C21AGVoices

For the 4th consecutive year, the government has set the conforming mortgage loan size limit at $417,000. A conforming mortgage is one that, quite literally, conforms to the mortgage guidelines set forth by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. The 2009 conforming loan limits, as released by the government, are: 1-unit properties : $417,000 2-unit properties […]

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Foreclosure is a hot topic among the press lately.  It’s hard to turn on the television or open up a newspaper without seeing a story about it. But what’s most interesting about foreclosures is that they appear to be concentrated in just a few parts of the country.  According to the foreclosure-tracking service RealtyTrac, 4 […]

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Image via Wikipedia If the amount of air that leaked from a typical home’s gaps and cracks was measured, it would equal the amount of air that leaves through an open window. This is why so many Home & Garden experts recommend a recaulking of your home prior to the Winter — a solid caulk […]

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On the first Friday of every month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its Non-Farm Payrolls report.  More commonly, it’s called the “jobs report” and the October’s data is trending with the rest of 2008. After shedding another 240,000 jobs last month, the economy has now put 1.2 million Americans out of work this year and unemployment […]

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The Federal Reserve confirmed what most of us already knew — getting qualified for a “prime mortgage” is increasingly more difficult. In a quartely survey of 84 banks, 75 percent of respondant banks tightened mortgage guidelines over the last 3 months for the most qualified of home loan applicants. “Prime” is a vague term when it […]

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More than a handful would-be home buyers stayed on the sidelines this year, waiting for Election Day to pass.  The prevailing thought was that once the new President-Elect was identified, credit markets will systemically unfreeze and housing markets will return to normal. If history is a guide, this is an unlikely scenario. Election Day doesn’t […]

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According to foreclosure-tracking service RealtyTrac, the foreclosure rate is falling nationwide.  Versus August, foreclosures fell by 12 percent in September 2008 as more than half of the states showed month-over-month improvement.  Most interesting in the data is that several states that led the foreclosure boom in 2007 now appear to be leading the charge out of it. For […]

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Statistics are what you make of them, but sometimes, they can provide good perspective. For example, from its peak in 2005 to its trough in late-2007, the number of “used” homes sold nationwide plunged. In 2005: Roughly 7 million homes sold annually In 2007: Roughly 5 million homes sold annually Through all of 2008, though, […]

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Image by Getty Images via Daylife I admitted earlier that I had totally jumped on the Phillies Bandwagon during the playoff season of Major League Baseball. You may remember that when I was 14 years old, the 1964 Phillies had thrown away a 6 1/2 game lead in the race for the pennant by losing […]

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The Federal Open Market Committee adjourns from its scheduled 2-day meeting today at 2:15 P.M. ET and the markets are eagerly awaiting the central bank’s press release. In it, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is expected to address the U.S. economy, the future of credit, and the new Fed Funds Rate. It’s this last point to which mortgage […]

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