Talk2Discuss

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Mortgage rates fell during the past week, pushed lower from the uncertainty stemming from the bank bailout plan unveiled Tuesday.

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 5.34% from 5.70% for the week ended Feb. 11, according to Bankrate.com.

The average 15-year fixed rate mortgage sank to 5.03% from 5.31%, and the average jumbo 30-year fixed rate slipped to 6.98% from 7.12%.

Adjustable rate mortgages also dropped over the past week, with the average 1-year ARM falling to 5.67% from 5.73% and the 5/1 ARM sinking to 5.37% from 5.5%.

Mortgage rates edged off the six-week high set the week of Feb. 4, helped by investor skepticism of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s plan to attack the financial meltdown. Jittery investors sold stocks and bought Treasurys, lowering the yields and pulling down mortgage rates, according to Greg McBride, senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com.

“We’re going to continue to see volatility in mortgage rates between 5% and 6%. There’s a tug of war between the Fed and the Treasury trying to push rates lower, and the volume of government debt issuances that pushes rates higher,” McBride said.

Bankrate.com’s national weekly mortgage survey is conducted each Wednesday from data provided by the top 10 banks and thrifts in the top 10 markets.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The Obama administration is looking at subsidizing the mortgage payments of struggling borrowers before they default, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

If it comes to pass, the program would blaze a new trail in the federal government’s foreclosure prevention initiatives. Until now, the efforts have focused on helping those already behind in their payments through interest-rate reductions and other loan modifications. The Bush administration had not committed any money to helping borrowers.

Obama, however, has pledged to spend at least $50 billion to help borrowers in trouble. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said Tuesday that the administration would release its plan within a few weeks. He and Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan have been meeting with banks, housing advocates and trade organizations this week to listen to their foreclosure prevention proposals.

Details remain scarce, but at this point the subsidy plan entails having struggling homeowners take an affordability test and undergo a re-appraisal to see if they are eligible. The subsidy would allow servicers to adjust the loan terms without having the mortgage’s investors take a loss, which should make them more open to the loan modification. (more…)

RISMEDIA, February 13, 2009-In my work as a Law of Attraction business coach I meet with people every day who have dreams of creating success in their business. Sadly, most of them are saying the same thing, “I hate marketing, I just want to do what I’m good at without having to market myself. ” The truth about getting more clients is that it’s not that difficult, it just requires following some simple steps.

• FOCUS: How do you get to where you want to be unless you know where you are going? I always teach my clients a visualization technique in which they imagine where they want to be professionally in one year from today. How much money do you want to be earning? How many hours a week do you want to work? What kind of clients do you want to work with?

• STRATEGIES: Once you’re clear about where you want to be, you need to create strategies to get there. I tell people, “If you already knew what strategies to use, you’d probably already be there.” Strategies help you to chunk big visions into tangible, bite size action steps.

• ACCOUNTABILITY: How accountable are you to yourself? Most people I meet in business for themselves find it far too easy to slide in keeping their agreements with themselves. The magical thing about coaching is that when you have a witness to your accountability, you are much more likely to do what you said you’d do. Just knowing that someone cares and will ask you every week, “How did that action step go?” is huge incentive to staying on track.

• DISCOVERY: As a former psychologist, one of my passions is helping people discover how they block them themselves and get in their own way of success. What I find is that everyone needs to reprogram some self-limiting beliefs, like “I don’t have what it takes to succeed” or “I don’t deserve to have a lot of money”. Another block is that most people suffer from subconscious sabotaging strategies, like procrastination. These need to be reversed. Finally, everyone I’ve ever met has a monstrous, overly developed inner critic, which I call the Gremlin. In discovery you learn to identify the voice of you Gremlin and learn to tame it way down. (more…)

RISMEDIA, February 16, 2009-Bryson City, North Carolina is the complete opposite of “trendy.” It’s a charming and beautiful part of these United States, located at least two hours from any major city. It’s also where Rick Strohm and his son, Rick, Jr., own and manage their Realty Executives office-smack dab in the middle of the Great Smoky Mountains.

Vacation and retirement are the primary markets the Strohms serve

“We are a 2nd home tourist destination. 95% of our purchasing clients are from “out-of-state,” Rick, Sr., told me as we began talking. “Geographically, our clients are from all over the United States, which makes our website, www.rickstrohm.com, the key ingredient in our business.”

Now, we all know how the 2nd home market has been hit in many places due to the overall economic uncertainty we have all experienced in the last two years, but Rick told me of a truly unusual situation that affects his business: the local market of the shopper is experiencing decreases in valuation of 30% or more, so the shopper is reluctant to purchase that second home for fear of it devaluing, even though values might even be increasing in a particular market.

I asked him if his status as an Internet Realtor was a major factor in his success and ability to continue to prosper in these times. He responded: “It has everything to do with that. Our market values here in the mountains have not declined at ALL – in some instances they have increased. We do not have the foreclosure debacle as is experienced in many other parts of the country. (more…)

2009 will be a year of recovery and stabilization for the real estate industry. Here are my 15 top predictions for 2009:

1. Mortgage rates will drop, then rise, and finally stabilize

* Rates will be at a historical low in the first part of the year.

* Rates will go up in early spring.

* Rates will level off after the first half of the year.

2. Investors will come back into the market in 2009

* The Federal Reserve plans to pump up the housing sector by buying up to $100 billion dollars worth of bonds issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

* The Fed will also buy ½ trillion dollars of mortgage-backed securities issued by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae.

3. Buyers will jump off the fence and come back into the market

* With fixed rates in the mid-fives — combined with pricing at 2003 and 2004 levels — it is an excellent time to buy. Buyers will finally jump off the fence and back into the market.

4. Sellers will become creative with alternative ways to add value to their home sale with incentives such as:

* Interest rate buy-downs

* Seller financing

* Other incentives

5. Listing Inventory will go down as the market absorbs inventory

* Nationally, listing inventory will begin to go down as inventory is consumed by many markets where new home inventory is on the decline. Builders in 2008 focused on selling existing inventory and did not focus on building new projects so as the year goes on inventory numbers will decrease. Coupled with lower interest rates and higher investor confidence, this consumption of inventory will continue. (more…)

If you’re renting and wondering if you should buy a home, consider what bestselling author, David Bach, says, “The average homeowner is worth 35 times more than the average renter.”

He advises renters to take action immediately and start saving part of their paycheck every month to help accumulate a down payment. He also encourages renters to borrow 10-20 percent less than what the bank is willing to lend; that way they’re only buying as much home as they can afford.

The longer you rent, the longer it may take you to eventually get into homeownership. If the market conditions have scared you, perhaps you’re not looking at the other side of the coin. Owning a home becomes part of your investment portfolio, provides tax benefits, allows you to build equity (it still exists), and, if you buy now, you may get an excellent deal.

According to a MarketWatch news article, buying a home now can provide some real negotiating power to request improvements, price reductions, help with closing costs, and more. “People can get a lot of what they need and almost all of what they want today,” said Jay Papasan, one of the authors of “Your First Home”.

While poor market conditions have created a troubling situation for some homeowners, the downturn has made the buying market ripe for others. The affordability of homes is better than ever. The National Association of Realtors’ housing affordability index concluded that homes in December of 2008 were more affordable than at any other point since 1970 (the start of the index). And with numerous foreclosures on the market and prices dropping in many areas, now is a good time to buy. But in order to make your purchase profitable, here are some things you should consider. (more…)