Higher Mortgage Rates

July 14, 2010

Conforming mortgage rates may be posting all-time lows this week, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be eligible for them. You may have already called your loan officer and found this out the hard way. It’s because of a federally-mandated mortgage-pricing scheme known as “loan-level pricing adjustments”.

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Should You Refianance Your Adjustable Rate Mortgage?

July 13, 2010

If your adjustable rate mortgage is due to adjust this year, don’t go rushing to replace it just yet. Your soon-to-adjust mortgage rate may actually go lower this year.

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