Kevin's Blog

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Mortgage and Lending - Pacor Mortgage Corp
RECENT BLOG POSTS
For the 17th straight month, the Case-Shiller Index reports that home values are rising across the United States. As compared to June, July's prices were up by 4 percent. However, despite the improvement, July's Case-Shiller Index showed weaker as compared to prior months. In June, just 3 cities...
09/29/2010
Existing Home Sales rebounded last month after a lackluster July. New Home Sales data, by contrast, did not. After an upward revision to July's data, New Home Sales remained unchanged at 288,000 units in August. It marks the second-lowest number of units sold in a month since 1963, the year gover...
09/28/2010
Mortgage markets improved last week as markets digested a bevy of data from the housing sector, plus the scheduled Federal Open Market Committee meeting.  In back-and-forth trading, conforming mortgage rates in Illinois bottomed out Wednesday before rising through Friday's afternoon close. Rates ...
09/27/2010
The number of single-family Housing Starts rebounded in August, climbing 4 percent from July's 14-month low. A "Housing Start" is defined as a home on which construction has started and the August increase represents 18,000 single-family units nationwide. If you only read the headlines, however, ...
09/23/2010
The Federal Open Market Committee adjourns from its 6th scheduled meeting of the year today, and 7th overall. Upon adjournment, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will release a formal statement to the market. In it, the Fed is expected to announce "no change" to the Fed Funds Rate. Currently,...
09/21/2010
Mortgage markets were highly volatile, yet relatively unchanged last week in back-and-forth trading on Wall Street. Global investors are grappling with the state of U.S. economy and unable to discern whether it's growing, or slowing. As an real-world illustration, the government's August Retail S...
09/20/2010
Is it better to rent a Chicago home, or to buy one? The answer may not be as clear-cut as you think. In this balanced, 3-minute joint interview from NBC's The Today Show, you'll hear the case for both sides. From the pro-renting part of the talk, there's valid points about the economic impact of...
09/17/2010
According to foreclosure-tracking firm RealtyTrac, the number of foreclosure filings climbed 4 percent in August from the month prior. A foreclosure filing is defined as default notice, scheduled auction, or bank repossession. Despite the number of filings surpassing 300,000 for the 18th straigh...
09/16/2010
The recent rise in mortgage rates was slowed this week after the government released its Retail Sales report for August. Prior to Tuesday, mortgage rates had been spiking across Illinois on the resurgent hope for U.S. economic recovery. The sentiment shift was rooted in reports including the Pend...
09/15/2010
Want a lower mortgage rate on your upcoming Orland Park home buy? Think about moving up the closing date. The reason is rooted in "rate locks", a bank's guarantee to honor a specific mortgage rate for a specific, finite period of time. Rate locks allow home buyers to reserve mortgage rates today ...
09/14/2010
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Kevin Lanham

Chicagoland FHA Expert
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Do you know what causes mortgage to rise and fall each day? Everyday I post relevant articles and stats that directly influence the direction of mortgage rates. I also will feature relevant real estate news that can educate you about the market. Have a question or a topic you would like me to cover? Feel free to comment!