November 28, 2008

Thanksgiving Brings Two New Homes For Northern Utah Families!

We hope that each of you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving Day. I know we enjoyed our own family time together and want to thank our facility management personnel and contractors for their extra special effort to get two homes ready for occupancy and allow these two families to move into their new homes on this Thanksgiving weekend. Our team spent their time well into the night to get yards prepared, carpets cleaned, heating systems checked, and the homes properly prepared. We thank them for their diligence in helping these two families realize their dreams.

The talk of the past few days has settled around the lowering of mortgage rates (bankrate.com). In my own family, we talked with our children about moving from adjustable arms to fixed rate mortgages. We concluded that now was a great time to refinance as well as to buy. Wednesday night I received a call from Greg Schaefermeyer at Republic Mortgage. He wanted me to make sure that all our buyers knew of the new interest rates. I receive a daily report from Utah Financial Inc. (Direct Line: 801-546-4619), that shows that rates have been as low as 5.5% this past week with a current monthly average under 6%.

Additionally, in the Wall Street Journal, Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase had full page ads letting customers know that banks had money to lend for qualified borrowers. Bank of America was also working with mortgage holders who needed to refinance their rates as well.

A lower interest rate along with lower home prices makes overall housing in Northern Utah more affordable. For example, a $200,000 loan on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has a payment of $1,199.10. With a lower interest rate at 5.5% the payment drops to $1,135.57, or a savings of $63.57 per month. Over a 30-year loan period that savings extends to $22,885.20.

Our encouragement is simple…now is a great time to buy a home. If you are sitting on the sidelines waiting for the absolute bottom you run a great risk of missing these low interest rates in order to save a few thousand dollars on the purchase price. Waiting too long to purchase means catching the bottom of the market when it begins its upswing. It is easy to miss the market turn. We are in a period when homes sales are on the increase, inventory is plentiful, and mortgage rates are at historic lows. Inaction now may result in no action later if you miss the turn.

These two families are in homes now because they acted now. Our next free Home Buyer’s Webinar is scheduled for December 2, 2008, at 7:00 pm. Click here for more details and to register on line . Join in the conference call and bring your questions and concerns. We will have mortgage and title representatives on the call as well. Have a great Thanksgiving weekend.

Posted By: Steve Randall