C21AGVoices

Like most housing data from November, the most recent New Home Sales report showed sales volume increasing last month, and home supplies falling.

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It’s not only the real estate markets that differ from town to town — the Cost of Living does, too. Insurance costs, tax bills and just plain, day-to-day living will dent a household budget differently depending on where that household is.

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The end of 2009 is also the end of the first decade of the century – and that makes it a good time to get some perspective on the last 10 years. This video, courtesy of our friends at Newsweek that gives you a quick overview of the decade – it might surprise you to […]

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From my childhood – a Holiday message by R.O. Blechman for CBS in 1966 – at a time when we bemoaned the commercial nature of the holiday without knowing how much more commercial it was going to get – Have a wonderful Holiday – enjoy your time with your family whether you’re spending it at […]

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Fannie Mae raised the bar for mortgage applicants this past weekend.  Getting approved for a home loan just got harder, as if loan liquidity weren’t already the biggest problem facing home buyers. In its official announcement, Fannie Mae says the updates minimize long-term lending risks.  If that’s the case, this won’t be the last guideline […]

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Image via Wikipedia The Federal Open Market Committee voted to leave the Fed Funds Rate within its target range of 0.000-0.250 percent. In its press release, the FOMC noted that the U.S. economy “has continued to pick up”, that the jobs markets is getting better, and that housing market has shown “some signs of improvement” […]

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APR is an acronym for Annual Percentage Rate.  It’s a government-mandated calculation meant to simplify the comparison of mortgage options. A loan’s APR can always be found in the top-left corner of the Federal Truth-In-Lending Disclosure. Because APR is expressed as a percentage, many people confuse it for the loan’s interest rate.  It’s not.  APR represents the total […]

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For today’s home buyers and homeowners that can manage the higher monthly payments, 15-year fixed rate mortgage rates look attractive as compared to comparable 30-year products. The 15-year/30-year interest rate spread is near its 5-year high. As a result, the savings afforded by the 15 year mortgage is at its 5 year high also. Despite […]

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Thanksgiving is Thursday. If you’re cooking for group (or a crowd) and you haven’t yet put your menu in order, click on through Bon Appetit’s Thanksgiving Menu Planner. Answer 3 basic questions and Bon Appetit serves up a list of dishes and their respective recipes. For how many people are you cooking? How much time do […]

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Image by reeltor99 via Flickr As Congress discusses a 6 month Extension of the First Time Home buyer Tax Credit with an additional credit for repeat home buyers, the results of the initial credit seem to be obvious when we look at the Pending Sales Market statistics from September for Philadelphia and surrounding counties. Pending […]

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