What a Relief! The Home Buyer Tax Credit is Extended
Whether you are for or against the tax credits created by our Congress and President Obama trying to recover our housing industry, you could hear a huge sigh of relief from professionals in the mortgage, escrow and real estate industry on Friday when President Obama signed the extension for the first time home buyer tax credit which was set to expire at the end of this month. If you've been reading my posts for the last few months, you know I've been trying to warn potential home buyers eying that credit of what a short month November is for closing real estate transactions--with or without the tax credit.   The November 30th deadline d

Domestic Partners, Real Estate and Mortgage
In May of this year, Governor Gregoire signed legislation providing registered domestic partners in Washington State the same rights as married couples, which has been confirmed by the passage last week of Ref 71. In our State, domestic partners are defined as either same sex couples or where at least one partner is over the age of 62 (they do not have to be of the same sex).   From

FOMC leaves the Fed Funds Rate Unchanged
I'm just reading through the Fed's press release which announces that they are leaving the Fed Funds rate unchanged at 0-0.25%.  Good news for those of you with variable rates on your home equity loans--your rate is not going up...yet. From today's FOMC Statement: Conditions in financial markets were roughly unchanged, on balance, over the intermeeting period. Activity in the housing sector has increased over recent months. Household spending appears to be expanding but remains constrained by ongoin

Mortgage Rates for Washington State
This week is packed with economic data that can impact the direction of mortgage interest rates.   Here's a quick snapshot of potential market movers: Monday, November 2:  Pending Home Sales and ISM Index (both came in better than anticipated). Wednesday, November 3: ADP National Employment Report and the FOMC Meeting Friday, November 6:  The Jobs Report...will we 10% unemployment reported for October? I post live rate quotes from area home buyers whether t

Fall Back, Seattle
Just a reminder to set your clocks back one hour when you go to bed tonight...or you can be official and roll your clocks back at 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 1, 2009. Daylight saving time is over after this evening.