CNC Mortgage Blog

We would all love to be able to predict the future as to the housing market. I think there are reasons to be optimistic at this moment.

Mortgage rates tried to go up and I think the volume of refinance activity dropped, so now I see rates on 30 year fixed mortgages are getting close to 5% again. So I hope this will get people off the fence to both refinance and purchase.

I hear there is a lot of activity in the first time home buyer’s ( FTHB)markets. I think brokers don’t get too much of this business because FTHB’s will probably go to financing offered by the realtors or retail bank branches. After they buy and close they learn that they could have gotten a better deal through a broker.

I am not seeing too much activity in higher cost homes (over $200,000) for repeat buyers. It must be that first time buyers need to buy a home before the repeat buyer can go out and look. But I am seeing activity at open houses when I visit them on Sunday afternoons.

I know of several persons who have been faced with multiple offers on a property. I also heard of a $250,000 house in Plymouth that got an offer for $248,000 six hours after it was listed.

People are also more optimistic with the stock market halfway between 8,000 and 9,000 on the Dow Jones index after closing below 7,000 a few months ago.

Unemployment is still a black cloud hanging over us but some industrial activity is starting to pick up again.

I think we are near the bottom of this recession. I certainly hope so.