Seattle Mortgage Loan and Real Estate Blog

In CNN.com's money section today, 11/30/07 they have a feature article about the last of the red hot real estate markets and some theories on why these markets have defied the national trend of depreciation. 

Any guesses on what the best real estate market in the nation was over the past 12 months?  Wenatchee, WA had an appreciation rate of over 25% and Seattle was up near the top as well with a 9% appreciation rate. 

These numbers need to be taken in context as they go back to 2006, the most current Seattle data over September and October is showing roughly a 2% decrease so it warrants paying close attention over the next few months as it appears the Seattle trend is down but only slightly compared to the rest of the US.

Have a great weekend and we will keep you updated on this roller coaster ride of a real estate and mortgage market next week.

Interest rates started out the week of November 26th on a STEEP drop.  We saw fixed, conventional loan rates on Monday that are getting close to the all time record lows of 2003.

What happened on Tuesday the 27th? The market reversed the gains of Monday but the fixed loan rates bumped up a bit from Mondays low but are still fantastic.

The moral of the story is to not be greedy when it comes to rates.  Get a firm, written lock commitment from your lender once you have a rate available that you are happy with and dont worry if the loan rates drop the next day. After watching interest rates daily for over 10 years I know one thing for sure, mortgage loan rates RISE much faster than they drop so the reward of waiting to gain another 1/8% is not worth the risk of interest rates rising 3/8%. 

I just wanted to take a minute to thank all of my clients and visitors to the site for a great year and prosperous future.  Enjoy the extra time with your family, friends and loved ones because without them everything else we do is not that important in the big picture. 

Mortgage loan rates are FANTASTIC and some of the incentives that are being offered by sellers to buy are VERY good as well.  I will update the blog with more Seattle area mortgage and real estate news next week. Enjoy your holiday weekend!

As you have been hearing lately via various media outlets the mortgage loan business is in a state of flux right now.  The most interesting part of this current mortgage and real estate trend is that loan interest rates are still near the record low levels of 2003, not quite as low but on a historic basis are fantastic for 30 year fixed, 15 year fixed and 5 year ARM loans. These are really the only home loan products I am recommending to my clients at this time.

The Seattle real estate market has avoided the glut of foreclosures, home value drops etc...that have plagued many other real estate markets throughout the country. We are now starting to see values decline slightly in the Puget Sound home market and there is 50% more inventory available for home buyers to choose from.  My prediction is that it will remain a home buyers market through 2008 but well priced and maintained homes in the core Seattle area will continue to sell at or near asking price. 

On the home mortgage front many lenders have gone out of business or at the least have scaled back the types of mortgage loans that will provide.  The stated income loans, subprime loans and jumbo loans have seen the biggest changes to underwriting guidelines. My clients with verifiable income, assets and at least a little home equity or down payment are still obtaining very good loans as of today.  This is the first post on my blog and any comments are appreciated and this will be updated at least weekly as the mortgage and real estate market changes quickly these days.