Boston Real Estate Appraisal

Elad Bushari blogged about a good topic today on bostonrealestateblog.bushari.com.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today announced the conforming loan limit will remain $417,000 for 2009 for most areas in the U.S. but specified higher limits in certain cities and counties.  The conforming loan limit is the maximum size of loans that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can purchase in 2009.
According to provisions of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA), the national loan limit is set based on changes in average home prices over the previous year, but cannot decline from year to year.  Loan limits for two-, three-, and four-unit properties in 2009 will remain at 2008 levels as well: $533,850, $645,300, and $801,950 respectively, for homes in the continental U.S.
The national limit was left unchanged at $417,000 based on declines in FHFA’s monthly and quarterly house price indexes over the past year.  The monthly purchase-only index declined 5.9 percent over the 12 months ending […]
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Tags: Boston Real Estate, Mortgage and Finance by bomber
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Please see below for Brian M. Cavanaugh’s insight into the mortgage market. Brian is a Senior Loan Officer at JPMorganChase in downtown Boston and is more than happy to assist you with all your mortgage needs.
Fed Cuts to Stimulate Economy
This week’s economic data and comments from Fed officials confirmed the economic outlook shared by most investors, namely that the economy is slowing sharply. Wednesday, the Fed cut the target Fed Funds rate by one half point to 1.00%, as widely expected. The vote was unanimous and followed a coordinated half point rate cut on October 8. Investors believe the statement left the door open for further rate cuts and have priced in another half point rate cut before the end of the year. The Fed appears to be most concerned with boosting near-term economic growth. While aggressive short-term stimulus is good for the stock market, mortgage investors are worried about its impact on long-term […]
More details here.

Tags: Mortgage and Finance by bomber
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Elad Bushari made an interesting post today on bostonrealestateblog.bushari.com.

Existing-home sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million units in April, which is 1.0 percent below the 4.94 million units in March and 17.5 percent below the 5.93 million-unit level a year ago, NAR announced this morning. The median existing-home price in April was $202,300, down 8.0 percent from April 2007.
Total housing inventory increased 10.5 percent last month to 4.55 million homes available for sale. This represents an 11.2-month supply, up from a 10.0-month supply available last month.
Existing-home sales increased month-over-month in the West by 6.4 percent, remained unchanged in the South, and decreased in the Northeast and Midwest by 4.4 percent and 6.0 percent respectively. All regions saw decreases from a year ago: 15.3 percent in the West; 18.6 percent in the South; 14.7 percent in the Northeast; and 19.7 percent in the Midwest.
NAR President Richard F. Gaylord pointed to some good signs in the […]
Check out the rest of this story here.

Tags: Real Estate News, Real Estate Trends and Statistics, Real Estate Investment, Mortgage and Finance by bomber
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I came across a good post today on bostonrealestateblog.bushari.com.

In my last few posts I have been going after some local journalists for not localizing their real estate articles. Well, today I am going after one of my own, Mr. Lawrence Chen, Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors. In a recent statement, Mr. Chen denied we are facing a national recession. I guess he got me on a technicality there, as the definition of a recession is two concecutive quarters of negative GDP growth…but he can’t be serious about the second part of his statement. Mr. Chen predicted across the board growth with markets such as Miami, Pheonix and Las Vegas seeing a possible 50 percent value increase by the end of 2008. Really? Miami, Pheonix and Las Vegas? These are some of the hardest hit cities in the country in terms of real estate values, partically due to subprime loans. They also don’t seem to have […]
For the full story click here.

Tags: Real Estate News, Boston Real Estate, Real Estate Trends and Statistics, Real Estate Investment, Mortgage and Finance by bomber
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