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21
Oct
By Jim Hasek
Home Mortgage Tips, ,

First-time Home Buyer? Don’t Miss These Tips to Ensure Your Mortgage Application is Approved

Are you buying a home for the first time? Congratulations! Buying your own home is an excellent way to build your net worth while living in a space that you can renovate and truly make your own. If you're going to be taking out a mortgage to help pay for the up-front costs of your home, you'll want to get a head start on the approval process. With that in mind, below are four handy tips to ensure that your mortgage application is approved on your first try. Gather All Of The Necessary Information And Paperwork You're going to need…
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20
Oct
By Jim Hasek
Market Outlook, ,

What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week – October 20, 2014

Last week's economic highlights included the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Housing Market Index for October. The Commerce Department also released Housing Starts for September. Freddie Mac reported that the average rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage dropped below four percent. The Fed released its Beige Book report, and Weekly jobless claims came in lower than expected. Here are the details: Homebuilder Confidence Slips in Spite of Lower Mortgage Rates U.S. Homebuilder confidence in housing market conditions slipped by 5 points to October's reading of 54 as compared to September's reading; this was also lower than the expected…
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17
Oct
By Jim Hasek
Market Outlook, ,

NAHB Reports: Home Builder Confidence Drops in October

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported that home builder sentiment lost its momentum in October and posted a seasonally adjusted reading of 54 in its Home Builder Market Index. This reading was five points lower than expected and also five points lower than September's reading. October's reading was the first time in five months that builder confidence has fallen. To put October's reading in perspective, things aren't all that bad. A reading over 50 indicates more builders are confident about housing market conditions than not. Also, October's lower reading of 54 after the HMI reading reached a nine-year…
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16
Oct
By Jim Hasek
Home Seller Tips, ,

Three Reasons Why Setting Your Listing Price is the Most Important Aspect of the Home Sales Process

Have you decided to sell your home, perhaps to make an upgrade to a newer, larger house? Whatever your reasons for selling, you'll have a number of decisions to make as you craft your listing and begin receiving offers from buyers but few are as important as your initial selling price. Let's take a look at three reasons why setting your listing price is the most important factor in your home sale. Reason #1: You Can Scare Off Potential Buyers With A High Price You'll receive the majority of your buyer interest in the first few days and weeks after…
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15
Oct
By Jim Hasek
Home Mortgage Tips, ,

Refinance Now or Wait? How to Determine the Best Time to Refinance Your Mortgage

Refinancing your mortgage is a great way to reduce your monthly payments or take out some of the equity in your home to reinvest in renovations, upgrades or in other areas in your financial portfolio. Let's take a quick look at a few questions that you can ask yourself in order to determine whether you should refinance now or wait until sometime in the future. Can You Lock In A Lower Interest Rate? Depending on when you first purchased your home and took out your mortgage, you may find that by refinancing now you can lock in a lower interest…
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14
Oct
By Jim Hasek
Market Outlook, ,

What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week – October 14, 2014

Economic news was lean last week as the first week of the month tends to be calm in the aftermath of the rush of end-of-month reporting. Of note was CoreLogic's report on housing markets, the release of the minutes from the most recent FOMC meeting and lower mortgage rates reported by Freddie Mac. CoreLogic Reports Lowest Home Price Gains in Almost Two Years August home prices hit their slowest growth rate in nearly two years according to CoreLogic data released last Tuesday. Annual home prices grew by 6.40 percent in August as compared to July's reading of 6.80 percent. Year-over-year…
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