Shannon Odom's (smodom) Blog

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...

    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 Maine on the resurgent hope for U.S. economic recovery. The sentiment shift was rooted in reports including the Pen...

  Want a lower mortgage rate on your upcoming Bangor 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 eve...

A shift in Wall Street sentiment caused mortgage markets to worsen last week. There wasn't much in the way of new data, but the numbers that did hit the street helped quell fears of a double-dip recession. Conforming mortgage rates rose between Monday-Friday for the first time since June, and mor...

When adjustable-rate mortgages are on the verge of adjusting, a common concern among homeowners is that their mortgage rates will adjust higher. Well, this year, because of the math of how ARMs adjust, homeowners in Houlton and around the country are seeing that mortgage rates on ARMs can someti...

The private-sector Case-Shiller Index reported home values up 5 percent nationwide in June. The government's own Home Price Index, however, reached a different conclusion. According to the Federal Home Finance Agency, month-to-month home values fell 0.3 percent in June, and values are down by 1....

Just one week after reports of Existing Home Sales and New Home Sales plunging, the housing market is signaling that auturm may fare better than did summer. The number of homes under contract to sell rose 5 percent in July. The data comes from the July Pending Home Sales Index, as published by th...

Rural Development's interim systems enhancements will be complete on September 8, 2010, at which time the Agency will begin obligating Section 502 Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loans. See the attached notice for more details. Funding Notice - Participating Lenders - 9-7-2010 Section 502 loans ...

Last week was a roller-coaster ride in the conforming mortgage market.  After opening the week by making new, all-time lows, markets reversed sharply on better-than-expected data in manufacturing and housing, and data from overseas. Rates rose through Wednesday and Thursday, then Friday's jobs re...

On the first Friday of each month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases Non-Farm Payrolls data for the month prior.  The data is more commonly called "the jobs report" and it's a major factor in setting mortgage rates for residents of Maine and homeowners everywhere. Especially today, consider...