Good News Friday
Week 14
April 18, 2008
(4 Minutes and 56 Seconds)
(Click The Play Button To Listen To The Podcast Above.)
Hello and Welcome to Good News Friday! Today is Friday April 18th, 2008. My name is Bruce Karasik.
Each week we bring you good news and positive developments in the Real Estate Market, Mortgage Market, in our economy and our country. If you miss any podcast, we have archived all or our past shows so you can listen to them at any time by going to www.GoodNewsFriday.com.
- In our last podcast I talked about the details of the bipartisan bill being debated in congress to assist homeowners, new buyers and businesses. The congress is not finished debating but it appears pretty certain congress will pass a bill that will expand the government’s role in assisting troubled borrowers. Several plans have been proposed. All of them would let the FHA insure mortgages for troubled borrowers whose lenders voluntarily write down loans to an affordable level. Once refinanced, the loans could be sold to investors, which in turn could stimulate the mortgage market as a whole. "Given election-year pressure and the lack of differences between plans, it's hard to see how they can't get this done," said Jaret Seiberg, senior vice president at the Stanford Group, a Washington policy research firm. As promised, I will continue to update you on the bill’s progress.
- Mortgage application volume increased 2.5% during the week ending April 11, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly application survey. Refinance volume increased 5.2% during the week.
- Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500), the second-largest U.S. financier and guarantor of home mortgages, said it would buy $15 Billion in mortgages of up to nearly $730,000 from Wells Fargo JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Washington Mutual Inc. Richard Syron, chief executive of the McLean, Va.-based-company said the move "shows how we can bring new liquidity to markets other investors have all but abandoned and make full use of the new tools Congress gave us to help restore stability during the current housing crisis."
- Borrowers looking for fixed-rate mortgages can now find the lowest rates in more than a month. But experts warn the decline may not last for long. Rates on fixed-rate mortgages dropped sharply in the past week, after the Federal Reserve took several historic steps to shore up the financial markets. The rate on a 30-year loan dropped to an average of 5.87%, down from 6.13% a week ago, according to new Freddie Mac figures released.
Now more than ever it is important to contact a real professional to get the best advice. So call me or email and I will be happy to talk with you on how these new developments can help you save money when you buy your home this year or refinance at the new lower rates.
The key to success is having the right advisers and consultants in place so you can have the right strategy. As your trusted Real Estate consultants and advisers, we at the Karasik Team work in our unique ability. My unique ability is consulting, negotiating and overseeing the transaction details. We take a customized approach and enable our clients to make informed decisions to accumulate wealth through Real Estate. In addition, we at Karasik and Associates, Mortgage Consultants, can help you come up with a strategy to determine whether this is the right time for you to buy your first home or to refinance your existing home.
We continue to believe that homeownership will remain to be the best avenue for American families to secure their financial future. I look forward our continuing dialog and we invite your feedback. Please feel free to email me at Bruce@TheKarasikTeam.com, call me at my office at 805-267-0366, or you can post your responses on our blog at www.GoodNewsFriday.com.
So we do have some good news to be grateful for. And so, my friends, I wish you and your families a Happy, Healthy, and prosperous week. And that’s it for now. I’ll see you back here next week for another episode of Good News Friday!
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