The Appraiser is Coming!

We are refinancing our home. Again. For the third time in eight years of ownership. Does that tell you anything about what mortgage rates have been doing? Dropping, dropping, dropping. Oh yeah, and also that we have no intention of moving. In 2004 we started with a 30-year fixed rate mortgage. In 2005 we refinanced to another 30-year mortgage because we originally had a NINJA loan (No Income, No Job or Asset- hey, we were

Mortgage Rates and The Fed

This afternoon the Federal Reserve announced the next phase of their strategy to stimulate the economy. Broadly referred to as Quantitative Easing 2, the plan involves printing a whole lot of money in order to buy long-term US Treasury Bonds in the markets. The Fed’s big picture goal is to reduce unemployment, and hopes that injecting more money into the economy will encourage businesses to begin taking risks to expand their operations (hire more workers),

Buyers: Trade Up in a Down Market

Buyer’s Week continues at the Greater Hartford Real Estate Blog, building on Monday’s look at the current opportunity and Tuesday’s suggestion to start with the mortgage. Check back each day for another post specifically for buyers. A real estate market with falling prices is actually a very good environment for trading up to a larger home – if you can overcome your fears. Consider a simplified example. Suppose home prices have fallen 10% from their