Lower New Home Sales Not Unexpected

The low numbers this morning for New Home Sales is certainly not unexpected if you live in many areas (and spreading) of the country where it appears we are sliding into a recession. People are looking around in other areas of the country to see if they can find work in the pockets that are still producing jobs.. The housing market has a large domino effect on all areas of the labor force. In Florida we are in a recession right now and many people are not even aware of it. They know that their income is way down but have not put all of the pieces of the puzzle together as of yet. It is like a death dealing illness at times. You do not even know you are sick until you are at deaths door. A recession can be taking place and the people are not aware of what is going on until something really bad happens to them (like not being able to make their mortgage payment). The consumers needs to be alert as to what is going on in their areas and adjust their budgets and tighten their belts to get though these times. Cut down on your spending habits and try to build a lower budget to fit your reduced earnings. There are going to be tough times ahead after a long string of great economic years. Have you put something aside to weather the storm? www.rateinformer.com

Time To Buy?

In SW Florida the real estate groups put together a program called "Time 2 Buy". They say now is the time to buy a home at great deals.Hmmmmm. If we recall they were saying that for the last 5 years. You need to be very careful or else "time 2 buy" could turn into "time 2 cry". While it is true prices have come down they are still much higher than just 1 or 2 years ago. When prices increase because of frantic buying on investors part this is what happens to the real estate market. As enough time goes by and the sellers FULLY realize (not just reduce their overpriced homes $20-30,000) the market as of now and adjust their prices to be in line with the real market, homes will begin selling again. Home Buyers still want to own a home but at a affordable price. The real estate market will come back when the prices get to the point where they make the buyers feel good about their purchases. www.rateinformer.com

Why are the Big Boys In Banking So Quiet?

There is no doubt that the Big Boys in Banking are going to suffer from the sub prime fallout. They also are guilty of doing sub prime and other types of products that put the borrower in a tight spot down the road . As we have said for the past year these loans are being made to borrowers who do not qualify for a mortgage in a normal way and greatly overextend themselves. Most of the big players have a large division of sub prime. They may try to isolate themselves from this division but it belongs to them along with all the defaults that go with it. Their bottom line will be reflected in their financials with these huge losses coming out of the stockholders pockets. As a borrower you need to focus on what you can afford with your financial situation NOW. As a stockholder of Bank stocks or Mutual Funds you need to be aware of future losses showing up and affecting their values in a large way. Read this article about what is going on with the Big Lenders. www.rateinformer.com

Need some Help?

We will be glad to take a look at what you are being offered on a mortgage rate and fees. WE DO NOT ORIGINATE MORTGAGES. We can help you to see if you are getting a fair deal. It needs to be a standard mortgage as shown by the guidelines on our site. We can not help those who are getting a non-standard mortgage because of credit issues or other problems. There are too many issues to deal with on non-standard mortgages to give you a fair opinion. Please look at our website FIRST. www.rateinformer.com

Detroit (The Motor City) has more than Cars to Offer

Do you want a new car or a house? It might be cheaper to get the house as this article shows. This shows you how bad things can get in a bad housing market. Of course we have many of the experts that say these mortgage issues will not have a severe effect on our economy. We wonder what the good people of Detroit think about that? www.rateinformer.com

Who Will Pay for All of This?

Kimberly send in this interesting article along with the following email.
These are her thoughts:
"These 1.7 million "homeowners" NEVER should have qualified for loans and been homeowners in the first place. The reality is that Americans are severely overleveraged with debt and always find a way with overextended credit from finance companies to obtain what they otherwise simply cannot afford to have. The materialism in this country is out of control. Americans need to reign in their budgets, live more simply and save their money for a proper down payment on a home that they can truly call their own. These 1.7 million are NOT homeowners, they occupy homes that are owned by mortgage holders-they often own 97-100% of the home due to their loose lending policies. Legislation needs to be passed to tighten credit restrictions immediately. The hard working rest of the American public should once again NOT have to bail out large financiers who rode the wave of wealth while they wrote all these bad mortgages and took all the fees upfront. Let them get stuck with the properties and the shareholders cough up the money. I am tired of CAPITALIZATION OF PROFITS AND SOCIALIZATION OF LOSSES! What does this mean? It means that as long as the money is flowing in, the companies want to keep it all for themselves. Then, when there are hard times, they want the layers of government to pay for it with your tax dollars. If you actually OWN EQUITY in your home and pay a normal mortgage you should be outraged and get prepared to pay to bail out this industry."
Time will tell just how far reaching this problem really is. Will the Federal government jump in to save the day with our tax dollars like a white knight to the rescue? It would not be the first time. www.rateinformer.com

Is the Subprime mess in Your Wallet?

Some more good insight from Kimberly that we received today are as follows: Read this example of the broader impact on differing markets and the individual investors. Read just how far reaching this problem is in this article. So as they say on the credit card commercial "What's in Your Wallet"? We hope these stocks are not in your funds but you need to check. www.rateinformer.com

Can I Keep the Ferrari ?

Read what one of the former executives of New Century Financial said in this article. Yet the Investors who buy sub-prime loans just say they want more money for it because of the higher risk now as this article shows. These articles give you just a little taste of what this industry has been doing for the past few years. Why else did you see a mortgage company on every corner and everyone and their brother became a mortgage broker or real estate agent. EASY MONEY and lots of it. We have said in the past they can make $thousands on every deal IF YOU LET THEM. There are good brokers out there. Hunt for them and follow the information we have given in the past and you can and will get the right deal at the right price. www.rateinformer.com

Government Backed Golden Goose Loans to keep you in Debt!

It is truly sad to read this article which make a interest-only loan sound like a jewel. It is a gold mine for the investors because the principal balance is never paid down and it yields a much higher interest rate (about .125 in rate or more) because of the risk involved. These loans are being backed by your hard earned money by the Federal Government. You pay on this loan for 10 years without paying One Cent of your home off. Could it be possible that the borrower may buying more home than they can afford? It is true there are very limited uses for this product but it is being vastly used to get that home without that big payment. The thought is maybe later we will be able to handle the payments down the road in 10 years. No wonder we are heaped in debt with minimum credit card payments and interest only-mortgages. This is another sign of the recklessness in the financial markets to supply Investors with the golden goose of higher yields. Someone's goose will get cooked in the end. www.rateinformer.com

Once Upon A time, Long Long Ago, The Mortgage Companies Would Wave Their Magic Wand

Yes, They would wave their magic wand and just like magic, you were qualified for a mortgage even without a job. Life was good. A new home for everyone,sometimes even two, was now more than just a dream. It was a Dream come true. Not only could you have a new home but you could get it without any money (which you did not have anyways) down and really low, low payments. The real frosting on the cake was in just a few days or so you could SELL your house and make millions just like they showed on television and in the books and at the seminars. Could life be any better. You would never have to work again. Rats, The Alarm clock went off and now you have to wake up. You might find some amusing reading in the following article. www.rateinformer.com

The Mortgage Roller Coaster is Starting Downhill (without a Brake)

We have mentioned many times in the past year about all the "bad" loans that were being approved and that sooner or later someone will have to clean up the mess at the train wreck. The sad thing is most of the loss will come from hard working people who have this trash in their mutual funds or IRA's and retirement funds. Read this article about the bandage they are putting on when they need to do surgery. Check your funds and see how much financial holdings they have. You will be very surprised. Many thanks to Kimberly (a great financial advisor) for providing this article. We know this information can help the borrower as it will certainly alert them to look very carefully at where and with whom they get their mortgage. They are still advertising 1% mortgages out there in the papers with big Ads. The assumption must be that people might actually believe they can get such a great deal. As they say: "Get Real"
www.rateinformer.com