educate2 earn's (educate2earn) Blog

After this week ends, the FHA is raising mortgage insurance premiums on its new Phoenix borrowers. It’s the FHA’s third such increase in the last 12 months. Beginning with FHA Case Numbers assigned April 18, 2011, mortgage insurance premiums will be higher by 25 basis points per year, or 0.25%. A...

Consumer spending is alive and well, it seems — unwelcome news for today’s home buyers.  Wednesday, the Census Bureau will release its March Retail Sales figures and the report is expected to show higher sales receipts for the 9th straight month. A strong reading like that should spell higher mo...

Mortgage markets worsened last week as energy costs remained high, and jobs data looked strong. The safe haven buying that characterized the March mortgage market has subsided. it’s driving mortgage rates higher across Arizona. Conforming and FHA mortgage rates rolled back 8 weeks worth of impro...

If you’re an eligible federal employee or qualified military personnel, you have 3 weeks from this Saturday to use the federal home buyer tax credit, and to claim up to $8,000 in federal income tax credits.  According to the IRS, eligible persons include members and spouses of the uniformed serv...

The Federal Reserve released its March 15 meeting minutes Tuesday. The notes revealed a Federal Reserve split between optimism and caution for the U.S. economy. The minutes’ official name is “Fed Minutes”. It’s a periodic publication, published 3 weeks after each meeting of the Federal Open Marke...

In a volatile week of trading, mortgage markets closed unchanged last week. Despite economic data proving stronger-than-expected — a situation that tends to lead mortgage rates higher — concern for persistently high oil prices tempered Wall Street’s excitement and mortgage rates stayed steady. T...

In a volatile week of trading, mortgage markets closed unchanged last week. Despite economic data proving stronger-than-expected — a situation that tends to lead mortgage rates higher — concern for persistently high oil prices tempered Wall Street’s excitement and mortgage rates stayed steady. T...

As part of the Census Bureau’s data collection activities from 2005-2009, a number of interesting charts have been published at http://census.gov. The data should not be confused with Census 2010 — a separate survey conducted every 10 years. This is the first-ever, 5-year American Community Surv...

Friday is a pivotal day for mortgage markets and conforming mortgage rates across AZ. At 8:30 AM ET, the government will release its March Non-Farm Payrolls report. More commonly known as “the jobs report”, the monthly Non-Farm Payrolls is a market-mover and home buyers would do well to pay atte...

Standard & Poors released its Case-Shiller Index for the month of January this week. The index is a home valuation tool, measuring the monthly and annual changes in home prices in select cities nationwide. January’s Case-Shiller Index gave a poor showing. As compared to December 2010, home value...