Coto de Caza
Real Estate Listings
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Coto de Caza
Real Estate News and Questions
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For today's home buyers and homeowners that can manage the higher monthly payments, 15-year fixed rate mortgage rateslook attractive as compared to comparable 30-year products.
The 15-year/30-year interest rate spread is nearits 5-year high.
Despite lower rates, however, homeowners opting for a 15-year fixed mortgage should be prepared for its
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Hello again – I hope your Thanksgiving Day ( And Black Friday.) went beautifully!
In our local housing market, the number of available houses is now the lowest in at least a few years. In Coto de Caza, for example, it went from a previous low of 131 houses, back in
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Home affordability improvedthis week after the Federal Reserve released its November 3-4, 2009 meeting minutes.
The FOMC Minutesis a companion to the Federal Reserve's post-meeting press release. It's released 3 weeks after the Fed adjourns and details the internal debates that shape our nation's monetary policy.
As compared to the press
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Another month, another piece of evidence that the housing market is in recovery.
Existing Home Sales surged in October as the nation's homebuyers took advantage of low mortgage rates, low list prices,and, for some, a generoustax credit.
Home resales are 23 percent higher versus a year ago and home supply
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Mortgage markets worsened last week on a mixed bag of economic data. Inflation data came in soft, but so did the start of the holiday shopping season.
For the first time ina month, mortgage rates worsened last week, adding roughly 0.125 percent on conforming fixed-rate products, and a little bit more
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A "Housing Start" is a home on which construction has started and, for the 4th straight month, national single-family housing starts held steadylast month.
When the demand for homes grows faster than the number of homes for sale, prices increase.
As recent home sales data confirms, buyers currently outpace
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Here is the latest Orange County, California,Housing Report from my friend Steven Thomas, the President of Altera Real Estate.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Have you ever pedaled up a steep hill on your bicycle as a kid only to wonder if you were going to ever make it? That's the same
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A conforming mortgage is one that, quite literally, conforms to the mortgage guidelines set forth by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
Each year, the government sets the maximum allowable loan sizefor a conforming mortgage, based on "typical" housing costs nationwide.
Loans in excess of this amount are typically called
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Mortgage markets improved last week as foreign buyers of mortgage debt helped to push mortgage rates to a 4-week low.
It marked the 3rd consecutive week that rates improved, breathing extra life into this year's ongoing Refi Boom.
Fixed-rate, conforming mortgage rates fell about 0.125 percent on the week. ARMs did
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From today's Los Angeles Times:
If you fit the criteria and are considering buying another house in the coming year, you might want to speed up the process and close by the June 30 expiration date.
By Kenneth R. Harney, November 15, 2009
Reporting from Washington - Take a close,
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For the eighth straight consecutive month, national foreclosure activity in the U.S. was dominated by a small set of states.
As reported by RealtyTrac.com, more than half of October's foreclosure-related activity came from just 4 states:
California
Florida
Illinois
Michigan
TheremainingTop 10 states in terms of total foreclosure activity included Arizona,
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Despite the economy's improvement and prodding from Congress, banks don't seem ready to open their purse strings just yet.
Nationally, mortgage approval standards are tightening.
The data comes from a quarterly survey the Federal Reserve sends to its member banks. The Fed asks senior bank loan officers around the country
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Consider this a last call for FHA Streamline Refinances. Starting next Tuesday, the popular rate-lowering program gets strict on borrowers.
There's 5 days left.
Under the current streamline refi guidelines, FHA homeowners have minimal program eligibility requirements.
FICO scores must be 620 or higher
The refinance must provide a "tangible benefit"
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Mortgage markets were extremely volatile last week, carving out a wide range between Monday and Friday.
Thankfully for rate shoppers, the overall momentum was positive.
Mortgage rates fell for the second time in as many weeks.Rates still sit higher versus their early-October lows.
For pure "news", last week was a
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Congress both extended and expanded theFirst-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit program Thursday.
The White House says the President will sign it into law today.
The up-to-$8000 tax credit's expiration date has been pushed forward to spring, requiring homebuyers to be under contract by April 30, 2010, and to be closedby
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The Federal Open Market Committee caps offa scheduled, 2-day meeting today in the nation's capital, its 8th meeting of the year.
The group adjourns at 2:15 PM ET and, as is customary, will issue apress release reviewing its monetary policy and thehealth of the U.S. economy.
The FOMC's post-meetingstatements arebrief but
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The housing market continues to steam forward.
As reported by the National Association of Realtors®, the Pending Home Sales Index posted its 8th consecutive monthly gain in September.
It's the longest winning streak in the history of the index and Pending Home Sales are now at their highest levels since December
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Mortgage markets improved last week after a series of hugely volatile trading sessions.
Rates carved out a wide range on the week, culminating in a late-Friday plunge that dropped rates by about 1/8 percent.
It was the first time in 5 weeks that mortgage rates fell.
Volatility like that of
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This is an article by Jeff Collins, in this morning's Orange County Register:
Home-data firm First American CoreLogic predicts that Orange County house prices will be up 9.5% next August from this past summer.
If accurate, the median price of an Orange County house would increase by nearly $48,000 from the
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Some days, newspaper headlinesare aterrible place toget your real estate news.
Today is one of those days.
After the September New Home Sales report showed sales volume down from August, the mainstream media jumped on the story:
New Home Sales fall a surprising 3.6%
Surprise Drop In New Home Sales
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The national housing supply fell to a 2-year low last month, according to the National Association of Realtors®.
At the current sales pace, existing home inventories would sell out in 7.8 months -- 30 percent faster versus November 2008.
For a 10-month window, that's a major housing supply reduction and it
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For August, the Case-Shiller Index showed annual home values improving across 19 of 20 U.S. markets. It's the first time in 3-plus years that the benchmark housing index has shown such strength.
According to a Case-Shiller Index spokesperson, "The rate of annual decline in home price values continues to improve."
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Mortgage markets were volatile last week, making it very difficult to shop for mortgage rates.
On most days, lenders issued multiple rate sheets with the trend putting rates higher in the morning, and lower in the afternoon.
Overall, mortgage rates were unchanged on the week. It broke a three-week
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According to the government, home valuesedged lowerlast month.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency's Home Price Index report shows values down by0.3 percent from the month prior --the index's first down month since April.
The Home Price Index is based on the value of homes financed via Fannie Mae or Freddie
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With crude oilat its highest levels since October 2008, retail gas is up8 cents per gallon this week.
It's bad news for home buyers and mortgage rate shoppers. The same force that's driving oil higher is linked to rising mortgage rates.
We're talking about the weakening U.S. Dollar which is now
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