On the 1-year anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said Tuesday that the “recession is very likely over at this point”. His comments were supported by a Retail Sales report for August that was much better-than-expected. Equities improved on the day, mortgage markets worsened, and home affordability suffered. The days of ultra-low [...]

If you plan to use Orlando’s First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit program, time is running out.  The program expires November 30, 2009 and closing on a home can take 45 – 60 days. That leaves you less than 100 days from today to find a home and go under contract. The $8000 First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit [...]

As downpayment requirements increase, anecdotally, home buyers are tapping 401(k) plans for extra cash. Classified as a ”hardship withdrawal”, loans against your retirement funds can be cheap and simple. There’s no credit check or approval process There’s only a small set of paperwork Money can be available in as little as a day But just because [...]

Since 2007, mortgage lenders have clamped down in many areas of underwriting, but none more so than in the area of credit scoring. Minimum FICO levels are up 120 points or more and conforming mortgage lenders now levy large fees on borrowers whose scores are below 740. Keeping your credit scores high is a worthwhile goal, but it’s [...]

Once again, the country’s foreclosures are concentrated in just a few states. As reported by foreclosure-tracking company RealtyTrac.com, more than 50 percent of the country’s foreclosure-related actions in August occurred in just four states: California : 25.76 percent Florida : 17.4 percent Michigan :  5.4 percent Nevada : 5.0 percent The rest of the “Top 10″ [...]

Volume figures to be light on Wall Street today as traders get a head start on Labor Day weekend. It could make shopping for a mortgage a bona fide challenge. Expect rate volatility this morning and afternoon and, therefore, by extension, expect wild swings in the Home Affordability Index. As mortgage rates rise and fall, [...]

In a bit of good news for the economy, Consumer Sentiment fell to 4-month lows in August.  The drop wasn’t “good news”, per se, but because it wasn’t nearly as large as economists expected, Wall Street cheered it. The index, jointly published by the University of Michigan and Reuters, measures how Americans feel about their situation [...]