Good News Friday Podcast
Week 1
December 21, 2007
Hello and Welcome to Good News Friday! Today is Friday December 21st 2007. My name is Bruce Karasik.
Since this is the very first official Good News Friday Podcast, I thought it would be a good idea to explain what Good News Friday is all about.
Each week we will be bringing you good news and positive developments in the Real Estate Market, Mortgage Market, in our economy and our country. This will include interviews with key people in the industry from real estate and mortgage experts to economists and other well known business leaders.
So let’s talk about some recent positive developments!
· Let’s talk about our clients the homeowners…
Despite a 6% drop in average home prices in the Los Angeles
· Let’s talk about mortgage rates…mortgage interest rates are now at the lowest level in over 2 years. 30 year fixed rates for conforming loans are now at 5 ¾. Jumbo ARM rates are at 6% and conforming ARM rates have dropped to 5 and a half %. These new lower rates increase the opportunity for smart buyers to take advantage of better prices on the homes that they want.
· Let’s talk about Government actions to support home ownership…
The Federal government is freezing interest rates for certain subprime mortgages for five years and is expanding government-housing programs to keep families in their homes.
The Federal Reserve Board is working to end the credit crunch. Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board has joined up with other central banks to help financial institutions borrow more easily. The Federal Reserve announced a plan to inject billions of dollars into the financial system.
And, the Federal Reserve also cut short-term interest rates for the third consecutive time. This time, the discount rate was cut by another ¼ point and is now at 4 ½ %.
These actions will reduce expected foreclosures across the nation and here locally. Fewer foreclosures will help preserve the home equity of Americans wise enough to invest in the American Dream.
Finally, sales of existing homes continue their recovery in October up 2% from the lows of this summer. And nationwide foreclosures fell 10% in November from October 2007.
We continue to believe that homeownership will continue 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 wonderful and successful week! And that’s it for now. I’ll see you back here next week for another episode of Good News Friday!
