Wednesday, February 26, 2014

February 2014 US Housing Trends

Angela Yglesias

Levesque Realty 

Cell: 805-490-4944   
Phone: 805-490-4944 

Housing Trends

Feb2014


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National market update

Existing-Home Sales Drop in January While Prices Continue to Grow

WASHINGTON (February 21, 2014) – Existing-home sales fell in January to the lowest level in a year-and-a-half, but ongoing inventory shortages continue to lift prices in much of the U.S., according to the National Association of Realtors®. Read more

December Pending Home Sales Fall

WASHINGTON (January 30, 2014) – Pending home sales measurably dropped in December, with abnormal weather partly inhibiting home shopping in much of the U.S., according to the National Association of Realtors®. Declines were experienced in all four major regions.
Read more

National housing indicators

Existing home sales (January)

4.62*

Existing home median price (January)

$188,900

Housing Starts (January)

880,000*

New home sales (January)

414000*
*Seasonally adjusted annual rate. Source: NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.

National economic indicators

Home ownership

4th Qtr 2012

65.4%

4rd Qtr 2013

65.2%
The homeownership rate in the fourth quarter 2013 was 65.2 percent, down 0.2 (+/- 0.4)* percentage points from the fourth quarter 2012 rate of 65.4 percent. The homeownership rate in the Northeast was lower than its corresponding fourth quarter 2012 rate, while the rates in the Midwest, South, and West were not statistically different from the rates a year ago.

New home sales

November 2013

-3.9%

December 2013

-7.0%
Sales of new single-family houses in December 2013 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 414,000. This is 7.0 percent (+/- 17.5%)* below the revised November 2013 estimate of 445,000.
Source: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

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Regional market updates

View market statistics for your region.

Click on the links below to view data from two different industry sources. Choose information on local prices & state sales from any of 150 metropolitan housing markets prepared by the National Association of REALTORS® or information on sales & price activity from local area markets in 25 states prepared by Clarus MarketMetrics.

Local Prices & State Sales

Local Sales & Price Activity

Representing residential and commercial buyers and sellers in Ventura and LA Counties.
Buying is now cheaper than renting in 74 percent of the nation’s largest cities. Low home prices and “rock-bottom” interest rates as well as tax advantages of homeownership are the reasons why it’s now cheaper to BUY a 2-bdrm home than to rent one. Check out this CNN Money article with the details. Read more
Home Ownership matters…to people, to communities, and to America. Why? • For every two homes sold, one job is created in the U.S. • Each purchase generates as much as $60,000 in economic activity over time. Read more
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Consumer tips & hot properties

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Boost Your Credit Score to Buy a Home

Promises of loans for bad credit borrowers, while common amid the housing boom in the early 2000s, are now rare. If you?re interested in buying a home today, know that lenders will carefully check your credit and will rarely approve a loan for someone with seriously bad credit. Read more
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Odd Moving Tips That Really Work

You’ve got the basics ? cardboard boxes, newspaper, the phone number of a pizza place so you can feed the friends helping you move all your worldly goods. But do you have enough socks for the stemware? Read more
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How Much Mortgage Can I Afford?

When you buy a home, the amount you can spend depends on how much you have in cash to use for a down payment and how much you can borrow. A mortgage lender can prequalify you for a loan,
Read more
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Experts Predict 2014 Housing Market

The U.S. real estate market made a robust comeback in 2013, surpassing expectations of many economists, as the combination of low inventories and historically low interest rates caused home prices to rise and even helped fuel bidding wars in some markets, surpassing the expectations of many economists. While positive trends, such as increasing home values, are expected to continue into 2014, mortgage rates are also expected to rise in the coming year and could put a damper on home buyers? abilities to afford new homes.Read more
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2014 Remodeling Trends

Home remodeling may have taken a backseat during the recession, but not anymore. According to a 2013 Hanley Wood survey, remodeling sales were up 10 percent compared to 2012, and 45 percent of remodelers surveyed expected another 10 percent growth in 2014.Read more

Existing home statistics: June 2013

View statistics based on national data, regional data and data gathered from 159 cities & metropolitan areas.

National Statistics

Statistics by City or Metropolitan Area

Regional Statistics

Source: NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.
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5 Housing Markets With Lightest Tax Burdens

Source:  Realtormag | DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2014
As tax time approaches, a HousingWire analysis of metro areas' tax burdens revealed that home owners in housing markets with the lowest overall tax burdens paid a percentage of their income seven times less than the burden in some of the heaviest tax burden states. 
For the study, HousingWire evaluated 2012 data by the District of Columbia’s Office of Revenue Analysis, including estimated property taxes, sales taxes, and state income taxes on major cities in all 50 states. The tax estimates were evaluated for a hypothetical family of three and for the average tax rate at household incomes of $25,000, $50,000, $75,000, $100,000 and $150,000. 
Here are the five housing markets with some of the lowest tax burdens based on their analysis (including only the high and low household income information): 
1. Cheyenne, Wyo.
Tax burden for a family of three earning $25,000: $2,424
Tax burden for a family of three earning $150,000: $4,702
2. Anchorage, Alaska
Tax burden for a family of three earning $25,000: $2,236
Tax burden for a family of three earning $150,000: $5,095
3. Houston, Texas
Tax burden for a family of three earning $25,000: $2,709
Tax burden for a family of three earning $150,000: $6,571
4. Fargo, N.D.
Tax burden for a family of three earning $25,000: $2,228
Tax burden for a family of three earning $150,000: $7,908
5. Jacksonville, Fla. 
Tax burden for a family of three earning $25,000: $2,956
Tax burden for a family of three earning $150,000: $6,429
Meanwhile, the metro with the heaviest tax burden was Bridgeport, Conn., where taxes for a family of three earning $25,000 averages $4,001, and taxes for those earning $150,000 averages $33,208.
For the full list and to read more about the analysis, visit HousingWire. 
Source: “The Best and Worst Housing Markets for Taxes,” HousingWire (Feb. 17, 2014)
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Monday, February 24, 2014

2014 Remodeling Trends

Source: realtor.com
 
By: 

Home remodeling may have taken a backseat during the recession, but not anymore. According to a 2013 Hanley Wood survey, remodeling sales were up 10 percent compared to 2012, and 45 percent of remodelers surveyed expected another 10 percent growth in 2014.
Home remodeling is back in again, and with the desire to improve our homesteads come a bunch of new and exciting trends we?ll start seeing next year.
1. Modern Kitchens
According to data compiled by Hanley Wood and Remodeling Magazine, 61 percent of remodelers surveyed expect to complete kitchen remodels in 2014, more than any other room in the house. And, those remodels are expected to follow a new trend.
Not so long ago, remodeled kitchens had a rustic feel with warm paint colors and cabinetry, and wrought iron hardware and lighting. Now, modern is in, with white or gray cabinetry, simple countertops, glossy finishes and minimalist designs.  Appliances are more likely to be blended into the design or hidden away from view entirely to give the kitchen a sleeker appearance.
2. Brass Accents
Brass made a comeback at home-design and remodeling conventions this year and the trend is expected to pick up in 2014. While brass is nothing new, it has gotten a facelift. Highly polished, bright brass hardware and lighting is gone; rustic, dull and hammered brass is in. The new looks will be incorporated into kitchen and bathroom hardware as well as lighting and door hardware throughout the house.
Remodel
3. Updated Bathrooms
In the Hanley Wood survey, bathrooms came in second to the kitchen with 58 percent of remodelers planning to do bathroom remodels in 2014. As far as style, vintage bathrooms with wainscoting and claw-foot tubs won?t be as popular as resort-style bathrooms that feature amenities such as large walk-in showers with multiple shower heads, heated floors or towel racks, and jetted bathtubs. For coloring and style, glass tiles will be a popular feature as well as neutral and cool colors like ash gray, light blue and off-white.
Remodel 2
4. Vibrant Colors
While the kitchen may be getting the modern single-shade treatment next year, designers have a different idea for other rooms. Bright accent colors such as turquoise, yellow and orange that were popular in 2013 have a new twist; in 2014, they?ll be more of a focal point and even more vibrant with colors such as Green Flash, Lemon Zest, Nectarine and Rouge Red, according to Pantone, the international authority on color. Designers will start featuring vibrant accent walls, main paint colors and flooring throughout bedrooms and main living spaces.
5. Sustainable Materials
Going green is nothing new, but sustainability may get easier in 2014 remodels. According to Craig Webb, editor-in-chief of Remodeling Magazine, ?Manufacturers and builders are constantly getting greener and greener in the way they source materials and put up homes.?  As a result, ?Energy efficiency is becoming an assumption, not an add-on.? Next year, remodels will include more renewable materials such as bamboo, energy-efficient appliances and additional designs that incorporate the local climate.
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First-Time Buyers Face Affordability Issues

Source: DSnews
Author: Scott Morgan February 22, 2014 0
First-Time Buyers Face Affordability Issues

The degree to which a homebuyer can afford a house depends greatly on whether the buyer already owns a home, according to a report released Thursday by Mark Fleming, chief economist at CoreLogic.
After a few years in a favorable market, first-time buyers are starting to face a tougher time, Fleming reports. The market overall is being affected by the intersection of rising home prices, rising interest rates and stagnating incomes, which puts first-time buyers behind the curve that has benefitted them greatly since 2007.
According to CoreLogic, affordability—the measure of buyers' ability to purchase a home and make a down payment given their income and the prevailing interest rate—was low in the early 2000s, particularly in the four years between 2003 and 2007, when market prices rose modestly and interest rates were as high as 8 percent. Then in 2007, home prices started to decline. The situation was exacerbated by the Great Recession, leading to a sharp drop in housing prices, open markets and historically low interest rates through 2012 and 2013.
In that time frame, Fleming says, the drop in housing prices and interest rates created a market that first-time buyers could take advantage of. But with the economy growing, despite relatively flat incomes, first-time buyers increasingly face higher home prices in drier markets.
This news, when taken with historical perspective, is hardly the "affordability shock" some economists make it out to be, Fleming says. Yes, affordability (as measured by the National Association of Realtors' Housing Affordability Index) is down as much as 22 percent from its January 2013 peak, but is still far higher than it was in the early 2000s.
Moreover, Fleming says, there is almost no change in affordability for buyers who already own a home. The simple reason is that existing homeowners have equity that can be directly transferred to the purchase of a new home, meaning that existing buyers—particularly those in good financial standing—have fewer concerns over making down payments or establishing new mortgages.
Whether current trends will make houses unaffordable to most buyers by the end of 2014 remains to be seen, Fleming says. But he is sure of one thing—whatever happens, first-time buyers will be the ones who feel it the most.


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Friday, February 21, 2014

Single Design Moves That Make All the Difference

Source:  Houzz

One good turn deserves a whole ideabook — check out these exceptional lone moves that make the room

Houzz Contributor. Becky's passion for personal, welcoming, hospitable... More 
Like you, I really enjoy browsing the homes featured on Houzz. There’s always a fresh idea, an important old idea restated or a spectacular new design to revel in. But one of my favorite things to do while I browse is to note the rooms where one thing —one imaginative stroke — makes all the difference. It might be an accessory, a paint color or a piece of furniture. But if it were not in that room, the look would be substantially diminished.

Let’s take a glimpse at some of these, with the hope that you’ll gain new vision for how to greatly enhance a space with simply one addition.
craftsman living room by Board and Vellum
Board and Vellum
Think about this room without the bold wall color. Wow. Can you picture it being blander and more conventional?

Paint is one thing that can make or break a room. I seriously love paint! It is relatively inexpensive, the color options are almost infinite, and it is not overwhelming to change if you tire of it or it doesn’t work.
contemporary home office by Rikki Snyder
Rikki Snyder
The one addition that makes a room special does not have to be a permanent fixture. It can change with your whim or with the season. Imagine this office without that green foliage on the desk. The combination of the lime-green color and the feathery texture adds an element that would be sorely missed.
contemporary living room by The Englander Building Company
The Englander Building Company
Imagine this room without … well, I’ll give you three guesses, and the first two don’t count. Yes, it’s that absolutely screaming pink chair. A more sedate chair would not necessarily be bad, but this one is first-rate.

Accessories can kick up a space several notches and tell a story at the same time. Imagine this wood nook without Honest Abe. That simple but so very meaningful portrait takes the space from worker bee to extraordinary. I imagine an oblique nod to this great president’s humble beginnings, where splitting wood into fence rails was a primary occupation. And I hear the unspoken reminder to neither spurn hard work nor give up on your dreams.
contemporary by ACRE Goods + Services
ACRE Goods + Services




Beach Dwellings
Paint is the thing in this kitchen. The soft sage color on the bottom cabinets brings such warmth and interest, and elevates this already lovely kitchen.
contemporary kitchen by Beach Dwellings

This would have been a really good room design even with a solid rug or wall-to-wall carpeting. But the completely captivating and seemingly “other” graphic design of this rug is over-the-top great.
modern living room by Surya
Surya
What do you think the one thing in this room is? The wallpaper? The rope ball? The coffee table–ottoman?

As creative as the wallpaper and the rope ball are, my vote goes to the coffee table. That large splash of blue lifts the other good elements into greatness.
contemporary living room by Green Couch Interior Design
Green Couch Interior Design
This living room has really good ingredients as well. The black and white scheme is crisp and inviting, and the furniture pieces are interesting and varied. But the repetition of the rug’s black and white stripe on the throw pillows (albeit on a smaller scale) is the element that transforms this room.
eclectic living room by SchappacherWhite Architecture D.P.C.
SchappacherWhite Architecture D.P.C.
What if this room had a vanilla-flavored chandelier rather than this multisided metal wonder? Lighting can be just the special something that will do more than just complete your room.

Those lime-colored curtains are a pretty spectacular ingredient in this room’s design as well.
contemporary living room by Shaw Coates
Shaw Coates
Finally, I can’t resist. This is a such a lovely and inviting room, with its muted color scheme, its mix of textures and its comfy throw. But what makes this room? The puppy!
farmhouse living room by Home & Harmony
Home & Harmony

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Owners Again Borrowing Against Homes As Housing Market Recovers

After a home equity credit binge during the housing bubble, banks restricted the loans as home prices crashed. But now second mortgages are back in vogue.

Home equity line of credit
Retirees Wana and Owen Klasen, holding their dog Jager, at their home in Fillmore in Ventura County. They recently got a home equity line of credit that they used to paint and re-roof their house. They couldn't qualify for the credit line last year, but rising home prices made it possible this year. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times / February 14, 2014)

Source:  Los Angeles Times
February 20, 2014, 5:00 a.m.
Retired aerospace engineer Owen Klasen was rejected last year when he sought a second mortgage to paint and re-roof his house.
Home prices hadn't risen enough, the loan officer told him.
But last month, the same loan officer offered him more than double the credit he needed.
"I told him I needed $25,000" on a home equity line of credit, said Klasen, who lives in Fillmore in Ventura County. "He said we were qualified to go up to $60,000."
Klasen is among a wave of homeowners in California and nationally who are again putting their homes in hock — despite the costly lessons of the housing meltdown.
After a home equity credit binge during the housing bubble, banks shut off the tap as home prices plummeted. Sobered homeowners stopped viewing equity as free money for cars, vacations and college educations.
But now second mortgages are back in vogue. Homeowners in the six-county Southern California region took out 47,542 home equity lines of credit last year — 48% more than in 2012, according to research firm DataQuick. The median credit line was $100,000.
The same trend is taking hold nationwide. Bank of America, for instance, saw its home equity business surge 75% last year compared with 2012, said Matthew Potere, who oversees home equity lending for the Charlotte, N.C., giant. In the fourth quarter, BofA issued $1.9 billion in new home equity credit lines, up from $1 billion a year earlier.
In Southern California, the heaviest borrowing is in the wealthiest neighborhoods, where prices are closer to their peaks during the bubble, DataQuick figures show. Orange County's Villa Park, with a median home price topping $1 million, had the highest rate of equity credit approvals last year.
But homeowners in the affordable Inland Empire also took out more equity credit lines.
"You are seeing national home prices rising," said Kelly Kockos, Wells Fargo's senior vice president of home equity. "It's no longer just the coastal markets."
The most popular use of equity lines is home improvement, followed by debt consolidation, Kockos said. But some borrowers are using the credit to double down on real estate, a popular move during the housing bubble.
Adam and Kimberly Smith work at high-tech firms in San Francisco, where prices skyrocketed last year. They recently obtained a credit line on their two-bedroom North Beach condominium. The couple, in their early 30s, plan to rent out the condo and buy a home in the high-end East Bay suburbs.
Three-bedroom homes there start at $1 million. Borrowing $50,000 to $100,000, combined with their savings, will give them a 20% down payment on the suburban home they crave.
"We know we can make an offer this weekend," Adam Smith said.
Home equity lines of credit are a type of variable-rate second mortgage. They enable homeowners to borrow up to a pre-defined amount at their discretion.
A homeowner with a $200,000 first mortgage on a $400,000 house, for instance, might take out a $100,000 line of credit. If the homeowner borrowed the maximum, the mortgage debt would total $300,000 — 75% of what the house would bring in a sale.
The volume of new home equity credit lines in Southern California increased slowly in 2011 and 2012 before surging last year, along with home prices. In the six-county region, lenders approved borrowers for $6.9 billion in the credit lines last year, 51% more than 2012, DataQuick said.
The San Diego research firm said January median home prices were 22% higher than a year earlier in Ventura County, about 20% higher in Los Angeles and Orange counties, and 24% higher in San Bernardino County.
Nationally, the total of second mortgages authorized climbed to an estimated $60 billion last year from a low of $49 billion in 2010, according to the trade publication National Mortgage News. That's still way down from a record of $430 billion in 2006, but experts predict another surge in home equity lending this year.
For lenders, the credit lines are riskier than first mortgages, which would be paid off first in case of a foreclosure. Still, these are no longer the easy-money loans of the housing boom, bank officials assure. Applicants who get approved today have high credit scores, along with ample savings and equity in their homes.

During last decade's housing boom, the standards were quite different — sometimes nonexistent. Banks have lost billions on loan defaults from that era.
The losses aren't over. The way the credit lines are structured has created a new problem — payment shock on credit lines issued during the bubble. That's because the credit eventually runs out. At that point, often 10 or 15 years later, borrowers must pay back the entire amount or make set payments on the debt monthly, as with a traditional loan.

Officials at Bank of America and Wells Fargo & Co. said they have begun reaching out to borrowers well in advance of the date their credit lines mature, making sure that they are prepared for higher payments and, if necessary, talking about modifying the terms of the credit lines.That can cost borrowers hundreds of dollars a month extra — payment shocks that will reverberate as the credit lines come due. National bank regulators have calculated that the draw periods will end for $29 billion in home equity credit lines this year at the nine largest U.S. banks. Those numbers rise to $52 billion next year, $62 billion in 2016 and $68 billion in 2017.

Meanwhile, lenders are wading back into the business of issuing new home equity credit. In high-end markets, which recovered first, some borrowers are using home equity credit lines of $100,000 to $250,000 "as a financial tool" to buy more real estate, said mortgage broker Richard T. Cirelli in Laguna Beach.

Klasen, the Ventura County homeowner approved for a credit line last month, has more modest ambitions. He and his wife, Wana, bought a new washer and dryer in addition to the painting and roofing work. .

"We're putting the money back into the house," he said.
Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
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    Expansion of California’s Anti-Deficiency Laws Means More Litigation For Creditors

    Author: Donna L. Wilson February 19, 2014 0
    Expansion of California’s Anti-Deficiency Laws Means More Litigation For Creditors
    Turning a narrow consumer shield into a potentially broad sword, this summer California expanded its anti-deficiency judgment laws to prohibit not only the judicial pursuit of mortgage deficiency balances, but also to declare that post-foreclosure deficiencies can be neither "owed" nor "collected."
    In doing so, the California Legislature may have created a potentially significant compliance headache and increased litigation risks for a wide range of financial service companies – from mortgage servicers and debt collection agencies to credit reporting agencies and those relying on credit reports.
    In their prior 70 years of existence, California Civil Code Sections 580b and 580d (the "anti-deficiency judgment statutes") struck a careful balance between providing lien holders with the remedy of a non-judicial foreclosure, in exchange for giving up their right to sue borrowers in court for the unpaid balance between the amount of the mortgage and the amount of the foreclosure, i.e., to obtain a "deficiency judgment."
    Section 580d, the statute applicable to mortgage loans, stated that "no judgment shall be rendered for any deficiency" upon a secured note after it has been sold. In conformance with that carefully limited scope, for decades California courts have held that deficiencies arising from non-judicial disclosures, while not collectible through the courts, remained due and owing.
    In addition, it has been held that because the anti-deficiency statute does not extinguish the debt itself, creditors were permitted under the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the California state analogue to report the existence of the deficiencies to credit reporting agencies.
    The amendments were introduced in the California State Legislature in early 2013 with little fanfare or explanation. By late spring, the legislative commentary contended that the amendments were intended to prevent creditors and debt collectors from contacting borrowers seeking repayment of the deficiency balance through non-judicial means. Cal. Bill Analysis, S.B. 426 Sen. (April 23, 2013).
    It was further stated that inclusion of the term "owed" was also intended to prevent a creditor from continuing to report a loan as delinquent after foreclosure by eliminating the underlying debt itself.
    To date, these amendments have gone relatively unnoticed by the financial services industry and the media, other than to remark on the potentially adverse tax implications for defaulting borrowers.
    But that will not last for long.
    In light of these amendments, businesses should review their debt collection, credit reporting, and other policies and practices with respect to California foreclosures. Plaintiffs likely will read the amendments broadly and argue that attempts to negotiate the collection of outstanding deficiencies, or to report such balances to credit reporting agencies, violate various federal and California laws and give rise to significant statutory and common-law damages.
    Given what appears to be extensive involvement by the plaintiffs’ bar in lobbying for the amendments, as well as previously unsuccessful class-action litigation targeting such practices, a wave of litigation should be expected for those creditors who do not modify their practices to conform with the new requirements.

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    Thursday, February 20, 2014

    Some States Still Face Final Foreclosure Surge

    Foreclosure filings ticked up slightly in January, posting an 8 percent increase from December. While the January 2014 rate is 18 percent below one year prior, RealtyTrac reports in its latest Foreclosure Market Report that some states are seeing big increases in foreclosure activity.
    “The monthly increase in January foreclosure activity was somewhat expected after a holiday lull, but the sharp annual increases in some states shows that many states are not completely out of the woods when it comes to cleaning up the wreckage of the housing bust,” says Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “The foreclosure rebound pattern is not only showing up in judicial states like New Jersey, where foreclosure activity reached a 40-month high in January, but also some non-judicial states like California, where foreclosure starts jumped 57 percent from a year ago, following 17 consecutive months of annual decreases.”
    Foreclosure starts rose from a year ago in 22 states, with Maryland, Connecticut, New Jersey, California, and Pennsylvania seeing the biggest increases, RealtyTrac reports.
    This year, “we’re going to have some states that are still seeing the last surges in foreclosure activity because of continued delays in the process,” Blomquist told CNBC. “Not even an improving economy may help a lot of these.”
    The most heavily-populated metros with the highest foreclosure rates in January were Miami, Tampa, Chicago, Baltimore, and Riverside-San Bernardino in Southern California, RealtyTrac reports.
    While some states are seeing increases in foreclosure activity, most states saw a dramatic drop in bank repossessions over the past year. Bank repossessions have fallen by 40 percent from year-ago levels, and are at the lowest level since July 2007, RealtyTrac reports.
    Source: RealtyTrac and “Lenders Repossessed Fewer U.S. Homes in January,” The Associated Press (Feb. 13, 2014)

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    5 Mortgage Tips for Home Buyers

    DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2014
    Bankrate.com offers some tips for your home buyers on securing a mortgage, getting the best rate, and more.
    1. Be prepared to document your finances. Buyers should be prepared for extra review by lenders when underwriting mortgages due to new mortgage regulations that took effect in January, particularly in proving borrowers’ ability to repay their loans. Borrowers should be prepared to show bank statements, tax returns, W-2s, investment accounts, and documentation of any other assets they own. Also, they should be prepared to explain any large deposits to their accounts—even a $500 check from a family member during the holidays. If they can’t prove where the money came from, it has the potential to delay closing.
    2. Lock in a rate soon. Mortgage rates are expected to rise in 2014 as the Federal Reserve winds down its $85 billion per month bond-buying stimulus program. A rate lock is usually good for 30, 45, or 60 days, although that time period can vary among lenders.
    3. Shop around. Buyers may have the upper hand in 2014. Lenders have lost a large amount of their refinance business this year as rising rates encourage fewer home owners to refinance. That means they are turning their attention to home buyers and may be more willing to compete for their business. Home buyers will want to shop around for more than just the best interest rate on the loan, looking at points and closing costs as well.
    4. Pay careful attention to credit. The best mortgage rates often go to borrowers with credit scores of 720 or higher, Bankrate reports. While those with a credit score of 680 can still likely qualify for a loan, they may end up paying higher rates or higher closing costs.
    5. Watch your spending. Make sure your buyers aren’t tempted to go outfit their new home with all new furniture—on credit—before closing on the home loan. Lenders will be carefully scrutinizing their debt obligations, such as credit cards and student loans. Borrowers are advised to keep their monthly debt obligations, including mortgage and property taxes, to below 43 percent of their income.
    Source: “10 Mortgage Tips for 2014,” Bankrate.com (February 2014)
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