Mike Berrios's (mberrios) Blog

How Job Losses In The Economy Are Helping Home Affordability   On the first Friday of each month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its Non-Farm Payrolls report.  More commonly, it's called the "jobs report". The jobs report is a sector-by-sector look into the U.S. economy and whether busin...

Simple Real Estate Definitions: PITI   Most homeowners make four housing-related payments each month: Principal on a mortgage Interest on a mortgage Taxes on the real estate owned Insurance for the real estate owned Collectively, these payments are known by the acronym PITI but don't let it fool ...

Looking Back And Looking Ahead : June 30, 2008   Mortgage rates improved last week, marking the first time since mid-May that has happened.  The rate drop is the result of how mortgage markets interpreted the Federal Reserve's Wednesday press release. In it, the Fed said: Inflation pressures shou...

How Credit Cards May Be Replacing Home Equity As A Funding Source  As mortgage guidelines loosened between 2002 and 2006, homeowners often used their home equity to retire credit card and other consumer debt.  They did this by increasing the size of the mortgage and taking "cash out" from their h...

What The Bank of America-Countrywide Merger DOESN'T Mean For HomeownersFor all that's been said about the proposed Bank of America-Countrywide merger, what's not getting talked about is how the merger will impact existing Countrywide customers.The short answer is that it won't.A mortgage (and its...

Which Leads Which Lower: Mortgage Rates Or The Fed Funds Rate?  It's a point that's always worth repeating:Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve do not control mortgage ratesThis is particularly relevant today as newspapers, television programs, and market pundits posit that the U.S. is in the mid...

Help Your Home Emotionally Connect To Buyers The end of the Super Bowl kicks off the Real Estate Spring Buying Season.  As home sellers should prepare for the season's upcoming homebuyers, they could do worse than to watch this four-minute home staging video from Barbara Corcoran.  Barbara offer ...

Where Presidential Candidates Stand On Matters Of MoneyCourtesy of:  www.RanchoBlog.com In an election year, voting for a presidential candidate can be a lot like buying a home.  Both require a fair amount of analysis but -- in the end -- the decision is still highly emotional.Using Bankrate.com'...

Planning For A "Quick Close"? Now May Not Be A Good Time.  On the backs of surging purchase activity across the country and low mortgage rates, home loan applications have risen to a near four-year high.  For people with mortgage applications in process, some patience may be required.In 2006 and ...

What The New Conforming Loan Limits May Mean To YouCourtesy of:  www.RanchoBlog.com The $168 billion economic stimulus plan signed Wednesday includes a temporary increase to conforming loan limits in some parts of the country.Currently, many homeowners whose loans exceed $417,000 are paying highe...