October 2017 - Realty Solutions Group

Mortgage Rates Monday: Down Sharply

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage plunged six basis points, the 15-year fixed fell seven basis points, and the 5/1 ARM dropped two basis points, according to a NerdWallet survey of daily mortgage rates published by national lenders Monday.

This marks a continuation of volatile rate movement from last week, when the average 30-year rose and fell and rose again, ending the week nine basis points higher than where it began. Today’s 30-year is three basis points higher than a week ago, and is 36 basis points higher than a year ago.

This week has at least two events that could affect mortgage rates. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will announce its latest monetary policy strategy. Investors doubt the Fed will raise short-term interest rates at this meeting, but observers will read the central bank’s statement closely to glean clues about the future course of interest rates.

On Friday, the Department of Labor will release employment data for October, including the unemployment rate and nonfarm payrolls, which count the net number of jobs created during the month. The employment report is a gauge of the overall health of the economy, so it sometimes influences mortgage rates.

MORTGAGE RATES TODAY, MONDAY, OCT. 30:

(Change from 10/27)
30-year fixed: 4.12% APR (-0.06)
15-year fixed: 3.54% APR (-0.07)
5/1 ARM: 4.03% APR (-0.02)

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NerdWallet daily mortgage rates are an average of the published annual percentage rate with the lowest points for each loan term offered by a sampling of major national lenders. APR quotes reflect an interest rate plus points, fees and other expenses, providing the most accurate view of the costs a borrower might pay.

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The article Mortgage Rates Monday: Down Sharply originally appeared on NerdWallet.

Realty Solutions Group was built around a simple but elusive concept: provide brokers and clients with the highest level of service in the industry through cutting-edge sales, marketing programs and a culture that values innovation, relationships and a strong local focus.

In less than 5 years, Realty Solutions Group is among the top independent brokerage firms in S/E Wisconsin.

As a locally-owned, independent company, Realty Solutions Group is deeply committed to supporting the communities and clients we serve. We are constantly evolving, but remain focused on that one simple idea behind our founding.

We are a full service brokerage with discounted commissions. We offer no long term listing contracts, a Performance Guarantee, Smart Seller Program and a Communication Guarantee. Contact us today and let us provide you with the very best real estate experience.

Mortgage Rates Friday: Growing With GDP

The average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage climbed five basis points, the 15-year fixed rose three basis points, and the 5/1 ARM bumped upward by one basis point, according to a NerdWallet survey of daily mortgage rates published by national lenders Friday.

This is the highest level for the 30-year fixed since May 12, when it averaged 4.21%. The 30-year mortgage has risen nine basis points in one week, and has gone up 44 basis points in the last year.

Mortgage rates tend to rise when the economy is going strong. Friday morning, the Commerce Department said that the economy’s overall output, known as gross domestic product, increased at a 3% annual rate from July through September. That’s down from a 3.1% annual rate of growth in the second quarter, but it’s still considered a robust showing. Since the Great Recession ended in 2009, GDP growth has averaged 2.2%.

MORTGAGE RATES TODAY, FRIDAY, OCT. 27:

(Change from 10/26)
30-year fixed: 4.18% APR (+0.05)
15-year fixed: 3.61% APR (+0.03)
5/1 ARM: 4.05% APR (+0.01)

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The article Mortgage Rates Friday: Growing With GDP originally appeared on NerdWallet.

In less than 5 years, Realty Solutions Group is among the top independent brokerage firms in S/E Wisconsin.

Mortgage Rates Thursday: Down, as Pending Home Sales Stall

The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell four basis points and the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped one basis point. The average 5/1 ARM fell three basis points, according to a NerdWallet survey of daily mortgage rates published by national lenders Thursday.

The drop in rates came a day after across-the-board increases in fixed and adjustable rates. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is eight basis points higher than a week ago, and is 42 basis points higher than a year ago.

Even with mortgage rates near historically low levels, home resales are sluggish. The Pending Home Sales Index was unchanged for September compared with August, according to the National Association of Realtors. That indicates that existing home sales will be relatively flat over the next two months. The sales index of 106 for August and September is at its lowest since January 2015, according to the NAR.

Demand for homes exceeds the supply of homes for sale in most markets, NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a news release. The high demand drives prices up, canceling out the savings that home buyers would get from the drop in mortgage rates since the beginning of the year, he said.

Yun said that Hurricane Irma depressed pending home sales in Florida in September, but he said those sales should bounce back quickly, as Texas home sales did after Hurricane Harvey.

MORTGAGE RATES TODAY, THURSDAY, OCT. 26:

(Change from 10/25)
30-year fixed: 4.13% APR (-0.04)
15-year fixed: 3.58% APR (-0.01)
5/1 ARM: 4.04% APR (-0.03)

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The article Mortgage Rates Thursday: Down, as Pending Home Sales Stall originally appeared on NerdWallet.

In less than 5 years, Realty Solutions Group is among the top independent brokerage firms in S/E Wisconsin.

Mortgage Rates Wednesday: Sharply Up on Brisk Economic News

The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage jumped eight basis points, while 15-year fixed-rate mortgages went up six basis points and the average rate on a 5/1 ARM rose four basis points, according to a NerdWallet survey of daily mortgage rates published by national lenders Wednesday.

The last time the 30-year fixed-rate was this high was July 11, when it matched Wednesday’s level of 4.17%. The rate is 12 basis points higher than a week ago, or about one-eighth of a percentage point. It’s half a percentage point higher than one year ago.

Bond yields and mortgage rates rose after the release of a strong report of factory orders in September. Durable goods orders for long-lasting items such as vehicles and appliances rose 2.2% in September compared with August, according to the Commerce Department. Mortgage rates often move upward on news of a vigorously growing economy.

The report on durable goods wasn’t the only robust economic news of the day. New home sales rose 18.9% in September compared with August, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. New single-family homes were sold at an annual pace of 667,000 — a 17% increase over the September 2016 sales rate.

“Every region was higher, and that’s really encouraging,” says Lee Stafford, managing director of economics and research for Ally Financial. New home sales in the South rebounded strongly compared with August, and Stafford says, “I don’t think I’m going out on a limb here when I say this is largely about recovery from hurricane disruptions.”

New homes sold in September typically had been on the market for 3.2 months. “The homes are turning very fast, which is a sign of strong demand,” Stafford says.

MORTGAGE RATES TODAY, WEDNESDAY, OCT. 25:

(Change from 10/24)
30-year fixed: 4.17% APR (+0.08)
15-year fixed: 3.59% APR (+0.06)
5/1 ARM: 4.07% APR (+0.04)

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The article Mortgage Rates Wednesday: Sharply Up on Brisk Economic News originally appeared on NerdWallet.

In less than 5 years, Realty Solutions Group is among the top independent brokerage firms in S/E Wisconsin.

Mortgage Rates Tuesday: Not Much Change as Equity Rises

The average interest rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages was unchanged, while rates on 15-year fixed loans rose one basis point. The average rate on 5/1 ARMs went up two basis points, according to a NerdWallet survey of daily mortgage rates published by national lenders Tuesday.

The rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is five basis points higher than a week ago, and 44 basis points higher than a year ago.

As any home shopper knows, home values have been rising. And the equity that Americans have in those homes is rising right along with those values. Homeowners had $13.9 trillion in equity — the value of homes in the U.S. minus outstanding mortgage debt — in the second quarter of this year, according to the Federal Reserve. That reflects an increase in equity of $1.4 trillion compared with a year earlier, and an increase of $400 billion compared with the first quarter of this year.

Before this year, the previous peak in equity occurred in the first quarter of 2006, at $13.4 trillion. Then, the housing bubble burst, home values plunged and equity fell to a little under $6 trillion in the first quarter of 2009. Homeowners’ equity, which bounced around for a couple of years after that, has been steadily rising since the first quarter of 2011.

As mortgage rates rise, homeowners will be less inclined to do cash-out refinances to turn their equity into cash. That leaves an opening for homeowners to get home equity lines of credit: About 10 million consumers are expected to get HELOCs from 2018 to 2022, according to a new study by the credit bureau TransUnion.

MORTGAGE RATES TODAY, TUESDAY, OCT. 24:

(Change from 10/23)
30-year fixed: 4.09% APR (NC)
15-year fixed: 3.53% APR (+0.01)
5/1 ARM: 4.03% APR (+0.02)

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The article Mortgage Rates Tuesday: Not Much Change as Equity Rises originally appeared on NerdWallet.

In less than 5 years, Realty Solutions Group is among the top independent brokerage firms in S/E Wisconsin.

Mortgage Rates Monday: Fixed Rates Are Steady

Average rates for 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages were unchanged, while the 5/1 ARM slipped one basis point, according to a NerdWallet survey of daily mortgage rates published by national lenders Monday.

The stable mortgage rates herald a week with only a few items on the economic calendar. On Wednesday, the Census Bureau releases its report on new home sales in September. In August, new homes were sold at an annual pace of 560,000, 1.2% below the pace from one year ago. The September number is expected to remain about the same. Meanwhile, the mortgage industry’s biggest gathering of the year, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual convention, is happening this week in Denver.

MORTGAGE RATES TODAY, MONDAY, OCT. 23:

(Change from 10/20)
30-year fixed: 4.09% APR (NC)
15-year fixed: 3.52% APR (NC)
5/1 ARM: 4.02% APR (-0.01)

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The article Mortgage Rates Monday: Fixed Rates Are Steady originally appeared on NerdWallet.

In less than 5 years, Realty Solutions Group is among the top independent brokerage firms in S/E Wisconsin.

Mortgage Rates Friday: Up Following Budget News

The average rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages went up four basis points, while the 15-year fixed and 5/1 ARM each rose two basis points, according to a NerdWallet survey of daily mortgage rates published by national lenders Friday.

The 30-year fixed is at its highest level since July 26, when it averaged 4.11%. It is eight basis points higher than one week ago, and 39 basis points higher than a year ago.

The rise can be attributed to news coming out of the Senate, which adopted a budget resolution Thursday. Through parliamentary intricacies, adoption of the resolution will make it easier for Republicans to change the tax code without any Democratic votes in the Senate.

If Congress succeeds in cutting taxes without corresponding decreases in spending, the federal government will have to issue more bonds to pay for budget deficits. The prospect of this future development drove Treasury bond yields higher Friday, and since mortgage rates tend to move in concert with bond yields, mortgage rates moved upward as well.

MORTGAGE RATES TODAY, FRIDAY, OCT. 20:

(Change from 10/19)
30-year fixed: 4.09% APR (+0.04)
15-year fixed: 3.52% APR (+0.02)
5/1 ARM: 4.02% APR (+0.02)

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The article Mortgage Rates Friday: Up Following Budget News originally appeared on NerdWallet.

In less than 5 years, Realty Solutions Group is among the top independent brokerage firms in S/E Wisconsin.

Mortgage Rates Thursday: Stable, Awaiting Home Sales Report

The average rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages was unchanged, while the 15-year fixed fell one basis point. The 5/1 ARM was also unchanged, according to a NerdWallet survey of daily mortgage rates published by national lenders on Thursday.

The 30-year fixed was unchanged compared with one week earlier, and is 32 basis points higher than one year ago.

It was a quiet day for mortgages and for market-moving economic data, too. Friday brings the existing home sales report for September. If the report shows a slowdown in home sales, it will likely be attributed to the hurricanes that hit Texas and Florida. Typically, closings are delayed while damage is assessed and repairs are made.

“The impacts from this season’s hurricanes on the U.S. economy were wide-ranging but should dissipate over time,” said Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae’s chief economist, in a news release. While he expects the economy to rebound in the coming months, he cautioned “recovery will likely be slower for home sales and home building, however, as the labor shortage and rising material prices will likely worsen after the hurricanes, exacerbating already-tight inventory.”

MORTGAGE RATES TODAY, THURSDAY, OCT. 19:

(Change from 10/18)
30-year fixed: 4.05% APR (NC)
15-year fixed: 3.50% APR (-0.01)
5/1 ARM: 4.00% APR (NC)

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The article Mortgage Rates Thursday: Stable, Awaiting Home Sales Report originally appeared on NerdWallet.

In less than 5 years, Realty Solutions Group is among the top independent brokerage firms in S/E Wisconsin.

Stop Scammers From Stealing Your Down Payment

A hot new scam targets home buyers: down payment wire fraud.

Hackers send bogus emails, telling buyers where to wire the down payment money. The stolen money disappears. The home buyer ends up with an empty bank account and a broken heart.

Hundreds of millions of dollars have been stolen this way. But you can avoid that fate by making one phone call. It’s that simple.

How the mortgage scam happens

Stacy Hennessey, a real estate agent in Falls Church, Virginia, was targeted with this scam, but she didn’t fall for it. If you follow her example, you won’t get defrauded, either.

Hennessey was buying a house in Maryland. About a week before the scheduled closing, she received an email that appeared to be from her real estate agent. The email told her that the instructions for wiring the down payment had changed, and it gave her an account number to which she should send $30,000.

Hennessey was suspicious for three reasons:

“They were asking me to wire an incorrect down payment amount, lower than it should have been,” she says. “Why would I wire a partial deposit?”
“And why would I be doing it now, several days before closing?” Usually, the down payment money is wired the day before closing.
The sender’s email address was almost, but not quite, her agent’s email address.

How to stop the scammers

Hennessey prevented crooks from stealing her $30,000 by making one call to her real estate agent.

“I said, ‘Hey, did you send me this telling me to wire money?’ And they said, ‘No.’ And I said, ‘Your computer’s been hacked because they know that I’m a buyer, closing soon.’”

Had Hennessey followed the scammer’s instructions, she almost certainly would have lost the money. At the time, she didn’t even know whom she should have called if she had fallen for the scam.

If you get tricked, drop everything and call your bank immediately. After that, contact the FBI and the Federal Trade Commission, in that order.

Rise of down payment fraud

The FBI investigates and tracks this scam, reporting that the number of complaints to title companies exploded 480% in 2016. Down payment wire fraud is one of many scams involving hacked email accounts and fraudulent wire transfers, often occurring within businesses or between businesses.

In 2016, this category of fraud held 16th place in terms of the number of reported complaints (12,005) but held first place in dollar losses (over $360 million). Most of the money ends up in Asia.

Don’t trust, always verify

“Consumers need to be suspicious when wiring large amounts of money to purchase a property,” says Cynthia Blair, a residential real estate closing attorney in Columbia, South Carolina.

Most important, Blair says: “No matter where you get the wiring instructions, you still call and verify.”

If it looks like the email came from your real estate agent, call the agent. If the email appears to have come from a title agency, escrow company or lawyer’s office, call that office to confirm, and then call your agent, just to be sure.

But do it smart: Look up phone numbers yourself. Don’t call a phone number listed in the email. Assume a scammer will answer and say, ‘Yes, those are our wiring instructions,’” Blair says.

How to tell real from fake

If your real estate agent or a settlement company emails you money-wiring instructions, complete with an account number, they’re doing it wrong.

A joint warning to consumers last year from the FTC and the National Association of Realtors said: “If you’re buying a home and get an email with money-wiring instructions, STOP. Email is not a secure way to send financial information, and your real estate professional or title company should know that.”

It’s preferable to convey wiring information in person or by courier.

Blair says her law firm has a signature block at the bottom of every employee’s email that says, in red text, that the firm will never change its wiring instructions.

And when you’re wiring money, ask your bank to confirm the account number and the name on the receiving end, the American Land Title Association recommends in an animated video. Then, immediately after the money is sent, call your agent or the title company to verify the money was received.

If you fall for wire fraud …

You might be able to claw back your money if you act minutes or even hours after falling prey to this scam. Call your bank and emphasize that you are a victim of fraud and tell your bank to contact the recipient bank to inform it that a fraudulent wire was sent and that it should reject the wire.

Report the crime

Here’s how to report the crime:

Report the scam to your regional FBI office. Say that you’re a home buyer and that you’re a target of “email account compromise” in which a hacker instructed you to wire down payment money to a fraudulent account. According to the FBI, the bureau might be able to help return or freeze the money.
File an online complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.
File a complaint with the FTC by selecting Scams and Rip-offs, then Impostor Scams.

Don’t hesitate and don’t feel ashamed. Thousands of people fall victim to this crime. By being vigilant and by making a phone call or two, you can ensure that your down payment ends up in the correct bank account.

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The article Stop Scammers From Stealing Your Down Payment originally appeared on NerdWallet.

In less than 5 years, Realty Solutions Group is among the top independent brokerage firms in S/E Wisconsin.

Mortgage Rates Wednesday: Little Change Amid Mixed Housing News

Average rates on 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages rose one basis point each, and the 5/1 ARM was unchanged, according to a NerdWallet survey of daily mortgage rates published by national lenders on Wednesday.

The 30-year fixed was down one basis point from one week earlier and 33 basis points higher than one year ago.

While mortgage rates have been relatively stable over the last month, there has been some movement in home construction numbers. Housing starts fell 4.7% from August to September, to an annual pace of 1.127 million units, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But compared with a year earlier, housing starts were up 6.1%. So even though there was a slowdown in September, it was still a healthier month for home construction than the previous September.

MORTGAGE RATES TODAY, WEDNESDAY, OCT. 18:

(Change from 10/17)
30-year fixed: 4.05% APR (+0.01)
15-year fixed: 3.51% APR (+0.01)
5/1 ARM: 4.00% APR (NC)

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More from NerdWallet

The article Mortgage Rates Wednesday: Little Change Amid Mixed Housing News originally appeared on NerdWallet.

In less than 5 years, Realty Solutions Group is among the top independent brokerage firms in S/E Wisconsin.