Interest rates are still great! Some of my clients recently have been able to get 3.875% on a 30 year fixed rate! The inventory in the Denver market is down and prices may start to rise after the first of the year, if you are thinking about purchasing now is the time. On the other hand if you are selling your home may not be worth what it was or what you expected it to be however if you are buying it is possible to get a good deal! Give me a call at 303-808-2206 and let’s talk about your plans.

Credit Suisse conducts a monthly survey of Realtors across the country and in Denver the survey revealed that the available inventory is shrinking especially below $400,000. First time home buyers are starting to realize that it is cheaper to own a home than paying rent as well. The smaller inventory may start to have an impact on asking prices in the very near future.

The website Trulia just finished a study indicating that it is now cheaper to buy a home than rent in the 50 largest cities in the country. In a separate study by Core Logic renters are spending 5% more of their household budgets on housing costs than homeowners. Renters are spending 38.4% of their household budgets as opposed to 33.2% for those buying homes.
There are some in the media that say it doesn’t make sense to purchase a home because prices have fallen. Well here is a news flash, prices fluctuate on everything from gold and oil to food and housing. Buying a home needs to be considered as a long term investment and not something you can buy and sell short term!

The 30 year fixed rate mortgage was available at 3.875% with 1 point and 4.125% with no points. The 15 year fixed mortgage was available at 3.250% with 1 point and 3.50% with no points. The 30 year F.H.A. & V.A. loans were available at 3.75% with 1 point and 4% with no points. The information was supplied by Alicia Gordon from Wells Fargo. Let me know if you are interested in refinancing or purchasing and I can put you in contact with Alica.

Home prices & mortgage rates have fallen so far that the monthly costs of owning a home is more affordable now than any other time in the past 15 years and is less expensive than renting in a number of cities across the country as rent levels have risen briskly and with mortgages rates around 4% the lowest rates have been in the last 60 years.
In 1991 a $1700 mortgage payment would equal a $200,000 mortgage, today that same $1700 gets a $350,000 mortgage a 77% increase in borrowing ability.
This is truly a great time to purchase a home for your primary residence or if you are looking for investment property!

There are several tax credits and deductions set to expire at the end of the year, and given the federal deficit problem, there’s a good chance they won’t be extended. If you want to take advantage of them, you need to act before Jan. 1, 2012.
Mortgage insurance premium deduction
If you itemize deductions, you may deduct the premiums you pay for mortgage insurance, just like you do mortgage interest. However, this deduction is phased out if your income exceeds certain levels. To qualify for the full deduction, a couple or a single taxpayer must have an adjusted gross income of $100,000 or less. The deduction is phased out completely if AGI exceeds $109,000.
This deduction, which was first enacted for 2007, is scheduled to expire at the end of 2011. Thus, your payments are deductible only if you pay them during 2011; a payment after 2011 is not deductible.
To determine if you qualify for this deduction or others always check with your tax accountant.

This is an article written by Carrie Bay from DSNews.com and speaks to the falling shadow inventory that we have been hearing about.
That ominous shadow inventory of repossessed and soon-to-be repossessed homes is getting smaller.
Standard and Poor’s (S&P) has released its third-quarter shadow inventory update, which shows both the volume of distressed assets and the amount of time it’d take to liquidate these properties is contracting.
S&P says the volume of distressed residential mortgages included in its shadow inventory estimate remained “extremely high” at $384 billion in the third quarter, but it has declined in each quarter since mid-2010. S&P’s third-quarter evaluation is down from $405 billion at the end of the previous quarter.
“We believe this points to a continued drop in the amount of time it will take to clear this ‘shadow inventory’ over the next year assuming national liquidation rates do not decline abruptly,” the analysts at S&P said in their report.
Regional default and liquidation rates varied widely in the third quarter of 2011, but overall improvements prompted S&P to lower its projection of the number of months to clear the supply of distressed homes on the market and coming down the pipeline.
The agency now estimates that it will take 45 months to work through the national shadow inventory. This assessment is seven months below S&P’s peak estimate of 52 months in March 2011, but is three months longer than the agency’s estimate a year ago.
S&P calculates shadow inventory as the number of properties for which borrowers are 90 days or more delinquent on their mortgage payments, properties in foreclosure, and properties that are REO. The agency also includes 70 percent of the loans that “cured” from being 90 days delinquent within the past 12 months because these loans carry a higher risk of redefault.
S&P’s analysis of the shadow inventory uses only non-agency (non-GSE) data, but the company’s analysts say they believe the months-to-clear is similarly high for the market as a whole.

October 3, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day.
Cranberries are only one of 3 commercially grown fruits native to North America. The other 2 are blueberries & Concord grapes.
1947 The first National Thanksgiving Turkey was presented to President Harry Truman.
There were 242 million turkeys raised in the United States in 2010 and 1.9 billion pounds of sweet potatoes produced in the US in 2009.
As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving this year I hope we all realize how truly blessed we are and in this season of thanks and giving may we all help those who are less fortunate. I hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving Day.

Interest rates were mostly flat as the 30 year fixed conventional rate was 4.125% and the 30 year fixed F.H.A. mortgage was also at 4.125%. The 5 year a.r.m. was 3.0% and the 7 year a.r.m. was 3.25%. There is a feeling among some of the experts that the housing may be at the bottom.

The home affordable refinance program has under gone major changes to help people refinance into a lower rates who’s home may be worth less than what is owed on the property. The new program begins December 1, 2011 and ends December 31, 2013.
To be eligible your loan must have been originated before May 31, 2009 and you must have less than 20% equity in the home and the loan must be backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. To determine if your loan is backed by Fannie or Freddie go to http://www.freddiemac.com/mymortgage or go to http://www.fanniemae.comloanlookup.
Borrowers can apply to any lender however participation is voluntary for lenders. The agencies don’t want to see any delinquencies in the most recent 6 month time frame and you could be late on one payment in months 7 to 12.
I have more information on this program so if you have questions just send me an email or call me at 303-808-2206 or tom@tomwitzel.com