Home Defaults Dropped For The 7th Month In A Row In August

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 straight month,...

Home Affordability Gets A Boost From Weak Back-to-School Retail Receipts

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 Washington on the resurgent hope for U.S. economic recovery. The sentiment shift was rooted in reports including the Pending Home...

The Math Of Choosing A Great Closing Date

Want a lower mortgage rate on your upcoming Tacoma 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...

What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week : September 13, 2010

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...

Your ARM Is Adjusting Lower. Is There A Downside To Letting It?

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 Tacoma and around the country are seeing that mortgage rates on ARMs can sometimes adjust...