Tag: Real Estate

30-Year Mortgage Rates Reach Highest Level Since May For the fourth consecutive week, mortgage rates continued to climb as home buyers face higher borrowing costs. “Mortgage rates are drifting upwards again and represent continued affordability challenges for prospective buyers—especially first-time buyers,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Borrowing costs are moving right now for …

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Selling Luxury See Uptick in Sales   Luxury housing markets continue to climb, as 20 major counties post double-digit gains in home prices, according to realtor.com®’s 2018 Luxury Home Index, released today. The number of sales at or above $1 million climbed 6 percent over the last year. Realtor.com® defines the luxury price tier as the top …

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Down Payments Near Record Highs Home buyers are putting more money down on a home purchase than ever before. The size of down payments during the second quarter climbed to a median of $19,900, a record high, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ research, which dates back to the first quarter of 2000. What’s more, this …

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Demystifying Interest only loans What is an interest only loan? An interest only mortgae is a loan where you are only required to pay the interest that accrues on the loan each month and are not required to pay any principal unitl after the initial interest only period has expired.  The typical interest only period …

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Mortgage Fraud Becoming More Prevalent Mortgage fraud climbed 12.4 percent year over year in the second quarter of 2018, and about one out of every 109 mortgage applications has been found to contain false or misleading information, according to real estate data firm CoreLogic. “Because home prices are rising and demand is strong, most mortgage …

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Mortgage Rates Increase A strong job market and consumer credit are driving up mortgage rates for the third consecutive week and now to their highest level in six weeks. Mortgage rates are 0.82 percent higher than a year ago—the largest year-over-year increase since May 2014, Freddie Mac reports. Despite the higher rates, Sam Khater, Freddie …

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