Square Footage: Questions, Irregularities, Confusion
As of April 1, Fannie Mae-backed loans use the ANSI standard for measuring square footage. While it makes the measuring consistent, it also creates confusion.
High Mortgage Rates? Not Historically Speaking
In the 2010s, mortgage rates averaged only 4.08% – but today’s rates are still a bargain compared to the 1970s (9.03%), the 1980s (12.7%) and the 2000s (6.29%).
Core Strategies to Build a Thriving Business
With geographical farming, an agent defines a specific area for intense marketing – but success requires more than randomly picking an area off the map.
Use a Reverse Mortgage to Pay for Long-Term Care?
A reverse mortgage allows older adults to tap into home equity yet still live in the home. For unexpected health care expenses, it might be a good idea – or maybe not.
Number of Buyers Backing Off? Maybe Half
If rising costs didn’t deter hopeful home buyers, rising mortgage rates might. Realtor survey estimate: About 50% of buyers paused plans at least temporarily.
Fair Housing: DOJ Says Fla. Biz Targeted Hispanics
Officials allege the groups used Spanish ads to falsely promise they’d cut mortgage payments in half – but homeowners shouldn’t pay mortgages or talk to their lenders.
A Cryptocurrency Transaction? It’s Not that Different
The big difference? Money doesn’t move between banks, it moves between crypto wallets. But to pull that off, everyone in the transaction should understand the process.
‘Insolvent’ Property Insurer Headed to Receivership
Southern Fidelity is headed toward state receivership. It has 78K policies in Fla., and some of those will likely go to Citizens, the Fla.-owned “insurer of last resort.”
May Housing Starts Drop More Than 14%
Economists expected housing starts to fall last month, but the size of the drop was the steepest in more than a year. Building permits also declined by 7.0%.
Mortgage Rates: Highest Weekly Jump in 35 Years
The rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage jumped over half a percentage point in one week – from an average 5.23% seven days ago to this week’s 5.78%.