Mortgage markets improved last week as economic reports painted a less-than-stellar portrait of the U.S. economy and concerns of a looming monetary policy change eased. Mortgage pricing improved dramatically, despite a late-Friday retreat. Mortgage rates are now at their lowest levels since early
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03/29/2010
The housing recovery showed particular weakness in the New Homes Sales category last month - good news for homebuyers around the country. A "new home" is a home for which there's no previous owner. New Home Sales fell 11 percent from the month prior and posted the fewest units sold in a month si
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03/29/2010
You can't get your mortgage rates from the newspaper. Last week proved it. Again. Friday morning, headlines in Minnesota and around the country read that mortgage rates were down 0.04 percent, on average, since the week prior. A sampling of said headlines includes: US Mortgage Rates Drop For 2n
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03/29/2010
Sometimes, headlines for housing can be misleading and this week gave us a terrific example. On Wednesday, the Commerce Department released its Housing Starts data for January 2010. The data showed starts at a 6-month high. A "Housing Start" is a privately-owned home on which construction has st
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03/29/2010
Mortgage markets reeled Wednesday after the Federal Reserve released the minutes from its January 26-27th, 2010 meeting. Mortgage rates in Minnesota are now at their highest levels since the start of the year. The Fed Minutes is a follow-up document, delivered 3 weeks after an official FOMC meeti
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03/29/2010
According to the Census Bureau, 2.8 million people commute to work 90 minutes or more each day, in each direction. Now, your daily commute may not be as long, but time spent in cars, trains and buses is time away from work and from family. Drive-time can affect a person's Quality of Life and it's
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03/29/2010
Mortgage markets worsened last week on general profit-taking in the U.S. bond market, combined with talk of a coordinated rescue effort for Greece and its debt burden. Mortgage-backed bonds sold off, causing conventional and FHA mortgage rates to rise. There wasn't much hard data on which to trad
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03/29/2010
Consumer Sentiment has been on the rise since last February and it's something to which Minneapolis home buyers should pay attention. The affordability of your next home may hinge on consumer confidence. As the economy recovers from a near-the-brink recession, many of the elements of a full reco
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03/29/2010
Foreclosures stories dominate the national housing news. It seems at least one foreclosure-related story makes its way to the front page or the nightly news every week. But for as much as the foreclosure filing statistics can be astounding - over 300,000 homes were served last month alone - the p
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03/29/2010
The mortgage lending landscape changes a lot. Rates and guidelines are in constant flux, and it creates preparedness challenges for buyers in Plymouth that aren't paying in cash. The loan you get today won't always be the loan you get tomorrow. Because of how frequently bank rules are changing,
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03/29/2010
