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The Schaller Team

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Todays home interest rates 7/31/2009

by The Schaller Family
Wells Fargo Mortgage Rates:  Rates dropped today which is great for folks looking to still refinance or make a purchase.  AND Wells Fargo is running a special pricing promotion for the summer - with rates decreased an average of .125% for NEW purchase loans (reduced further from what is shown below).
                                               DEER UNDER DECK
as of 07/31/2009 05:30 PM
Product Interest Rate APR
Conforming1and FHA Loans
30-Year Fixed 5.000% 5.191%
30-Year Fixed FHA 5.500% 6.245%
15-Year Fixed 4.375% 4.700%
5-Year ARM 4.000% 4.019%
5-Year ARM FHA 4.000% 3.536%
Larger Loan Amounts in Eligible Areas Conforming and FHA.
30-Year Fixed 5.250% 5.390%
30-Year Fixed FHA 5.500% 6.187%
5-Year ARM 4.375% 4.106%
Jumbo2 Loans Amounts that exceed conforming loan limits1
30-Year Fixed 6.250% 6.399%
5-Year ARM 5.250% 4.434%

Home prices up for 1st time in 3 years 8/1/2009

by The Schaller Family

The value of U.S. homes grew on a monthly basis in May for the first time in nearly three years, according to 20-city index released Tuesday.  The month-over-month increase was 0.5%, according to the report from financial data company Standard & Poor's and economists Case-Shiller.

 
It was the first increase in the monthly index since July 2006.  On an annual basis, home prices in the 20 cities fell 17.1%, but it was the second straight month that the year-over-year decline lessened.
 
While acknowledging that the report was good news, Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Economy.com, downplayed the importance of a single month's statistics.  "I think it's a temporary respite," he said. "It reflects the recent decline in foreclosure sales, and prices will continue to fall over the next several months."
 
Cleveland gains: The improvement in the index was as broad as it was deep, with 13 metro areas showing gains, compared with eight in April. Two, New York and Tampa, Fla., showed no change.  The biggest winner was long-suffering Cleveland, where prices rose 4.1%. The city where prices continue to decline the most remains Las Vegas, where prices declined 2.6%.
 
The report added to the list of positive housing market indicators. These include rising new home sales, increased home building and increased pending sales.
 
Source: CNNMoney.com
 

Zillow introduces 'True Cost' mortgage comparison feature 7/29/2009

by The Schaller Family
           
Zillow.com recently introduced True Cost, a new comparison feature within Zillow Mortgage Marketplace that allows borrowers to shop anonymously across multiple loan programs, compare custom quotes and find the most affordable home loan for them. The True Cost feature calculates up front how much a borrower will pay in interest and fees over the time period they plan to live in the home. Borrowers can then compare the True Cost across all custom loan quotes they receive from lenders to determine the best loan for them.

New Home Sales Up 11% in June 7/28/2009

by The Schaller Family
Sales of newly constructed single-family homes spiked 11% in June to an annualized rate of 384,000 homes, according to a report released Monday.  The gain over May was much greater than expected. A consensus of housing industry analysts had forecast seasonally adjusted sales of 352,000, according to Breifing.com.  However, sales are still 21% below the levels of a year ago, when new homes sold in June at an annualized rate of 488,000, according to the report released by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Four years ago, during the height of the housing boom, the sales rate for June was 1,374,000, nearly three-and-a-half times higher than last month.
 
In June, they began building single-family housing units at an annualized rate of 470,000, a 14.4% jump over May.  The median price paid for a house sold in June 2009 was down about 3% to $206,200; the mean price was $276,900.  By the end of the month, the inventory of new homes had dropped to 281,000, an 8.8-month supply at current rates of sale. Last month, there were enough homes on the market to last 10.2 months at that rate.
 
Source: CNNMoney.com, Commerce Dept.

Confidence in Housing Market Rises 7/28/2009

by The Schaller Family
The Realtors® Confidence Index, based on a monthly e-mail survey of some 50,000 real estate practitioners, reported that activity in single-family home sales rose again in May to 33.8, up slightly from April's reading of 33.5 and an increase from the 30.5 index registered in May of 2008.  May's reading continues an upward trend in the Index since the beginning of the year. The same rising trend is apparent in the index for townhomes, which increased to 20.2, up from 17.8 the previous month, although off from the 20.9 index a year ago. The index for current condominium activity also rose in May, although that reading too is down from its level a year ago.  Practitioners from the West region reported the strongest level of confidence at 37.5. While that is a decline from the previous month, it is significantly higher than the 28.7 reading in May of 2008. The Midwest reflected the most consistent gain in confidence. May's index for the Midwest was 33.0, compared to 30.5 in April and 27.5 a year ago.

Home prices on the rise 7/27/2009

by The Schaller Family
They're up; they're down-home prices are volatile no matter what report you read. However, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and Radar Logic are reporting slight price increases across the board.  The FHFA recently released a report that says U.S. home prices rose 0.9 % on a seasonally adjusted basis from April to May. FHFA Director James Lockhart, commented, "Revisions and volatility of the monthly index make it hard to draw any conclusions, but the seasonally-adjusted HPI for the first five months of this year is up 0.3 %, or 0.7 % on an annualized basis."
 
According to the May 2009 RPX Monthly Housing Market Report by Radar Logic Incorporated, the price per square foot for housing increased from April to May in 22 of the 25 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) covered by the report. Radar Logic's 25-MSA Composite increased 2.1% in May on a month-over-month basis, which was an improvement from its 1.2% increase in April. The 25-MSA Composite has increased 3.7% since March 30, 2009, when it hit its lowest point since the end of the housing boom.

TRUCKEE – IN THE BEGINNING 7/26/2009

by The Schaller Family

 

                                       Donner Lake

 

 

Sparks and cinders flew from the back of those early Truckee trains that made their way up to Donner Summit.   Fire  shooting out of smoke stacks, whistles blaring, shattering the stillness of Cold Stream Canyon.     Wood was the fuel of choice in those days.  What wasn’t used by the railroad found its’ way to Virginia City to shore up the miles of tunnels honeycombing  the ground beneath the town, much to the detriment of our early forests.  Only now, 150 years later, has the forest recovered to something of its original self.

 

Truckee has always been  a railroad town, except the old wood burners have been replaced by 4 enormous diesel engines with a mile long string of cars, now, carrying goods from all over America, up Donner Pass to the 8th largest economy in the world, CALIFORNIA.

 

When you visit Truckee and look carefully, shadows of the past can still be seen, faded, but still prominent.  “Rooms for $1.50 a night with steam heat” adorn the weathered brick of a downtown building.   Charlie Chaplin stands near the sign of the Empire Theatre which saw its last performance a hundred years ago.

 

Fire was the bane of this new frontier town.  Truckee burned several times.  After several losses, the buildings were constructed with state of the art, fire protection equipment consisting of several tons of sand assembled in the attics of new buildings so that when the inevitable fires broke out they would be extinguished just as soon as the ceilings burned through.   Fires are still a concern in a more modern Truckee.  Our firemen must consider the threat of tons of sand falling from a ceiling that might burn through.

 

The Chinese Herb Shop was reconstructed in its old location near the Truckee River not far from where the Chinese  railroad workers community lived.  The Truckee jail resides on Jibboom Street which was known to house late night revelers in the famous red light district.  Jibboom Street is just a shadow if its old, boisterous, self but, if you take the time to look, behind a grove of aspens, next to the post Office, there is a small memorial  to the ladies of the night  .  Fitting somehow, not to be easily found.  Gone are the ladies and their places of business.  Drinking establishments have moved to the main street.  But Jibboom Street is still a great place to snoop for the many hints of Truckee’s 150 year history.

 

Truckee is a town of great historic interest to the many tourists that visit the town each year.  With its myriad of excellent restaurants, to its spectacular skiing, Truckee is still a magnet for kayakers, mountain climbers, fishermen and women, bikers, boaters and other fun seekers.

Confidence in housing market rises 7/25/2009

by The Schaller Family
The Realtors® Confidence Index, based on a monthly e-mail survey of some 50,000 real estate practitioners, reported that activity in single-family home sales rose again in May to 33.8, up slightly from April's reading of 33.5 and an increase from the 30.5 index registered in May of 2008.  May's reading continues an upward trend in the Index since the beginning of the year. The same rising trend is apparent in the index for townhomes, which increased to 20.2, up from 17.8 the previous month, although off from the 20.9 index a year ago. The index for current condominium activity also rose in May, although that reading too is down from its level a year ago.  Practitioners from the West region reported the strongest level of confidence at 37.5. While that is a decline from the previous month, it is significantly higher than the 28.7 reading in May of 2008. The Midwest reflected the most consistent gain in confidence. May's index for the Midwest was 33.0, compared to 30.5 in April and 27.5 a year ago.

Freddie Mac Homesteps offers warranty 7/22/2009

by The Schaller Family
Those buying single family HomeSteps® homes as a primary residence will receive a comprehensive two-year home warranty paid for by Freddie Mac as part of HomeSteps' SmartBuy sales promotion.  In addition, for a limited time, Freddie Mac will pay up to 3.5 percent of the sales price in buyer's closing costs, potentially saving qualified buyers of HomeSteps homes thousands of dollars in transaction costs.
HomeSteps' SmartBuy sales promotion began on July 17 and is scheduled to end on October 30, 2009. HomeSteps, the real estate sales unit of Freddie Mac, markets a nationwide selection of Freddie Mac-owned homes.
 
REAL Trends Comment:  Some entrepreneurial leadership must have taken hold at Freddie Mac as they are starting to sound and act like marketers of housing with this announcement.  It is indeed good news that Freddie is taking all steps possible to market their inventory and using time tested tactics to take the fear and some of the cost out of buying homes.

Mortgage rates fall to 5.14% 7/21/2009

by The Schaller Family
U.S. mortgage rates are at their lowest since May, due in part to an increase in refinancings. The average 30-year rate fell to 5.14 percent from 5.20 percent, according to Freddie Mac. The 15-year rate was 4.63 percent.  The Mortgage Bankers Association's index of home loan applications rose 4.3 percent to 514.4 in the week ended July 10. Purchase applications fell 9.4 percent while requests to refinance gained 18 percent, indicating prospective buyers are still wary of falling home prices while property owners are taking advantage of low rates to reduce their monthly payments.

Displaying blog entries 401-410 of 623