By Robert Fishel, on October 19th, 2012  If the last time you looked at your mortgage was when you closed on your loan, it’s time to take it out for an annual once over. New loan programs and opportunities to leverage your home equity can bring you lower mortgage payments and new investment opportunities.
Is a fixed rate mortgage the best choice for you?
Many of us opt for the certainty of a 20 year or 30 year fixed rate mortgage when we get our first mortgage. If you anticipate selling your home within the next 10 years, one of our new hybrid loans may be a better financial fit for you. Hybrid loans typically have a lower fixed rate than a traditional 20 or 30 year mortgage. The savings you receive can well be worth switching to a hybrid loan. Continue reading “Give your mortgage an annual once over; St Louis Mortgage Interest Rate Update“
By Dennis Norman, on October 8th, 2012  The inforgraphics below from BankForeclosuresSale.com do a great job of illustrating the boom and bust of the housing market as well as show the relationship, and impact, of home prices, inflation and income on the housing market. The good news is, it appears the worst is over and, according to Simon Campbell, a Senior Business Analyst with BankForeclosuresSale.com, “all signs point to increasing demand for housing.” (Can I have an Amen please?). Continue reading “All signs point to increasing demand for housing“
By Dennis Norman, on August 2nd, 2012 
As long as you plan to stay put for at least 2.5 years, you are better off financially to buy a home in St. Louis versus renting a home, according to a new report by Zillow. On a national level, the average that you needed to stay in a home before buying a home made sense over rental was 3 years.
In calculating the “cost” of owning or renting a home, Zillow took into account the down payment (or deposit), mortgage and rental payments, transaction costs, property taxes, utilities, maintenance costs, tax deductions and opportunity costs, while adjusting for inflation and forecasted home value and rental price appreciation. The table below shows the results for the 30 largest metro areas in the U.S. Continue reading “Should you buy or rent a home in St. Louis?“
By Dennis Norman, on March 16th, 2012  St Louis made the list of the “Best 100 U.S. Markets to Invest in Rental Property“, developed by HomeVestors and Local Market Monitor, coming in right in the middle at number 50. Las Vegas was in the number 1 slot and California was the star of the show with 12 metros on the list
“There are good opportunities for investors in every one of the top 100 markets,” said HomeVestors’ co-president, David Hicks. “But investors would be wise to take into account other dynamics for the ideal timing to enter the market.” Hicks sites job growth as a key indicator of a market prime for investment. “Higher job growth rates normally indicate a stronger market for rentals,” he said. “Strong growth rates and higher risk-return premiums usually point to the best markets to invest in now.” Continue reading “St Louis makes list of 100 best places to invest in rental property“
By Dennis Norman, on September 21st, 2011  St. Louis home sales in August were up 20.7 percent from a year ago according to today’s home sales for major metropolitan report from the National Association of REALTORS®. St. Louis’ increase in home sales topped the increase nationally which was 18.6 percent from a year ago. St. Louis home pricesin August came in at a median of $132,700, down 1.6 percent from a year ago. Nationally, median home prices were down 5.1 percent from a year ago.
For More St. Louis Market Data – Click Here Continue reading “Existing home sales on the rise in August; on pace to beat last year“
By Dennis Norman, on September 13th, 2011  Las Vegas, Nevada is the best place in America to buy at rental property at this time according to the newly released “HomeVestors-Local Market Monitor Best Markets to Invest in Rental Property” report. St. Louis came in at number 50 and Kansas City at number 37. Continue reading “The best places to invest in rental property“
By Dennis Norman, on May 13th, 2011  Speaking yesterday at a forum at a meeting of the National Association of REALTORS (NAR), several industry “experts” had reasonably optimistic opinions of the housing market and expect home sales to continue on an uptrend through 2012.
Among the experts at the forum was, of course, Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for NAR, who said he felt existing home sales would improve gradually, but unevenly. “If we just hold at the first-quarter sales pace of 5.1 million (home sales), sales this year would rise 4 percent, but the remainder of the year looks better,” Yun said. “We expect 5.3 million existing-home sales this year, up from 4.9 million in 2010, with additional gains in 2012 to about 5.6 million — that’s a sustainable level given the size of our population.” Continue reading “Housing and Economic Forecasts Point to Rising Activity and Flat Home Prices“
By Dennis Norman, on December 28th, 2010 It seems we always need to find someone to blame for our problems…
When it comes to the meltdown in the housing market that has taken place over the past three years there has been no lack of finger pointing by many inside and outside the industry as to factors that either caused or contributed to the collapse of the housing market. Sub-prime lending, Wall Street, mortgage fraud, the mortgage industry, banks, community reinvestment act, real estate brokers and agents, fannie mae, freddie mac, federal government over-regulation, federal government under-regulation, appraisers, unemployment, the economy in general, “flipping”, sellers, buyers and more have been blamed in one way or another for the collapse. In my humble opinion and, based upon my 30+ years of experience in the industry, I would say all the aforementioned played a part in the collapse and certainly no one thing could have caused this mess on its own, it was a combination of several things that led up to the “perfect storm”. Continue reading “Making Appraisers the Scapegoat“
By Dennis Norman, on October 4th, 2010
- Dennis Norman
Pending home sales rise for 2nd consecutive month in August –
The National Association of REALTORS Pending Home Sales Index for August shows an increase of 4.3 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), which is 20.1 percent below a year ago. Continue reading “Pending Home Sales Increase in August; Still down 20 percent from year ago“
By Dennis Norman, on March 18th, 2010 Dennis Norman According to the Economics and Mortgage Market Analysis report just published by Fannie Mae, the weather was the culprit for the slow-down in home sales at the beginning of this year however, we did not get the boost they were anticipating from the extension of the tax credits. “Unfortunately, despite the high hopes associated with the extended and expanded homebuyer tax credit, housing activity appears to have faced a setback that went beyond the impact of adverse weather conditions. ” On a somewhat positive note, the analysts state they view the housing setback “to be a temporary one, and continue to expect activity to rebound later in the year but at a lower trajectory than previously projected.”
The report did not have much in the form of good news concerning new home sales and construction, citing:
- Residential construction spending increased in January, however, “the gain was entirely due to expenditures on home improvement.”
- Spending on new construction fell despite a modest increase in units of housing starts during the month, as the average cost per unit declined sharply.
- Homebuilding activity has improved substantially from its depressed level a year ago, with single-family starts reaching 33 percent above their level in January 2009. A leading indicator of starts pointed to continued increase in the near term, as single-family permits rose for the third consecutive month.
- Both new and existing home sales dropped sharply in January. New home sales fell for the third consecutive month in January to a level that surpassed the previous low recorded a year ago. A string of declines in new home sales caused the months’ supply to increase in each of the past three months, reaching the highest level since May 2009. Existing home sales have fared better. Despite two consecutive sharp drops, January sales remained nearly 12 percent above their record low.
Looking forward, here is what the Fannie Mae analysts are predicting:
- Home sales will likely fall further in February, suggested by a sharp decline in the pending home sales index in January. Furthermore, mortgage applications to purchase homes have remained near their lowest level since 1997, according to the four-week moving average of the Purchase Index in the Mortgage Bankers Association Weekly Applications Survey.
- Weak housing demand bodes poorly for the housing starts outlook. As a result, we revised downward our projected housing starts for the first half of this year.
- We continue to expect home sales to rebound in the second quarter, as homebuyers rush to close sales before the expiration of the second tax credit in June.
- In the third quarter, we expect a payback as the tax credit will likely pull some of the demand forward. By the end of the year, if the labor market improves as expected, sales should start to trend up on a sustainable basis.
- For all of 2010, we project a nine percent increase in total home sales, compared with an increase of 12 percent in the previous forecast. Home price declines moderated in 2009 and we expect the trend to continue this year.
One of the keys to the forecast is “if the labor market improves”……another big variable is going to be interest rates. They still remain at near historic lows, and the fed’s keep telling us that the risk of inflation is low but I’m a little skeptical about rates and are concerned we may be seeing higher mortgage rates by year end. If unemployment improves significantly and if rates hold reasonably steady hopefully we will see the recovery that is being forecasted. Couple of BIG IF’s in my humble opinion though….
By Robert Fishel, on March 10th, 2010 
Last Friday’s suprisingly strong payroll figures likely reinforced for many investors that the next time the Fed makes a change to their monetary policy strategy-it will likely to raise short-term interest rates. The actual date of such an event may be months away-but an increasing number of “stronger than expected” economic reports are making it difficult for mortgage interest rates to move lower. A growing number of business economists believe the U.S. central bank’s policy’s are too stimulative and expect the Federal Reserve to raise benchmark interest rates within six months.
The Fed has said continued high rates of unemployment and low inflation warrant holding rates exceptionally low for an extended period. Still, reports show the economy is recovering gradually, and some policy makers believe the Fed should begin to prepare markets for the beginning of the process of tightening financial conditions.
St. Louis Mortgage Rates – March 10 , 2010 *
- 30-year fixed-rate mortgage 5.00% no points
- 15-year fixed-rate mortgage 4.25% no points
- 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage 3.75% no points
- 3/1 adjustable rate mortgage 3.625% no points
- FHA/VA 30-year fixed rate mortgage 5.250%
- Jumbo 5/1 ARM 4.125% no points
For more information or if you have questions on mortgage rates in St. Louis you may contact me by phone at my direct line, (314) 372-4319, email at rfishel@paramountmortgage.com or you can visit our company website at http://www.paramountmortgage.com.
*Note- The above rates are based upon a typical sale price of $187,500 with a 20% percent down payment leaving a loan amount of $150,000 to a borrower with a 720 credit score for a loan with no discount points charged. Rates and terms will vary depending upon loan amount, home value, credit and income of borrower.
This information is provided by this author and this site for informative purposes only and is not warranted or guarteed in any way.
By Dennis Norman, on October 19th, 2009 Dennis Norman By: Dennis Norman
Veros Real Estate Solutions released their quarterly report projecting how the housing market is going to perform in the next 12 months in major metropolitan areas of the U.S. The bad news for St. Louis is, we didn’t make the list of top 5 metros in terms of expected housing price performance. The good news is we didn’t make the list of the 5 worst markets either.
The top-performing metros are projected to have housing prices appreciate 5 percent over the next 12 months and the worst peforming metro are expected to see housing prices decline 12 percent during the same period. The projection for St. Louis is for prices to decline 1 percent. Continue reading “St Louis housing prices projected to drop 1 percent in next 12 months“
By Dennis Norman, on September 28th, 2009
 - Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
I came across an interesting chart that I want to share. The chart below, courtesy of Chart of the Day, shows median home prices in the U.S. since 1970 (adjusted for inflation). As you can see from the chart, home prices trended upward from 1970 until peaking in the late 70’s (right around 1979 when I got into real estate, great timing on my part!) and then began dropping until the mid 80’s when prices began a rather rocky and unsteady climb upward.
As the chart illustrates, median home prices really started increasing, and at a more rapid rate, around 1991 and continued until 2005, basically the peak of the market. Since 2005 the trend has been downward to the point where median home prices have fallen about 30 percent from the peak. Continue reading “Home prices down 30 percent since peak in 2005 and trend is downward“
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