The Chicago 77

Discount Brokers:  Do you get what you pay for? The answer, as with many things in life is, it depends. It is very easy for an agent at a full-priced broker to use the phrase, “You get what you pay for,” when attempting to downplay the credibility of a brokerage that offers rebates to buyers [...]

May 28th, 2010 This week was marked by a reversal of the recent declining trend and higher rates by the end of the week. While they did not shoot into the stratosphere, rates did move steadily up as optimistic and opportunistic investors began to move money back into the equities markets. The main economic data [...]

The rate lock conundrum is the basis of angst for every borrower that I have ever had. After all, this is a choice that is going to have an effect on your finances for a considerable amount of time. On the one hand, there is desire to secure the best possible rate, which requires exposure [...]

May 21, 2010 Well, the word this week is pessimism. Aside from a slight positive blip on Wednesday, global markets took a beating on continued fears about the European Union’s ability to effectively deal with its debt woes. This also provided a catalyst for a drop in Asian markets with concerns over exports to Europe [...]

The other day I was reading an interesting article regarding a high correlation between mathematical/financial education and default rates on mortgages. Basically, the data in the article showed that a greater portion of delinquencies and foreclosures carried today are associated with borrowers who lacked the sufficient knowledge to fully understand the basic terms of credit [...]

14 May 2010 –There was a mixed bag of news for mortgage interest rates this week as the dust settled on the craziness of last week. Equities did rise on word that the European Union had devised a plan to stave off the financial collapse of Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy. This put a dent [...]

This week, I have to hide my schadenfreude for the equities market as it was a sweet week for rates and housing in general. Even with some good reports on the jobs front, bad news in Europe and a crazy fluke provided what amounted to jet fuel to the lending market with rates dropping to [...]

Let me begin by saying that interest rates are important to any real estate transaction. To say otherwise would be naïve. But too many times rate emerges as the primary or even the single driving factor in the decision of which lender to choose. This low cost approach can be a very perilous road when [...]