Like It Or Not “Cash-In” Refinancing Is All The Rage

If you own a home and/or know someone who owns a home, you have most likely heard of a cash-out refinance. During the economic and housing boom in the early part of the decade, cash-out refinances were all the rage and fueled consumer spending. Fast forward to the present and check out these recent news headlines. “Cash-In Refinancing Rise in Second Quarter: Tied for Third Highest Cash-In... [Read more of this blog post]

Why Is Your Mortgage Approval Contingent On Form 4506-T

If you are in need of a mortgage, there is one document that could stop you in your tracks. It is IRS Form 4506-T. What exactly is Form 4506-T? Form 4506-T, aka. Request for Transcript of Tax Return, allows lending institutions to validate your income by confirming with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that you are a lawful tax payer. For decades, prospective home buyers in Portage Indiana only had... [Read more of this blog post]

New Homes Sales Gain in June, But What Does It Mean

After a down month in May, the sales of newly-built homes appears back on track. As published by the Census Bureau, June’s New Home Sales report showed: A 24 percent sales volume increase from the month prior A 2-month drop in the supply of newly-built home There are now just 210,000 new homes for sale nationwide. June’s data is a major improvement over May, but it’s possible that... [Read more of this blog post]

What’s Ahead for Mortgage Rates This Week: July 26th

Mortgage markets worsened last week for the first time in 6 weeks. Investors were pleased with corporate earnings reports and the European bank stress tests results.  Stocks gained on the news, and bonds lost. Mortgage rates rose last week, but only slightly. Rate are still hovering near their lowest levels of all-time. Of the bigger stories last week was Existing Home Sales. As reported by the National... [Read more of this blog post]

Existing Home Sales Drop But Move Up Buyers Rise In June

Consistent with most post-home buyer tax credit housing news, the National Association of Realtors® says Existing Home Sales eased lower last month. An “existing home” is a home that cannot be considered new construction. The 5 percent drop in sales from May to June was expected, but a closer look at the month’s data reveals some interesting trends. First, repeat buyers accounted... [Read more of this blog post]

You Can Still Get A Mortgage If You’re Pregnant – No Kidding

The New York Times ran an important story this week concerning pregnancy and mortgage approvals. Titled “Need a Mortgage? Don’t Get Pregnant“, the article discussed the difficulties that expecting and recently-expanded families are having with their mortgage financing. NBC’s The Today Show picked up the story as well, as shown in the 3-minute clip above. The crux of the issue... [Read more of this blog post]

June Housing Starts Ease But 7x Better Than Headline Data

Single-family Housing Starts eased lower last month, falling by 0.7 percent from May, or 3,000 units nationwide. A “housing start” is a home on which construction has started. June’s Housing Starts data is somewhat soft and may partially explain why home builder confidence dropped to its lowest level since April 2009, but for buyers and sellers in Valparaiso Indiana, the Housing Starts... [Read more of this blog post]

Sagging Homebuilder Confidence Opens Door To Good Deals

Sagging Home Market by MTGrizzly | Flickr.com Builder confidence in the housing market slipped this month, according to the National Association of Homebuilders’ monthly Housing Market Index. The Housing Market Index is actually a weighted composite of 3 separate surveys. One measures current single-family sales; one measures projected single-family sales; and one measures traffic of prospective... [Read more of this blog post]

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