Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Mortgage Market Stabilizing?

According to CNNMoney, the mortgage market may have started to turn around finally due to some new statistics that showed fewer borrowers delayed their payments on mortgages in the last three months of 2009. In 2009, the percentage of mortgage loans that were late was at 9.64%, which have fallen to 9.47% in the fourth quarter (National Delinquency Survey). Economic and real estate analyst’s say this is only a slight change, but this change does show a reduction in mortgages heading towards the foreclosure process.

National Average Mortgage Rates: (Provided by Bloomberg.com)

30-year Fixed: 5.09
15-year Fixed: 4.51
30-year Fixed Jumbo: 5.93
15-year Fixed Jumbo: 5.44

*These rates should not be relied on. Talk to your mortgage broker, bank, etc. for more information on interest rates.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Extended Tax Credit Ends in April!

As I promised a while back, here is more information on the tax credits (and a reminder not to wait much longer):

For those of you that were excited that the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers was extended, but haven’t done anything about it then you might want to get the ball rolling. According to the IRS, if first-time home buyers want to receive the $8,000 tax credit, they need to enter into a binding contract to buy a house before or on April 30, 2010. Also, they must close the deal before June 30, 2010 to receive the tax credit. There is also good news for current homeowners. Under the new law that was passed on Nov. 6, 2009 that extended the tax credit, homeowners that have lived in their homes and used the same home for primary residence for at least a consecutive five years can receive a $6,500 tax credit towards buying a new home. For additional information on these tax credits, please go to IRS.gov.

Children’s Hospital Expansion and Condos

Congratulations to the Laurelhurst neighborhood and Seattle Children’s Hospital. Although there are more hoops to go through, Seattle Children’s Hospital has reached an agreement with the Laurelhurst Community Club to build a scaled back expansion of the hospital. One of the hoops that Children’s Hospital still faces is the hospital had agreed with the homeowners to buy their 136-unit condo building for $93 million or an average of over $683,000 per unit. Per the Seattle Times (see last 3 paragraphs) a third party is questioning if Children have paid enough for the condos and refers to the law that requires that lost housing be replaced.