Market Conditions
30 year fixed mortgage rates near record low this week
30 year fixed mortgage rates have been below 5% for 4 straight weeks now! This week we reached an average of 4.87% for a 30 year fixed mortgage. This is the second lowest recorded 30 yr fixed mortage rate since Freddie Mac began keeping track in 1971. The lowest recorded rate for a 30 yr fixed rate was 4.82% [...]
9Oct2009 | Michele Guss | 0 comments | Continued
Today’s Washington Business Journal: Pelosi says homebuyer credit may be extended
See below for the full article from today’s Business Journal:
Thursday, October 8, 2009, 2:47pm EDT
Pelosi says homebuyer credit may be extended
Washington Business Journal - by Jeff Clabaugh Staff Reporter
The first time homebuyer tax credit may be extended, and even expanded, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The $8,000 credit is set to expire Dec. 1.
“Yes, there [...]
Foreclosure tally: Good news and Bad News
I read an interesting quote in a Phoenix Business Journal article, ”Foreclosure tally: Good news and Bad News” dated March 11, 2009. It states, “Market indicators in the Phoenix area show that median home values have remained relatively constant for the past 90 days.” They are expecting this to be the case for the next 6 months and are [...]
12Mar2009 | Michele Guss | 0 comments | Continued
Fannie Mae requires a 10% earnest deposit on cash deal
I was talking to a friend of mine about a condo she is purchasing out of state and was quite surprised when she told me the details of the transaction and what she was required to do in order to get her purchase contract accepted. Here is the scenario…she found a bank owned condo that was listed for $45,000 [...]
16Jan2009 | Michele Guss | 6 comments | Continued
Renters to get some relief when home is in foreclosure
Recently I have had several calls from tenants that need to move due to the fact that their landlord is in foreclosure. I did some research and was not able to find much information for remedies for tenants. Low and behold, today I read 2 articles that directly address this issue.
The first article is a new [...]
Maricopa County resales jump 33 % as foreclosures push down prices
Click on the following link to read the full story:
http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2009/01/12/daily33.html?ana=e_du_pub
Phoenix Foreclosure Statistics for August
I thought you would be interested in the latest foreclosure statistics. In August, Arizona ranks 3rd in the country, behind California and Nevada, for the number of recorded foreclosure filings. RealtyTrac states that ”one out of every 182 households or more than 14,000 homes in Arizona” are in some stage of default. It is important to remember that [...]
13Sep2008 | Michele Guss | 3 comments | Continued
Phoenix home prices declining slower over last 2 months
I just read an article that had some interesting statistics regarding price declines in the Phoenix Metro area. Overall home prices have shown a 22.8% decline from June 2007 to June 2008. Peoria shows the largest decline at 28.1% while Scottsdale/Paradise Valley had the smallest decline at 14%. The article goes on to say that for the [...]
12Sep2008 | Michele Guss | 2 comments | Continued
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac taken over..stocks soar
On Sunday the government announced it is taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in hopes of strengthening the housing and financial markets. Following this announcement, on Monday the Dow rose 290 points. To read the full stories, click on the following links:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/09/08/ST2008090801017.html?hpid=topnews
and http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/07/AR2008090700259.html.
Factors that will lead to real estate recovery
I was talking to someone this morning and she asked me when I thought the market would recover. My thoughts on this topic are complex. To follow are some general ideas I have about factors that will lead to stabilization and eventually recovery. The 1st thing to consider is that real estate is local. It depends on what state, county, area, or even subdivision [...]
5Sep2008 | Michele Guss | 0 comments | Continued
Another great decision by FNMA? With so many available properties on the market, why would they want to make ...
But now at least we have a new credit for step-up buyers of $6,500.
The law defines a tax credit qualified ...
We'll see how much of a difference this makes. I hope it makes a difference, but I am not ...
10% Earnest money for cash Buyers. Another example of great decision making at FNMA! With the number of bank ...
Fannie does not have to answer to anyone. The people making the decisions are only trying to do their ...