Closing on a home should be the most exciting part. After all, this is when you actually get handed the keys and you can call yourself a homeowner. To many, however, closing can be confusing and a little intimidating, if you don’t know what to expect. We’ll break it down for you here. What […]
Always Be Closing: The ABCs of Closing on a Home Read More »
Despite the many predictions that mortgage rates would rise in 2016 after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates in December, they have actually declined for the fourth week in a row, according to the Freddie Mac weekly mortgage rate survey. Why do rates continue to decline? News about low mortgage rates has been eclipsed only
How Long Will These Low Mortgage Rates Last? Read More »
Have you resolved to buy or sell a home this year? Or maybe both? Here are a few things you can expect to find if you’re entering the housing market in 2016: 1. Interest rates will go up This is not really news. Experts have been predicting an increase in mortgage rates ever since the Fed
Three Things to Expect from the Housing Market in 2016 Read More »
After you decide to buy a home, you are probably thinking the next step is to start house hunting. But before you can begin shopping for your dream home, you need to determine whether you can afford to take on the debt burden of a mortgage, and how much mortgage you are comfortably able to
How Much Mortgage Can You Actually Afford? Read More »
According to a recent post by Mary Hunt, the “Everyday Cheapskate,” there are few mistakes prospective homebuyers can avoid, in order to protect themselves from getting in over their heads and potentially save thousands when it comes to a mortgage. Hunt’s advice is geared toward first-time homebuyers, who could be more likely to jump in
Avoid These Mistakes and Save Thousands on Your Mortgage Read More »
More people are being approved for home loans, and a higher percentage of them are closing on those loans, according to a report recently released by Ellie Mae, the mortgage loan automation software company. The report could be proof that efforts by government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to open up the “credit
It’s Getting Easier and Faster to Close on a Home Loan Read More »
Last week we took a look at the launch of the new consumer protection measure for mortgage borrowers put in place by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), called TRID. It went into effect October 4, and many in the industry predicted that the new requirements related to TRID would cause an initial slowdown in
Will the White House Veto a Formal Grace Period for TRID? Read More »
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rolled out its new mortgage borrower protection rule this week, TRID, or the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure. TRID does exactly what it says it will do; it essentially integrates two forms created separately under the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 (RESPA)
Will TRID Simplify the Home Buying Process? Read More »
Millennials, the generation born between 1980 and 2000, are now twenty and thirty-somethings, and they are starting to take over. They are the social media generation, the multi-tasking, hashtagging generation, often stereotyped as having a short attention span and a large sense of entitlement. That’s not all there is to millennials though. They are also
How Millennials Can Afford to Live in Southern California Read More »
Plenty of people are watching Wall Street right now, and speculating about whether this is just a temporary fluctuation, with memories of seven years ago all too fresh in their minds. Of course, back then it was the bursting of the housing bubble that caused the stock market to plummet, not the other way around.
How Will Stock Market Volatility Affect Southern California Real Estate? Read More »
