The questions are simple enough: What’s going on with mortgage rates?
What makes them rise, or fall? Is it the Fed? The economy? Inflation? The banks? The President? Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac? Is it a secret conspiracy?
The answer is that rates are moved by a number of related factors, and believe it or not, you […]

The Markets. Rates fell once again to their lowest levels since Freddie Mac started tracking them in 1971. Freddie Mac announced that for the week ending July 1, 30-year fixed rates averaged 4.58%, down from 4.69% the previous week. The average for 15-year fixed fell to 4.04%. Adjustables were mixed with the average for one-year […]

After a close brush with the deadline, Congress has passed an extension of the Homebuyer Tax Credit closing deadline, the Homebuyer Assistance and Improvement Act (H.R. 5623). The extension applies only to transactions that have ratified contracts in place as of April 30, 2010 that have not yet closed. The legislation is designed to create […]

At this hour, the Senate is still debating the unemployment bill which includes the extension of the tax credit that will permit the credit to be taken on loans closed through October.    Senate leadership is aware of the fact that there are many loans “in the pipeline” that could be lost if the window closes […]

June 18, 2010–(MCT)–Allison Rinehart’s best hope for saving her home isn’t the massive federal effort to stem foreclosures.
She’s been denied, possibly in error, for that plan so she’s banking on an alternative mortgage modification to keep her Charlotte townhouse.
“This is the only thing my daughter and I have,” said Rinehart, who is 45. “I am […]

Here’s some good news for the struggling US housing market: Thanks to the European debt crisis, mortgage rates are at historic lows.
The current average rate for a 30 year fixed loan is 4.87 percent, according to Bankrate.com. That’s the lowest rate for the 30 years since Bankrate started keeping track 25 years ago.
Even jumbo loan […]

As Congress begins to debate how to reform government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Bank System, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)

On Sunday April 11, 2010, 1:00 pm EDT
Even as prospects for the American economy brighten, consumers are about to face a new financial burden: a sustained period of rising interest rates.
That, economists say, is the inevitable outcome of the nation’s ballooning debt and the renewed prospect of inflation as the economy recovers from the depths […]

 March 23, 2010—(MCT)—Homeowners defaulting on mortgages today may be surprised to learn years from now that they still owe thousands of dollars—and a collection agency is coming after them to get it.That’s because lenders have been quietly selling second mortgages and home equity lines left unpaid after foreclosures and short sales. The buyers: collection agencies, […]

March 20, 2010—(MCT)—As the spring real estate season kicks in and the tax credit deadline for sale agreements approaches, the government is ending a program that has kept interest rates low