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Money Woos not Woes

By
Real Estate Agent with Sherlock Homes Frisco TREC #574729

After last week's rumors of Countrywide's impending bankruptcy, the latest news is that Bank of America are going to buy Countrywide. The nation's largest lender is being bailed out by BoA, after a $2 billion injection of funds last August.

The two together make one in four U.S. mortgage loans, making BoA the largest lender around. Some insiders at BoA said that this will help to stabilize the mortgage market, and increase consumer confidence in availability of credit. On the one hand, the loan market right now is encouraging -BoA are offering 5.375% on a 30 year fixed loan. On the other hand a loan officer told me this morning that 40% of the homebuyers who would have qualified last year will not qualify this year as lending requirements tighten up.

How is this impacting real estate in the Greater Austin area? The listings in my office are seeing vigorous activity right now, so it seems that buyer confidence is high, and those who can qualify are taking advantage of the low interest rates. It'll be interesting to see January's statistics in a few weeks time.

 

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