Archives for the 'Buyer Essentials' Category
South Florida “Subprime” Mortgage Market
Wednesday, May 30th, 2007
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South Florida “Subprime” Mortgage Market - the area has much at stake in the furor over the quality of its so-called “subprime” mortgages.
How do South Florida’s numbers compare to the national average and other areas of the country? The latest twist – were half of the subprime borrowers ripped off? Did they actually qualify for [...]
3 Palm Beach County High Schools in Top 50 of Nation’s Best
Monday, May 28th, 2007
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Three high schools in Palm Beach County made the Top 50 in NEWSWEEK Magazine’s list of the Top 1,200 Schools in the Nation. Suncoast High in Riviera Beach (5), Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach (17) and Atlantic High in Delray Beach (37) also were in the top 50 in last year’s [...]
Mortgage Interest Rate Survey - May 25, 2007
Monday, May 28th, 2007
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In this week’s Mortgage Interest rate survey, according to Freddie Mac, rates jumped 10 basis points or 1/100%, as investors sold bonds on the market - the law of supply and demand causes bond prices to go down. When bond prices fall, bond yields rise, and mortgage rates follow the trend.
Freddie [...]
What to know before you buy - Good info for first-time buyers and buyers relocating to Boca Raton
Tuesday, April 24th, 2007
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The softening Florida real estate market may signal some good news for first-time home buyers, and many others who have been shut out of the local real estate market due to sky-high home prices.
But now, with more inventory on the market, lower fixed-rate mortgages, and sellers desperately cutting their asking prices, home buyers are starting [...]
Credit Crackdown Shutting Out Home Buyers
Friday, March 23rd, 2007
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Even before Goodman Griffin and his girlfriend began house-hunting a month ago, they sat down with a mortgage broker and were pre-qualified for the nontraditional loan they needed to purchase the kind of home they wanted.
So it came as a shock when the loan they thought they had was yanked away from them this week [...]
More Growth in Refinancings
Wednesday, March 14th, 2007
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Overall mortgage application volume increased last week despite mixed movement in interest rates, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today.
The market composite index, a measure of home loan application volume, gained 2.8 percent last week, rising to 690.5 on a seasonally adjusted basis from 671.6 one week earlier.
The index that tracks refinancings posted the strongest growth, [...]
Even in a home buyer’s market, it’s important to use your clout wisely
Friday, February 2nd, 2007
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Jenn Vest made what she thought was a fair offer on a house in Broward County, but the seller rejected it and wasn’t much in the mood to haggle. The same thing happened on another property.
Vest later found a two-bedroom house in an eclectic neighborhood near downtown Fort Lauderdale. Originally listed at about $550,000, it [...]
Village-like project planned in Delray Beach
Friday, February 2nd, 2007
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A Dallas-based real estate developer has acquired Office Depot’s sprawling Delray Beach headquarters for $80 million. Lincoln Property Co. sealed its deal for the three-building, 43-acre campus - on Congress Avenue just south of Linton Boulevard - on Dec. 22.
Office Depot will lease back its 566,852-square-foot headquarters until the end of 2008, when [...]
Save Florida from SAVE OUR HOMES
Friday, February 2nd, 2007
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“… There will eventually be dramatic differences in the assessed values of identically valued homes.” “… Property-tax payments will be effectively shifted from homestead properties that have not been sold recently to properties recently sold and to non-homestead properties such as businesses and rental units.” “Over time, the changes may work to limit (economic) growth, [...]
Do I qualify for $250,000 home-sale tax break?
Friday, February 2nd, 2007
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Suppose you could receive up to $250,000 tax-free cash. Better yet, suppose you could receive up to $500,000 tax-free. Still better, suppose you could receive this tax-free money over and over again, but not more frequently than once every 24 months.
Stop dreaming. It’s possible. Thanks to Internal Revenue Code 121, millions of U.S. home sellers [...]
