Condo Lending Returns

Buyers interested in condos the last few years have had almost no outlet to turn to with financing. Almost all of the condo sales have required cash purchases, so it’s great to hear that we finally are seeing financing available again for these units. At least one lender in town, Sunstreet Mortgage, will finance units […]

Bond Prices Rise & Rates Drop

Those in the process or thinking about buying a house may have just caught a break if they’re financing. In a surprise move to most investors, the Federal Reserve announced yesterday that they’ll leave alone its $85 billion monthly bond purchases. Citing the jobless rate, a recent surge in mortgage rates and other borrowing costs […]

USDA Loans Remain Unchanged

Many people may not have even heard of a USDA loan, but they are a great option for many entry-level buyers looking for a low down payment option. In fact, outside of VA loans, the USDA loan program is the only widely available one which requires 0% down payment. Another great feature for USDA loans […]

Refinancing Still Has Some Life

With interest rates for mortgages hitting record lows over the last year it was widely held that eventually refinancing activity would dry up. However, one overlooked component was that not everyone could refinance due to their home’s equity (or lack thereof) position. With home prices climbing this has opened up the refinancing market to more […]

FHA Loans Will Become More Costly

FHA loans have become a stalwart of financing in the last few years (upwards of 35% of the mortgage market) as conventional mortgages became more difficult to qualify for and down payment reserves were more scarce for buyers. The attractiveness of financing with just 3.5% down has been a huge benefit for many buyers recently. […]

Another Mortgage Rate Update

Interest rates continue their upward climb from the last couple weeks. According to Freddie Mac’s official press release last week 30-year fixed-rate mortgages (FRM) averaged 3.91 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending June 6, 2013. This is up from last week when it averaged 3.81 percent. Last year at this time, […]

Mortgage Rate Update

It’s been a little while since we’ve discussed mortgage rates and that’s largely because they had remained relatively unchanged for some time. Well, that appears not to be the case anymore as rates have edged up more than we’ve seen in about a year. Now, keeping perspective rates are still VERY, VERY good and even […]

Mortgage Insurance – Examine Your Options

Buyers looking to finance the purchase of a home who don’t have at least 20% down will almost assuredly be paying mortgage insurance of some sort. However, not too many buyers unless they’re savvy investigate their options surrounding mortgage insurance. If a buyer plans to spend many years in a property it can often be […]

A Little About Credit

As a homebuyer unless you’re paying for a new property with cash your credit score will ultimately be a factor in the purchase process. Of course there are minimum qualifications to get a loan period, but there are also good reasons to take a close look at your credit even if you qualify. Depending on […]

Foreclosures Drop Locally

CoreLogic published statistics on foreclosures in the Tucson-area and there is positive news to be shared. The data is for January 2013 and showed that foreclosures among outstanding mortgage loans was 1.42% which is a pretty sharp dropped when compared with last January’s 2.34%. The rate nationally sits at 2.9%. Also, the mortgage delinquency rate, […]