Michael LaFido's (sellmorerealestatetoday) Blog

Markets Ignore The April Jobs Report And It's Good News For Mortgage Rates   On the first Friday of every month, the U.S. government releases its Non-Farm Payrolls report.  More commonly called "the jobs report", Non-Farm Payrolls is a major market mover. The number of working Americans is direc...

1 In 8 Banks Tightened Prime Mortgage Standards Last Quarter   The Federal Reserve says that financial markets "remain supportive of economic growth". Residential mortgage guidelines, however, continue to tighten. If you've applied for a home loan recently, you probably felt it; extra scrutiny o...

March Pending Home Sales Point To Stronger Spring Market The Pending Home Sales Index moved higher in March as home sales were spurred by low mortgage rates and an expiring tax credit. A "pending home" is a property that is under contract to sell, but not yet closed. March marks the second strai...

Fannie Mae Tightens Guidelines On ARMs And Interest Only Products   For the first time this year, Fannie Mae announced significant updates to its mortgage underwriting guidelines. The changes include newer, harsher ARM qualification standards, the elimination of a once-popular loan product, and ...

Shopping For Mattresses, Or How Buy A Good Night's Sleep NBC's The Today Show hosted Consumer Reports for its take on mattresses. Some of the results may surprise you. At 7 minutes, the video is long, but it's stuffed with helpful comfort tips, including the scientific reason why a mattress shou...

The Headlines Were Overly Rosy On February's Case-Shiller Index   Earlier this week, Standard & Poors released its February Case-Shiller Index, a home price tracker for select metropolitan areas.  Overwhelmingly, home values fell in the 20 markets tracked by the Case-Shiller. Only San Diego show...

The Headlines Were Overly Rosy On February's Case-Shiller Index Earlier this week, Standard & Poors released its February Case-Shiller Index, a home price tracker for select metropolitan areas.  Overwhelmingly, home values fell in the 20 markets tracked by the Case-Shiller. Only San Diego showed...

The Headlines Were Overly Rosy On February's Case-Shiller Index Earlier this week, Standard & Poors released its February Case-Shiller Index, a home price tracker for select metropolitan areas.  Overwhelmingly, home values fell in the 20 markets tracked by the Case-Shiller. Only San Diego showed...

The Fed Adjourns From A 2-Day Meeting Today And What It Means For Mortgage Rates   The Federal Reserve adjourns from a scheduled, 2-day meeting today.  It's one of 8 scheduled Fed meetingsfor 2010. Upon adjournment, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke & Co. will release a formal statement to the market. I...

New Homes Sales Were Strong in March, But Not As Strong As The News Would Have You Believe   The sales of newly-built homes soared in March. Even more than what was expected. But the news may not be as glowing as what the media is telling us. Take a look at the headlines from last Friday: Sales ...