December 2008

BEST INTEREST RATES IN 50 YEARS

Saturday, December 20th, 2008 at 3:01am. 157 Views, 0 Comments.

The action of the Federal Reserve Board of lowering the Prime Rate this past week is getting high marks from many around the country, including the National Association of Realtors. For quite some time they have been on the band wagon urging the FED to take action to help stimulate home buying process and make it attainable again for those in the country looking to purchase.

With the rate reduction and mortgage interest rates slipping into the 4% range in some parts of the country, they certainly have done that. The larger issue is how many people will actually qualify for those loans to either re-finance their existing mortgage or purchase a new one.

The bank regulators now seem to have a stranglehold on lending institutions to ensure that the underlying…

SEASON HOME SALES LOOKING FAR BRIGHTER

Monday, December 15th, 2008 at 3:42pm. 135 Views, 0 Comments.

N.A.B.O.R. (Naples Area Board of Realtors) recently released encouraging figures for the month of November regarding pending sales overall. The increase from November of 2007 to this November was dramatic, over 54% and represents the eighth month in a row the figure has risen.

Statistically a majority of the sales took place at the under $300,000 price point which would stand to reason because of the rise in ‘short sales’, foreclosures, as well as bank-owned properties (REO) in that category. Today’s buyer is bargain hunting no matter what the price point, but the majority of assumed deals remains under $300,000 and that is where a lot of the sales are taking place. That has been the primary driver of the market. Meanwhile, as reported by the Naples Daily…