chris brown: The Psychological Tactics That Supermarkets Use On Customers
- 02/28/11 06:17 AM
More than 50% of supermarket purchases are "impulse buys". You may not have known that, but the supermarkets do. And they've built their stores accordingly. A fool and his grocery cart are soon filled to the brim.
In this 6-minute video from NBC's The Today Show, you'll learn how supermarkets use everything from packaging to placement so that customers spend more of their money with each store visit.
Among the......
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The Psychological Tactics That Supermarkets Use On Customers
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chris brown: Assembling Your Home Buying Team - Knowing The Players
- 02/28/11 05:51 AM
Buying a new home is literally a team sport since there are so many tasks, important timelines, documents and responsibilities that all need special care and attention.
Besides working with a professional team that you trust, it's important that the individual players have the ability to effectively communicate and execute on important decisions together as well.
Real Estate Agent - A Realtor® is a licensed agent that belongs to the National Association of Realtors®, which means they are pledged to a strict Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice.
A few of the......
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chris brown: New Home Sales Crater In January, Opening The Door For Deals With Builders
- 02/25/11 11:03 PM
Not all housing reports are sunny, it seems.
In its monthly New Home Sales release, the U.S. Department of Commerce showed a 13 percent drop-off in annualized new construction sales between the months of December and January.
It's the biggest one-month drop in New Home Sales since May 2010.
In addition, the supply of.....
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New Home Sales Crater In January, Opening The Door For Deals With Builders
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chris brown: Existing Home Supply Down 40% In Last 6 Months
- 02/24/11 01:28 AM
Home resales rose another 2.7 percent last month, according to the National Association of REALTORS® monthly Existing Home Sales report.
An "existing home" is a home that's been previously occupied and is not considered new construction.
The number of existing homes sold on a rolling 12-month basis is now at its highest point since May 2010, the month before the federal homebuyer tax credit ended. It's.....
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Existing Home Supply Down 40% In Last 6 Months
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chris brown: Cost of Living Reaches An All-Time High, Pressures Mortgage Rates Higher
- 02/24/11 01:23 AM
Mortgage rates are up 0.875% since mid-November, causing home buyer purchasing power across Longwood to fall more than 10 percent since.
Persistent concerns over inflation are a major reason why and this week's Consumer Price Index did little to quell fears. CPI rose for the third straight month last month.
Wall Street was not surprised.
As the economy has picked up steam since late-2010, the Federal Reserve has held the Fed Funds Rate near zero percent, and kept its $600 billion bond plan moving forward. The Fed believes this is necessary to support the economy in.....
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chris brown: Going On Vacation? Don't Tell The Burglars!
- 02/24/11 01:18 AM
Want to help keep your home safe from burglars while on vacation? One smart way is to refrain from announcing your plans on various social networks such as Facebook.
There's other common-sense tips, too, as shared in this 4-minute video from NBC's The Today Show.
Drawing from a series of interview with former convicts, you'll learn that there's more to keeping your home safe than just locking the doors and windows, and setting.......
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Going On Vacation? Don't Tell The Burglars!
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chris brown: Five Myths About Home Values
- 02/20/11 11:29 PM
During periods of economic growth, when home values are typically just going up, most homeowners do not question appraisals much.
And in times of turmoil when property values are declining, home sellers and even listing agents quite often question and pick apart appraisals.
However, the actual appraisal process changed very little over the course of the housing boom and bust cycle American homeowners witnessed between 2001 - 2009.
Since the topic of home values seems to be a hot discussion, let's address the....
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Five Myths About Home Values
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chris brown: Fed Minutes Show Lower Unemployment And Higher Growth For 2011 and 2012
- 02/18/11 11:29 PM
The Federal Reserve released its January 25-26, 2011 meeting minutes Wednesday afternoon. Florida mortgage rates have been in flux since.
Fed Minutes are comprehensive recaps of Federal Open Market Committee meetings; a detailed look at the debates and discussions that shape our nation's monetary policy. As such, they're released 8 times annually; 3 weeks after the most....
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Fed Minutes Show Lower Unemployment And Higher Growth For 2011 and 2012
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chris brown: Single-Family Housing Starts Fell In January, Despite What The Headlines May Have Told You
- 02/17/11 06:02 PM
Annualized Single-Family Housing Starts dropped 1 percent in January to 413,000 units nationwide, it's lowest reading almost 2 years.
A "Housing Start" is defined as a home on which construction has started.
Now, if you had only seen the Housing Starts story in the headlines today, you wouldn't have known that single-family starts fell at all. It's because of how the story is being reported.
Most commonly, newspaper headlines are reading something similar to "Housing Starts Jump 14.6%" with the lead paragraph making mention that "housing starts are at their highest levels in 4 years".
It's a true statement, but it's.......
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chris brown: Home Builders Report Higher Sales Levels In January
- 02/16/11 11:15 PM
Homebuilder confidence in the market for newly-built, single family homes appears stable as the spring buying season gets underway in Orlando.
The confidence reading is recorded and reported monthly by the National Association of Homebuilders. For the 4th straight month, the group's Housing Market Index reads 16.
As a market indicator, Housing Market Index has been tracked for more than twenty years and reports on a 1-100 scale. A value of 50 or better indicates "favorable conditions" for home builders.
HMI hasn't read higher than 50 since April 2006.
Broken down, the Housing Market Index is......
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chris brown: Retail Sales Rise For 7th Straight Month; Mortgage Rates Worsen
- 02/15/11 07:48 PM
If consumer spending is a keystone element in the U.S. economic recovery, a full-on rebound is likely underway.
Tuesday, the Census Bureau released its national January Retail Sales figures and, for the seventh straight month, the data surpassed expectations. Last month's retail figures climbed 0.3 percent as total sales receipts reached an all-time high.
It's good news for the economy which is scratching back after a prolonged recession, but decidedly bad news for people in want of a mortgage across the state of......
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Retail Sales Rise For 7th Straight Month; Mortgage Rates Worsen
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chris brown: How To Replace And Install A New Kitchen Faucet
- 02/14/11 11:19 PM
Want to replace your kitchen faucet? It's a job for which you could hire a plumber, or, with just a little bit of craftsman skill, it's a project you could finish yourself.
Watch this video from the Lowe's YouTube channel. You'll get step-by-step instruction on.....
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How To Replace And Install A New Kitchen Faucet
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chris brown: Mortgage Rates Return To April 2010 Levels
- 02/13/11 11:12 PM
Mortgage rates are surging.
Over the last 7 days, conventional, 30-year fixed rate mortgage rates have jumped 24 basis points, or 0.24%, according to Freddie Mac's weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
It's the largest 1-week spike in mortgage rates in recent history.
The 30-year fixed rate mortgage now averages 5.05% nationally. This is much, much higher than what we saw last November when mortgage rates were 4.17% and looked headed to the 3s.
That's not the case today. In fact, it's the opposite.
Mortgage rates have risen quickly and fiercely this....
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chris brown: Foreclosure Activity Drops Throughout The Most Foreclosure-Heavy States
- 02/10/11 07:32 PM
Foreclosure activity is slowing. According to foreclosure-tracker RealtyTrac, the number of foreclosure filings dropped 17 percent on an annual basis last month. Monthly filings ticked higher 1 percent after a combined 23 percent decrease through November and December 2010.
The phrase "foreclosure filing" is a catch-all term, comprising default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions.
January marked the third straight month of .......
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Foreclosure Activity Drops Throughout The Most Foreclosure-Heavy States
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chris brown: Mortgage Rates Rise For The 7th Straight Day
- 02/09/11 10:08 PM
Mortgage markets worsened for the 7th straight day Tuesday, equaling the longest losing streak of the last 5 years.
Conventional, 30-year fixed mortgage rates are now scratching 5 percent, with FHA mortgage rates running roughly the same.
This is a huge increase from just 11 weeks ago.....
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Mortgage Rates Rise For The 7th Straight Day
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chris brown: Adjustable Rate Mortgages Adjusting To 3.000 Percent Right Now
- 02/08/11 05:12 PM
If your ARM is due to adjust this spring, your best move may be to allow it. Don't rush to refinance -- your rate may be adjusting lower.
It's because of how adjusted mortgage rates are calculated.
First, let's look at the lifecycle of a conventional, adjustable rate mortgage:
There's a "starter period" of several years in which the interest rate remains fixed. There's an initial adjustment to rate after the starter period. This is called the "first adjustment". There's a subsequent adjustment until the loan's term expires. The adjustment is usually annual. The starter period will vary from … (0 comments)
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chris brown: Home Remodeling Projects That You Should Skip
- 02/08/11 05:03 PM
Home remodeling is back in vogue.
With contractors dropping prices in most U.S. markets, and a resurgence in confidence among homeowners, home remodeling projects are expected to top $125 billion this quarter.
Not all renovations will be "worth it", according to Remodeling Magazine's 2011 Cost vs Value report, but some projects should never be started -- especially when said projects render a.....
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Home Remodeling Projects That You Should Skip
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chris brown: How Do Mortgage Companies Value A Property That Has Not Been Built Yet?
- 02/06/11 08:19 PM
It's obviously easier to picture the process of estimating value on an existing property in a neighborhood that has a history of home sales, but the task of determining the value on new construction projects does pose some challenges.
Appraisals on homes that haven't been built yet generally require the contractor and home buyer to supply more documentation in order to get a more accurate estimate of the property's value.
The main purpose of this article is to give an overview of the appraisal process for a home buyer that is building a home vs purchasing standing inventory.
For some, building … (2 comments)
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chris brown: Unemployment Rate Drops To Lowest In 2 Years
- 02/04/11 04:01 PM
Americans are getting back to work. Sort of.
This morning, at 8:30 AM ET, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Non-Farm Payrolls report for January 2011. More commonly called "the jobs report", the government's data showed a large decrease in the number of working Americans as compared to December, but a sizable drop in.......
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Unemployment Rate Drops To Lowest In 2 Years
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chris brown: Mortgage Guidelines Starting To Loosen?
- 02/03/11 11:40 PM
Mortgage lending appears to be loosening. At least for now.
In its quarterly survey of member banks, the Federal Reserve asks senior loan officers around the country whether their "prime" residential mortgage guidelines had tightened within the last 3 months.
A prime borrower is one with a well-documented credit history, high credit scores, and a.....
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Mortgage Guidelines Starting To Loosen?
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