Tag Archives: sacramento

Should I Lock or Float? This Week- November 18, 2013

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November_18th_2013_Mortgage_MarketThe Non-Farm Payroll numbers came in on the 8th of this month, well above expectations with 204K versus an estimate of 125K new jobs. In addition, revisions added 60,000 more jobs to the prior two month
releases and thus mortgage rates took a significant one-day beating – noted by the long red column shown on the far right of this graph. Prices are now almost back where they were before that report was announced.

For those of you shopping for a good mortgage rate, who did not lock at the time, may have just gotten your reprieve!

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Does Zillow Work?

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Does Zillow work, and will it give you a good approximation of the market value for the home you want to buy, or sell? My simple answer – “Sometimes it’s close and sometimes it’s not even on the same planet.”  While Zillow offers many services, it is primarily known as a free website to help folks obtain a property value, without paying for an actual appraisal. It brings out the Curious George in all of us! Below, I will show you a few Zillow estimates and then compare them with an actual appraisal. Continue reading →

Sacramento Beware Of Zombie Titles! Boooo

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With the economic downturn, anyone dealing in real estate in Sacramento quickly became familiar with previously little-known terms such as foreclosure and short sale. Now that the housing market is picking back up and people are moving on, a new term is coming to light — zombie titles.

The Zombie Title

This is when a home has been vacated because the owners defaulted on their loan and their bank started the foreclosure process. However, for some reason or another the bank never completed the foreclosure and sold the home. Continue reading →

Should I Lock or Float? This Week- August 19, 2013

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The market has opened this morning right where it left off last week. It continues to deteriorate. But, first let’s recap what happened last week. Looking at the graph to your right, the last 5 out of 6 trading days got worse for mortgage rates – note the “red escalator” on the far right of the chart. In addition, last week wasn’t kind to stock market investors as well.

Here is a review of the major events of the week: Continue reading →

Watch Out for these Mortgage Application Deal-Killers

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The mortgage process can be a lot like a house of cards. It is carefully, and painstakingly put together to build the perfect structure – or in this case, an approved loan. Then just as the ink is drying on your final loan papers, someone pulls the virtual card (aka deal killer) from the bottom and whoosh! – the house of cards and your loan come crashing down. A mortgage loan approval is never final until it’s funded.

Mortgages are made up of many moving parts, any of which might “go wrong” while your home loan is underway. We get so focused on getting the best interest rate, and we forget there is much more to this process than picking a loan officer, locking your rate and waiting 30 days till you close. Continue reading →