Doors Floors and More

Cited: Reuters

Mortgage rates have fallen to the lowest level in decades over the past two months and could dip below 4 percent if the economy worsens.

The average rate for 30-year fixed loans fell this week to 4.42%, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. It was the eighth time in nine weeks that rates have fallen to the lowest level since Freddie Mac began tracking rates in 1971.

Investors fear the recovery is slowing. The latest sign came Thursday when the government reported a half-million people applied for jobless benefits last week, a nine-month high.

Mortgage rates are following the economic jitters. Rates track the yields on U.S. Treasury’s. Those yields have lowered in recent months as more investors put their money into safer Treasury’s.

Rates could fall to 4% sometime next year if the economy slips back into a recession, said Michael Moskowitz, chief executive of Equity Now, a New York-based mortgage lender with operations in six states.

For those looking for mortgage assistance . . . One Louisville Mortgage Company is a wholesale mortgage broker that shops many of the country’s largest lenders daily as well as the wholesale rate catalog in order to find their clients exceptional pricing. Perfect credit is not required to qualify for many of their best offerings and all personal information is kept confidential and secure if you are looking for KY refinancing.

“The economy is going nowhere for a very long time,” he said.

The average rate on 15-year fixed loans dropped to 3.9%. That was down from 3.92% last week and the lowest on records dating back to 1991.

Low rates have not helped the struggling housing market. It is hampered by tight credit and a weak economy that is producing few jobs.

More people are taking advantage of the rates to refinance their existing loans, with activity reaching the highest level since May 2009.

Many lenders are having a hard time keeping up. Like many employers, they have also slashed jobs because of the tough economy. Now they have fewer people available to process loans.

“They’re trying to slow the number of loans they have coming in because they can’t handle the volume,’” said Cameron Findlay, chief economist at LendingTree.com.

Rates are unlikely to fall to 4% in the next few weeks but could easily do so in the coming months, Findlay said.

To calculate the national average, Freddie Mac collects mortgage rates on Monday through Wednesday of each week from lenders around the country. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a given day.

Average rates on 5-year adjustable-rate mortgages were unchanged at 3.56%. Rates on 1-year adjustable-rate mortgages also were unchanged at an average of 3.53%.

However, these rates do not include fees known as points. A point is generally equal to 1% of the total loan and nationwide fees for loans in a survey done by Freddie Mac average 0.7% a point for 30-year and 1-year mortgages. For 15-year and 5-year mortgages they averaged 0.6% a point.

————————————————————————

My Take: I, for one, am glad the mortgage rates are still low. I am in the process of buying my 1st home and I would like it to be as cheap as possible, financially speaking. It’s not like I want to buy villas in Marbella or a ranch in Montana. Although, a ranch in Montana sounds good! Even Marbella homes sound good. However, those are for when I become exorbitantly rich by winning the lottery. Ha ha!

I would love to have the cash to build my own home and to afford the Denver CO construction attorneys I would need if I had a problem. Or would those be Denver CO construction defect litigation attorneys. You see, it’s a good thing I don’t have the money to build my own home because I would note contact there was a problem.

I understand that because the rates are so low a lot of investors are purchasing homes and then renting them out. Homes for rent are a big business nowadays. I understand there are a lot of Blaine homes for rent right now, some of which may be rent-to-own homes. However, I do not live in Blaine so they will not get my business.

————————————————————————-

Other Resources

Landscape Architect

There is a premier northern New Jersey landscaping design firm was own by a landscape designer with a degree in landscape architecture. The company provides landscape design services for residential and commercial projects in all of New Jersey and beyond. This company can create designs that are creative and exciting, but that is not they do. Their services include providing landscape designs, recommending landscape contractors that do top-quality work and project management. They can provide landscape designs that include many landscaping ideas. If you would like to see some of the NJ residential landscaping designs, just visit their website.

Cited: Reality Times

A forecast that was put out recently included some important observations on housing but did not get the attention it deserved by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. He spoke to the economic club of New York describing well-known problems standing in the way of economic growth. In particular the double digit unemployment and consumer confidence that is shaky week-by-week at best.

But buried away in his speech he said: Housing in the coming year is going to be a relative bright spot - a helpful driver of national economic growth, rather than the wet blanket it’s been for the past couple of years.

Think about that: Home sales and new home construction, at least according to the Fed, are likely to stimulate the economy in 2010 — enough to generate jobs and help avoid a double-dip recession.

That forecast just happens to track nicely with another that came out last week: Fannie Mae issued its projections for the coming year — and predicted that housing sales will jump by 11 percent — even in the face of a slow recovery for the economy as a whole. Meanwhile, scattered reports from hard-hit local real estate markets suggest that there may be some reasons for guarded optimism.

For example, research firm MDA DataQuick’s latest report on sales and prices in southern California, including the counties of Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernadino and Orange, found that October sales were up nearly three percent over September, and that prices are rebounding as well.

October sales in San Bernadino were 11% higher than September. In Ventura, they were up nearly 10%. Median prices for the six counties were up almost 2% for the month, but were still 6.7% below where they had been in October of 2008. Now, as is almost always the case, not all the news is on the up side. New home starts dropped by a surprisingly large, seasonally-adjusted 10.6%, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

For those in the real estate and construction industry . . . Success in construction and building contracting requires that you deliver accurate construction cost estimates and proposals to your customers, and execute in the field according to your construction cost estimate. This means you need construction estimating software to accomplish the task accurately. But being accurate in your construction estimate is not enough, you must also have enough volume of work, and therefore volume of new proposals to pay your overhead, keep your best employees busy, and to have enough left over to pay yourself. Having good estimating software ensures your payment.

A lot of the decline came in multifamily housing apartment starts — a volatile month by month index — which plummeted by 35%. But there’s no sugar coating here: starts of single family homes dropped by 6.8%, which was enough of a negative to spook Wall Street.  The magic potion for home buyers this week is mortgage rates that are dropping again further into the upper 4% range. Fixed rate 30 year loans have averaged 4.8% and the popular 15 year loans averaged just 4.3% according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. This was thrown into the mix at the end of November, no wonder Wall Street a spooked.

——————————————————-

My Take: I think I can understand why housing would stimulate the economy, it would make more jobs available to people. More jobs means paychecks and that means people can afford to purchase homes. By building more homes, they create jobs. Workers would be needed to install granite kitchen counters, plumbing, electrical, etc.

Of course, more housing in Bethesda would mean that they would need Maryland house cleaning services, which would also create more jobs in the cleaning industry. Of course those services would have to make sure that they knew how to clean granite slabs properly. I am sure that they would know how to do it. One thing is definitely for sure that maid services MD are always needed as they are everywhere.

——————————————————

Related Resources

Employment Problems

A law firm with New York employment lawyers specializing in enforcing the rights of employees in an effort to preserve a fair, equal and just employment environment represents plaintiffs in all phases of litigation in all forums including New York State and federal courts, arbitration, and before both state and federal administrative agencies. Sometimes when an employee is fired for the wrong reasons and then a LI civil rights lawyer is needed.

Christmas Videos

There is a service that specializes in duplicating, replicating, labeling and packaging CD/DVD media. Companies cannot compete with their prices and speed because they use the most cutting edge technology to produce a massive amount of product at a daily rate. That means this Christmas you can make all the video you want and be able to get a DVD copy made for every relative at a reasonable price. That means you would be able to get the same West Coast DVD duplication that big companies get.

Landscape Design Services

Services provided by one New Jersey landscaping firm include providing designs, recommending contractors that do top quality work and optional project management. Whether you are interested in a small design or a master plan it doesn’t matter, they handle all types of landscape design projects. You can read more about some of the features they can design for you on their website. You can browse through their site and you will see why they are one of the top New Jersey Garden landscaping firm with many award winning projects! In fact, they specialize in residential design.

Warmth and Style

Porches are a great place to start when decorating, an antique rocker or primitive chair gives it a nice touch that invites your guest to sit and relax. Next add an old wood crate or keg as an accent piece that doubles as a plant stand. Finish it off with a hand painted welcome slate and be sure to include some primitive décor as well. Then as you step inside the door, a braided rug will help to warm that cold tile foyer floor. Next add a primitive piece of furniture such as a hall console, adorned with a candle or a lamb for rustic lighting and added warmth.