Market Recap The Federal Reserve has taken initiative on tapering. In other words, it’s no longer talking about tapering, it’s doing it. On Wednesday, the Fed announced it would reduce its monthly purchases of U.S. Treasury notes and bonds and mortgage-backed securities (MBS) by $10 billion to $65 billion each month. As it now stands,…
We, along with most everyone else , believe interest rates will rise in 2014. If you were to ask most mortgage bankers where the rate on the 30-year fixed-rate loan will be on Dec. 31, 2014, you’ll likely get a response of 5% or above. To be sure, the year is still young, but mortgage…
We’d like to think we can, but we have to ask, even if we ask tongue-in-cheek: Are these numbers real and do they reflect the state of the economy? We’re referring to the employment numbers released last Friday, which we found to be highly unusual and very surprising. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics…
When I’m helping people list their homes for sale, I always recommend that they de-clutter their living spaces so that their homes will show better. There are two reasons for doing this. First, it makes it easier for prospective buyers to see themselves in the home because they aren’t looking at tons of personal items…
It’s a common misconception that homes sell better in the spring and summer months. If you look at the hundreds of homes sold each month, you’ll realize there is plenty of real estate activity in the wintertime too. While the real estate activity is plentiful, you also should do what you can to make your house…
Can you buy a home if you’ve had a foreclosure, short sale or bankruptcy? The answer is yes. But you do have to wait a certain number of years before you can qualify for your next home mortgage. The length of that wait depends on the program you use to finance the new property. The…
The Osgood Team is proud to announce that it is partnering with Summit Bank and Trust to offer a mortgage program designed especially for doctors. Called the Professional Portfolio Jumbo Home Financing Program for Physicians, this home financing program is designed to meet the needs of physicians who are purchasing a new or secondary home,…
Most of the communities throughout the Denver area are participating in a new assistance program designed to bring the dream of home ownership to more low- and moderate-income individuals and families. This special grant program, known as the Metro Mortgage Assistance Plus Program, is open to families who earn less than $91,100 for a two-person…
For some of you, bathrooms may seem like a weird topic for a blog. But the more I show homes to people moving to the South Denver metro area, the more I am convinced that an education is needed here. People in other countries and in different parts of our country use different words to…
When you are preparing to put your home on the market, it’s important to think about the way it looks in eye of prospective buyers. I know. You’re thinking: “The inventory of homes on the market is really low in the Denver metro area. So why do I even need to paint my home and…