Following nine consecutive weeks of increases, borrowers finally got some relief this week with mortgage rates. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage posted its first week-over-week decrease of 2018.“Tuesday’s Consumer Price Index report indicated inflation may be cooling down; headline consumer price inflation was 2.2 percent year over year in February,” says Len Kiefer, Freddie Mac’s deputy chief economist. “Following this news, the 10-year
Replace lightbulbs. The typical American household spends 5 to 10 percent of its energy budget on lighting alone, according to the DOE. Replace incandescent lightbulbs with LEDs, which on average are 85 percent more energy-efficient. You can shave $100 a year on your energy costs by making the switch.Unplug. Leaving cellphones, TVs, computers, and other electronic devices plugged in can continue to pull power from the grid. That can add up over
Your clients may want to request a loan officer to be present on closing day. It may make for a better settlement day, a survey shows.Loan officers aren’t required to attend a settlement, but when they don’t show up, borrowers tend to be less satisfied. When loan rates and fees are as expected but the loan officer does not come to the closing, borrowers’ satisfaction drops, according to the MortgageSAT’s National Benchmark, based on more
The U.S. Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would ease compliance costs for smaller banks and possibly lead to more lending for residential and commercial property purchases. The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, S. 2155—which garnered bipartisan support—would lower reporting, disclosure, and other requirements under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, enacted in 2010 after the finan
Recent hurricanes and wildfires are likely to blame for an uptick in the number of homeowners who became late on their mortgage payments at the end of the year. Early-stage delinquencies—loan payments that are 30 to 59 days late—rose to 2.3 percent in December, according to CoreLogic’s latest data. For comparison, the rate was at 2.2 percent in December 2016.“We see this happen every time there’s a natural disaster,” Jack McCabe, a
Some tax deductions for home sellers may amount to potentially big savings. As such, homeowners who are selling their home soon or sold it last year will want to educate themselves on the tax deductions available. Realtor.com® recently highlighted some, including:Selling costs: “You can deduct any costs associated with selling the home—including legal fees, escrow fees, advertising costs, and real estate agent commissions,” says Joshua Zi
The National Association of REALTORS® has expressed support for the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act, S. 2155, a banking reform bill the Senate plans to take up this week. The bill could open up more lending to households aspiring to become homeowners, NAR says.The bill balances consumer protections with changes that could make home lending more readily available to people who need it, including renters struggling t
In some markets, homes are selling at record speeds. Realtor.com®’s research team scoured the listing data to find which markets are seeing the quickest sales, based on the median number of days on the market.The number of days spent on the market is important for sellers and prospective buyers to know, says realtor.com®’s chief economist Danielle Hale.“That info can give home buyers an idea of how much competition they face, how limited
The number of real estate transactions involving cryptocurrency—like bitcoin and ethereum—have been on the rise, but real estate brokerage Culture Estate in Scotch Plains, N.J., wants to take digital transactions one step further. One of its agents, Manuela Londono-Osorio, recently accepted her commission check from the brokerage in the form of cryptocurrency.Manuela Londono-OsorioBroker Luis Leiva with Culture Estate says this is just the ne
Investors can see big returns on real estate, but the most successful tend to have a strong understanding of how to evaluate their options before purchasing. Forbes.com recently highlighted some winning strategies for profitable real estate investing: Focus on potential income, not personal like and dislikes. Purchasing an investment property is different than buying residential real estate. Investments need to center on the numbers—the combin
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