Seller Goal: Fast But Not TOO Fast After years of seeing lengthening timetables for the Buyer’s Inspection and Underwriting approval, the pendulum is now swinging the other way — at least on some deals this Spring. Which ones? Homes in multiple offers. Unrealistic Deadline(s)? That’s the word from Edina Mortgage’s Steve Mohabir, who’s noted the...Read More
Pre-Thanksgiving Cabin Fever?? Want a good explanation why Millennials and Generation Z-types — roughly, people aged 20 to 35 years-old — were AWOL from the housing market this past Summer? It was Summer! (Duh). So, why do they seem more active now? Thanks to the suddenly not-so-benign Twin Cities weather, many are now cooped up ....Read More
The Too-Good-to-Be-True Home Equity Loan When is a home equity line of credit (“HELOC”) — offered at a 2.99%, six month teaser rate — too good to be true? When, four months after the would-be Borrower first applied for the loan, the very big (and very overwhelmed) national lender still hasn’t approved it. Ticking Clock Usually,...Read More
Looking to the Lender It’s common for Buyers — especially first-time Buyers, at lower price points — to include seller-paid closing costs as part of their offer. So, instead of offering $200k for a home, the Buyer may offer $206k less $6k in seller-paid’s. See, “Maximum Seller Contribution: Not Just 3% Anymore.” To the Seller,...Read More
Muted Effect (So Far) If the U.S. government defaults in 10 days and interest rates suddenly go kablooey(!) . . . all bets are off. But in the meantime, the effect of the federal government shut-down on the housing market appears to be muted. According to the lenders I work with most often, the main...Read More
7.3% Weekly Increase How’s that possible, given that the total number of iPhone “app’s” (applications) is (only) 250,000 or so? That’s the number of new mortgage applications last week — the first time the weekly number has gone up in a month. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, that represents a 7.3% increase over the...Read More
