Jumbo mortgages improving

When the mortgage markets pulled violently back from the edge of chaos in 2007 and 2008 one loan that went sky high was the jumbo loan. Jumbo loans are an important part of the real estate market financing options that we need to begin a solid long term recovery.

News this week that rates have finally begun to come down, as investors are once again looking at solid credit jumbos for securitization and better pricing.

Marketwatch report on Jumbo Mortgage Rates Falling ... Jumbo market improvement.

Call me today if you are looking to refinance or buy a home over $400,000

Final two weeks - to use tax credit

From Building Indiana

Have you found that home you want to buy ... it's time to do it!

Hoosiers have gone in for the federal home buyer tax credit in a big way.

What is the federal homebuyer tax credit program worth to Indiana?

Try $269 million to nearly 40,000 Indiana residents who bought a home since April 2008, when the program began.

Only 13 states have filed for more tax credits than Indiana.

A new state-by-state breakdown of the tax credits, released Monday by the Internal Revenue Service, shows a total $12.6 billion in credits granted in a congressional attempt to stimulate the housing market that was hit hard by the recession.

A new series on Green Pointe Homes

I am writing a new series at our Green Pointe Homes blog entitled:

How to build a new home in Northwest Indiana

Check it out and let us know if you have additional comments or questions.

Mortgage Rates Up further today

With news of home sales increasing even more, and inventories inevitably dropping ...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Enticed by an expanded tax credit, home buyers came back into the market in February, the National Association of Realtors said Monday, reporting a seasonally adjusted 8.2% increase in its pending home sales index.

The index had fallen 7.8% in January and was down 20% from the peak in October, just before the scheduled expiration of the original tax credit for first-time home buyers.

Following February's surprise increase, the pending home sales index is up 17.3% compared with a year earlier.

The increase in the index "supports our view that existing home sales will rebound over the spring, before the homebuyer tax credit expires for closed contracts in June," wrote Peter Newland, an economist for Barclays Capital.

Watch for another update later today, but our advise to all real estate buyers is get under contract and lock.

Mortgage Interest Rates - April 1, 2010 Update

I only wish this was an April's Fools Day prank - but rates are climbing this morning on the news that the Federal Government is stopping its aggressive mortgage bond purchase program. This was long ago telegraphed and no great surprise in the bond market.

But supply and demand is a constant, and with less buyers the prices do drop. In mortgage parlance this means that less investors want to purchase mortgage bonds with 4.5% face values and this pushes up the interest rate yield they require to purchase them.

In short, mortgage rates are moving firmly above 5.5% and my gut says we're not done with this upward run. I've been saying it for a month now, if you are looking for a home ... by all means make that contract and get your loan locked.

Steve