Bi-weekly mortgage payments reduce the term of the loan, reduce interest payments, and apply more to the principal loan balance. Bi-weekly payments are equivalent to making one extra mortgage payment per year because there are 26 bi-weekly periods in a year (13 monthly pmts). Taking advantage of an “extra” payment each year of a 30-year [...]
Austin Homes Sales Volume Down Due To Tax Credit; Price Continues to Slowly Rise Austin Board of REALTORS® releases April 2011 real estate statistics May 19, 2011 – According to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) report released today by the Austin Board of REALTORS®, 1,690 single-family homes were sold in the Austin area in April 2011, 16 percent fewer [...]
Mortgage backed securities (MBS) lost -65 basis points from Monday’s open to Friday’s close which helped to move mortgage rates upward. Mortgage Backed Securities (and mortgage rates) moved back into a more reasonable level after the Treasury Department announced that they would begin the process of selling their vast $1.25 trillion MBS portfolio into the [...]
In another sign the American economy is on the comeback trail, a new survey from KPMG shows optimism is improving among U.S. manufacturing and service industry executives. Executives in both key sectors say the worst is behind us. The survey shows 68 percent of manufacturing executives believe business activity will be higher in the next [...]
While the home buyer tax credit opportunity ended last year for most Americans, it is still available for some members of the military and certain other federal employees serving abroad! Low interest rates on VA and other loans, combined with these federal tax credits* for certain first-time home buyers and move-up buyers, make home buying [...]
The Obama administration released their ideas on how to overhaul Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration. Currently, all three issue mortgage backed securities that are backed by you the tax payer. This gives these securities very low risk and has great appeal to foreign investors that seek low risk. This is why your mortgage rates are still historically very low. [...]
Mortgage backed securities (MBS) lost -42 basis points last week which caused 30 year fixed rates to move higher and closed at their highest levels of 2011. As we have discussed several times, mortgage rates are pushed lower when the economy is performing poorly and their is little to no risk of inflation. So, as the economy [...]
Average rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgage expected to jump above 5% By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch Last Update: 4:47 PM ET 10/26/10 ATLANTA (MarketWatch) — Mortgage rates may be as low as they’ll get — rates are on course to rise, slowly moving toward 5% by the end of next year, according to the Mortgage Bankers [...]
3rd Fastest-Growing City: Austin, Texas Change in Population, 2000-2008: 32.2% The capital of Texas, also known as the “live music capital of the world” for events such as the Austin City Limits annual music festival, Austin ranks as the third fastest growing city in the nation by population. Increasing in population by almost a [...]
Austin has been in the national news quite a bit recently. We now top Forbes list as the Best Housing Market for Investors. “Austin looks like a great buy right now with a projection population growth of 16% and three-year home price forecast of 5%.” To read the entire article - http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml Here is another great [...]
