- Ribbon Cutting ceremony today!
- refinance and timing
- Feds taking steps to ease the crisis!!
- Homeowner Refinancing
- Get your Real Estate Questions answered
- Get your Real Estate Questions answered
- arizonas Mortgage rates and trends as of dec 20th 2007
- Networking Mixer
Ribbon Cutting ceremony today!
Today at 4:30-7:30 our company Express Capital Mortgage Inc and The City of Chandler Chamber of Commerce will be having a ribbon cutting ceremony. We're located on NW corner of Cooper and Ray in the Cooper crossings. 1820 E. Ray Rd.
Besides a great oppurtunity to network there will be free food and drinks! Hope to see you there!
refinance and timing
There are times when it makes sense to refinance your mortgage. It's important to have a clear financial objective in mind so that you're more able to choose the most appropriate loan. Ultimately, the decision is up to you to decide when it's best for you to refinance, based on your individual financial situation.
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Refinance from an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) to a Fixed-Rate
It's important to consider what mortgage rates are doing. Since mid-2004, the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates several times and is expected to keep raising rates in the near future. This means that if you have an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM), it may adjust to a rate that's higher than a fixed-rate mortgage. Now might be a good time to consider refinancing to a fixed-rate loan.
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However, you must also consider the amount of time you plan on being in your home. If you're only going to be in your home for a few more years, it may make sense not to refinance out of your ARM. If you're going to be in your home longer than seven years, it might be a smart move to refinance to a fixed-rate mortgage.
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Refinance from a Fixed-Rate Mortgage to an ARM
Again, you need to consider how long you plan on being in your home. Many people move within nine years so it may not make sense to pay a higher interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage when you're not going to be in the home that long. Doing so may be costing you money. Consider refinancing to an ARM instead . you'll get a lower rate and lower your monthly mortgage payment.
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Lower Your Monthly Mortgage Payment
A drop of just one half to three quarters of a percentage point in interest can lower your monthly payment. If you don't refinance, you may be paying too much every month for your loan, and that's never a good financial move. There are a few different ways you can lower your monthly mortgage payment.
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First, you can simply refinance to a lower interest rate. A lower rate generally means a lower monthly payment.
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Second, you can change the term of your mortgage. For instance, if you have a 15-year mortgage, you can lengthen the term to 30 years. Since the balance of your mortgage is spread out over a longer period of time, your payment is lower. However, if you have a 30-year mortgage and one of your financial goals is long-term savings, you may want to consider shortening your term to 20 or even 15 years. Your payment will be higher, but you will pay much less in interest over the life of the loan, saving you thousands of dollars in the long run.
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The third way to lower your payment is to refinance to an interest-only loan. Basically, with an interest-only loan, the minimum amount you are required to pay is the amount of interest for a certain period of time, though you can pay as much principal as you like. But you get the flexibility to pay less if you need or want to divert your money elsewhere, such as contributing to your 401k or saving for your child's college tuition.
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Use our refinance calculator to see how you could lower your monthly mortgage payment.
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Getting Cash from Your Home
The equity you have in your home can act like a savings account that you could access through a home equity loan or a cash-out refinance. This is usually done when you want to finance an important home improvement, pay for college or pay off high-interest credit card debt. Whatever your reason, this may be the right option for you.
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Consolidating High-Interest Credit Card Debt
The difference between credit card debt and a mortgage can, financially speaking, mean thousands of dollars. Why? Because unlike your mortgage, the interest you pay on a credit card is not tax-deductible and you pay a higher rate than you would on your mortgage. Because of this, credit card debt is often referred to as "bad debt" whereas your mortgage is considered "good debt." Using your home equity to pay off your high-interest credit card debt can save you money in the long run. Using your home equity, rather than your credit cards, to finance expensive purchases can also be a smart move. Be sure to consult your tax advisor.
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Deciding on when to refinance your mortgage will depend on the circumstances of your situation: how long you'll be in the home, what your financial goals are, whether interest rates are dropping, etc. It's up to you to decide if it's right for you.
Feds taking steps to ease the crisis!!
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve, in an extraordinarily rare weekend move, took bold action Sunday evening to provide cash to financially squeezed Wall Street investment houses, a fresh effort to prevent a spreading credit crisis from sinking the U.S. economy.
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The central bank approved a cut in its emergency lending rate to financial institutions to 3.25 percent from 3.50 percent, effective immediately, and created a lending facility for big investment banks to secure short-term loans. The new lending facility will be available to big Wall Street firms on Monday.
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"These steps will provide financial institutions with greater assurance of access to funds," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told reporters in a brief conference call Sunday evening.
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The Fed acted just after JP Morgan Chase & Co. agreed to buy rival Bear Stearns Cos. for $236.2 million in a deal that represents a stunning collapse for one of the world's largest and most venerable investment banks. Just on Friday the Fed had raced to provide emergency financing to cash-strapped Bear Stearns through JP Morgan. Days earlier the Fed announced a set of other unconventional steps to thaw out a credit market in danger of freezing shut.
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"It seems as if Bernanke & Co. are pulling out all the stops to avoid a serious financial market meltdown," Richard Yamarone, an economist at Argus Research, said Sunday evening.
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On world financial markets, Asian stocks plunged early Monday after the JPMorgan and Fed announcements. Markets in Australia and New Zealand also fell.
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The new lending facility -- described as a cousin to the Fed's emergency lending "discount window" for banks -- is geared to give major investment houses a source of short-term cash on a regular basis -- if they need it.
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It will be in place for at least six months and "may be extended as conditions warrant," the Fed said. The interest rate will be 3.25 percent and a range of collateral -- including investment-grade mortgage backed securities -- will be accepted to back the overnight loans.
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"This is the Fed as the Yucca Mountain of securitized debt, but it is no doubt necessary," said Terry Connelly, dean of Golden Gate University's Ageno School of Business, referring to the government's underground dump in Nevada for nuclear waste.
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Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said he was pleased by Sunday's developments.
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"Last Friday, I said that market participants are addressing challenges and I am pleased with recent developments. I appreciate the additional actions taken this evening by the Federal Reserve to enhance the stability, liquidity and orderliness of our markets," he said.
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"We appreciate the actions taken by the Federal Reserve this evening," said White House press secretary Dana Perino. "Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke are actively engaged in addressing issues affecting our financial markets. Secretary Paulson has kept the president briefed on recent developments."
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The "discount" rate cut announced Sunday applies only to the short-term loans that financial institutions get directly from the Federal Reserve. It doesn't apply to individual borrowers.
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The Fed's actions are the latest in a recent string of innovative steps to deal with a worsening credit crisis that has unhinged Wall Street. And, the action comes just two days before the central bank's scheduled meeting on Tuesday, where another big cut to a key interest rate that affects millions of people and businesses is expected to be ordered. That key rate is now at 3 percent and is expected to be cut by at least one-half percentage point on Tuesday. Analysts said the Fed's new steps may lessen pressure for a super-sized cut to that rate.
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The Fed said in a statement that the steps are "designed to bolster market liquidity and promote orderly market functioning ... essential for the promotion of economic growth."
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Even with the Fed's aggressive moves, economic and financial conditions keep deteriorating. An increasing number of economists believe the country already has slipped into its first recession since 2001. Many economists think that the economy is shrinking now in the January-to-March quarter. The first government figures on first-quarter economic activity will be released in late April.
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The Fed on Sunday also approved the financing arrangement through which JPMorgan will acquire Bear Stearns. JP Morgan said the Fed will provide special financing for the deal. The central bank has agreed to fund up to $30 billion of Bear Stearns' less liquid assets, according to JP Morgan.
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The housing collapse and credit crisis has dealt a one-two punch against financial companies and the economy as a whole. Financial institutions have racked up multibillion-dollar losses when mortgage-backed investments soured. Foreclosures have hit record highs as distressed borrowers -- hit by slumping home prices and higher mortgage rates -- couldn't make their monthly payments. It has become a vicious cycle.
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The Fed this past week said it would pour as much as $200 billion into big Wall Street banks and investment houses and allow them to put up risky home-loan packages as collateral to borrow much-in-demand Treasury securities. This maneuver -- slated to start on March 27 -- was intended to bring sorely needed relief in the market for mortgage securities. The Fed also has offered as much as $200 billion in short-term loans to banks and large financial institutions.
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AP Business writers Joe Bel Bruno and Madlen Read contributed to this report from New York.
Homeowner Refinancing
Lawmakers Offer Plans
For Homeowner Refinancing
By Kara Scannell
From The Wall Street Journal Online
WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers, looking for ways to aid homeowners in need of refinancing, are considering raising the caps on how much money states can borrow to finance housing projects, and easing other restrictions.
Several lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, are recommending raising the limits on tax-exempt municipal mortgage revenue bonds as a way to ease refinancing.
The administration has said it would support a temporary measure.
The state housing finance agencies run mortgage programs so, for example, instead of applying to a bank for a mortgage, one could apply to the housing-finance agency.
States also allocate money to developers to build multi-family housing or apartment complexes.
Sen. Charles Schumer, a senior Democrat from New York, said the concept could show up as part of the stimulus package working its way through Congress.
"We may be able to get it in the stimulus, but if not, it will bode well in the near future," he said. "There will be a housing package beyond the stimulus, and it will be in one of the two."
Sen. Schumer sent a letter last night to credit-rating agency Moody's, urging the company to provide greater clarity in how it rates tax-exempt municipal bonds, the same types of bonds at issue in the refinancing proposal.
Sen. Schumer says the way Moody's currently rates tax-exempt municipal bonds, by using a finer ratings scale, "could lead to higher costs for municipal-bond issuers and ultimately the taxpayers," according to the letter.
A spokesman for Moody's said the company hadn't seen the letter and had no comment.
Gail Sussman, a managing director in Moody's public-finance area, says polls they have conducted with issuers, investors and intermediaries over the years have shown that they want to keep tax-exempt municipal bonds on a more finely graded ratings scale than that of taxable bonds and corporate debt.
Moody's has a comparison table that one can use to cross-reference the ratings, but not specifically for tax-exempt state debt.
"Whether or not we assign a global scale rating doesn't necessarily mean a municipal investor will price the bond any different," Ms. Sussman said. "They're not comparing it to a corporate taxable bond. They're comparing an Idaho school district to an Indiana county, both selling tax-exempt debt."
Sen. Schumer hopes by urging Moody's to provide a comparison table for tax-exempt debt, it would lower costs and encourage states to borrow money to finance new housing and help those needing to refinance.
Currently, municipalities can use money raised from these bonds, which was capped at $28.19 billion in 2006, to fund new single-family mortgages. An idea floated by Sen. Gordon Smith, a Republican from Oregon, and backed by Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, which could be added to the stimulus package, calls for raising the cap by $15 billion over three years as a temporary measure. It would also include refinancings.
Sen. Schumer's plan, which is expected to be discussed today at the Real Estate Roundtable, an organization of owners, lenders and manufacturers, is more expansive than the one being floated by those congressmen, although he says he's supportive of their bill.
He proposes a permanent change, beginning with a $10 billion increase each in 2008 and 2009 and by another $3 billion in 2010.
Sen. Schumer is also pushing to allow the refinancing to extend to multi-residential housing, which would include rentals.
Yesterday, he said he believed others were supportive of including that measure.
Get your Real Estate Questions answered
Expess Capital Mortgage Inc. wants to welcome you and your family to our Grand Opening in Chandler. Come and talk with valley Real Estate Professionals about any of the questions you'd like answers to. Want to refinance? need a home? Looking for answers? Well then come and join us January 11th 2008 for Food, Fun, Drinks and Networking! * Available Financing Programs *Employment Opportunities * Marketing Strategies * Developing Successful Marketing groups and campaigns
We're on the corner of cooper and ray rd. at the Cooper Crossings 1820 e. ray rd. Hope to see you there Ryan Kohl-vice president cell-480-229-7029 email- mixer@expresscapitalmtg.com
Get your Real Estate Questions answered
Expess Capital Mortgage Inc. wants to welcome you and your family to our Grand Opening in Chandler. Come and talk with valley Real Estate Professionals about any of the questions you'd like answers to. Want to refinance? need a home? Looking for answers? Well then come and join us January 11th 2008 for Food, Fun, Drinks and Networking!
* Available Financing Programs
* Employment Opportunities
* Marketing Strategies
* Developing Successful Marketing groups and campaigns
We're on the corner of cooper and ray rd. at the Cooper Crossings 1820 e. ray rd. Hope to see you there
Ryan Kohl-vice president
cell-480-229-7029
email- mixer@expresscapitalmtg.com
arizonas Mortgage rates and trends as of dec 20th 2007
Mortgage Loan Type Today Last Week Change
15 Year Fixed 5.981% 5.895% 0.09%
30 Year Fixed 6.258% 6.157% 0.10%
40 Year Fixed 6.443% 6.342% 0.10%
1 Year ARM 6.536% 6.527% 0.01%
3/1 Year ARM 6.498% 6.455% 0.04%
5/1 Year ARM 6.520% 6.487% 0.03%
So What's everyone's New Years Resolution? What do you predict will be the next big thing in Real Estate Marketing? Do we all agree that the market will be going back up in 09? Who should be our next president? If you don't live in Arizona then then start your packing.
Networking Mixer
Expess Capital Mortgage Inc. want to welcome you and 2008 to our Grand Opening Mixer for our beautiful new office in Chandler. So come succeed in the industry! see what we're doing different.
* Available Financing Programs
* Employment Opportunities
* Marketing Strategies
* Developing Successful Marketing groups and campaigns
So come and join us January 11th 2008 for Food, Fun, Drinks and Networking!
R.S.V.P by January 7th to
Ryan Kohl-vice president
cell-480-229-7029
email- mixer@expresscapitalmtg.com
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