Monthly Archives: August 2007

When you’re out for a run, wearing an outfit without pockets, or just feel like “traveling light”, the last thing you want to do is take your house keys with you. Thanks to advances in home security technology, now you … Continue reading →

As mortgage guidelines loosened between 2002 and 2006, homeowners often used their home equity to retire credit card and other consumer debt. They did this by increasing the size of the mortgage and taking “cash out” from their home. As … Continue reading →

When the National Association of Realtors® releases its monthly Existing Home Sales report, people tend to watch every word, fact and figure in the statement in hopes of decoding the real estate market. It’s all wasted energy. It’s impossible to … Continue reading →

This chart shows how home buyers with jumbo loans — loans over $417,000 — are being impacted by the recent mortgage market uncertainty. Similar to sub-prime borrowers, rates have jumped higher for jumbo borrowers in the past four weeks. For … Continue reading →

The kitchen table serves as a home’s “center” for many families. It’s often the place where the kids do their homework, the parents do their taxes, and a few weekend projects get finished. It can sometimes seem like the kitchen … Continue reading →

With tomorrow morning’s New Home Sales report, markets will get a look at the number of newly-constructed homes sold in July. The figure is expected to be in the 825,000 range. This is lower than June’s 834,000 figure. But — … Continue reading →

Suddenly, Private Mortgage Insurance is back in vogue. If only by default. The story background is well-documented in this Bankrate.com article from 2002. The article is five years old, but it still raises some salient points. What the article doesn’t … Continue reading →

Friday, the Federal Reserve lowered its Discount Rate by 0.50% in an effort to preserve liquidity among our nation’s banks. This has nothing to do with mortgage rates that people like you and I get for our homes. Well, not … Continue reading →

As Hurricane Dean charts a path through the Gulf of Mexico, let’s not forget that Mexico and Venezuela are the #3 and #4 importers of crude oil to United States, respectively. Because of the storm, many Mexican oil fields and … Continue reading →

Original art brightens a home and bring a personal touch to your space. One common method of buying art is to find an empty wall space — especially near a doorway or in a main room — and purchase artwork … Continue reading →