Compass Mortgage Blog
Today’s First Time Homebuyers
Meet the new first-time buyer. They’re younger, more likely to be single, signing for smaller loans than their predecessors, putting more money down, getting fixed-rate mortgages, and planning to stay in their houses longer. What they saw during the housing collapse has turned them into a cohort of financially conservative buyers who could help prevent another cycle of bubble and burst.
Compared with 10 years ago, first-time homebuyers are more frequently single (18 percent in 2001 versus 22 percent today) and a little younger (average age of 31 in 2001 versus 30 now). And fewer of them are married couples with children — in 2001, they made up 33 percent of first-time home buyers; today their share is only 26 percent.
Entry-level buyers also are more likely than before to use their own savings for the down payment — 57 percent did so in 2007 versus 63 percent in 2009, according to a report last year by the National Association of Home Builders. There’s even a growing group who are saying no to the banks and are paying all cash for their first house — their number rose from about 7 percent in 2009 to 11.4 percent so far in 2011, according to the NAR.
To read the Entire Article from The Fiscal Times click here
Five Dumb Refinance Mistakes
5 Dumb Refinance Mistakes
When refinancing a mortgage, smart people can do stupid things. But smart people can also get informed and avoid costly errors. Here are five stupid refinance mistakes and the smart ways to avoid them:
1. Assuming your home’s value hasn’t dropped
2. Refinancing with your current lender without rate shopping
3. Skipping your mortgage payment during escrow
4. Making purchases on credit
5. Overestimating self-employment income
Energy Effecient Mortgage Programs
These days, people are doing everything they can to keep our world beautiful. Conserving energy and water are great ways to preserve the Earth and save you money on your monthly bills. You could begin this process today with your home. The FHA’s Energy Efficient Mortgage program (EEM) helps homebuyers or homeowners save money on utility bills by enabling them to finance the cost of adding energy efficiency features to new or existing housing as part of their FHA insured home purchase or refinancing mortgage.
At Compass Mortgage we can now offer the Energy Efficient Mortgage Program that allows you to add up to $8,000 worth of energy improvements to your loan, depending on your home. Energy efficiency improvements can be recognized by increasing affordability of a house by reducing its operating costs. This program can also be combined with a FHA purchase or refinance, Streamline FHA Refinance or 203(k) loan. Our expert Mortgage Bankers can help you learn more about this program today and help you to save money in your future!
The debt downgrade and your mortgage
Mortgage rates are set off of the interest rates on U.S. Treasury notes and bonds. Even though Standard & Poor’s pulled its AAA rating of the United States Friday night, investors still rushed into U.S. Treasury securities Monday as a safe haven, believing more in the “full faith and credit of the United States” than in the opinion of Standard & Poor’s credit analysts. As investors snapped up Treasury notes and bonds they pushed down interest rates on those securities, which move inversely to prices. “The flight to quality effect is dominating,” said Walt Schmidt, senior vice president of FTN Financial Capital Markets. “The net effect is lower mortgage rates.”
Analysts warn the drop in interest rates may not last. If investment flows were to move back into stocks and out of bonds, interest rates on Treasury securities, and consequently mortgages, would rise.For now, lower mortgage rates may offer only limited benefits to American consumers. Let us help you today get the financing you need.
Mortgage Applications Rise Week of 8/1/11
The number of mortgage applications filed in the United States increased more than 7% last week as mortgage rates fell across the board to almost their yearly lows, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s market composite index. This measures our country’s mortgage loan application volume every week.
Mortgage loan applications rose 7.1% while the refinance index grew 7.8%. In the midst of some financial turbulence with the debt ceiling signing and downward trend of the Stock Market over the past week, interest rates keep inching lower and lower. Now is a great time to look at your home loan, especially to refinance!
