Massachusetts Home Buyer Guide

U.S. mortgage purchase applications rose 4 percent last week to the highest level since January, and purchase applications are 30 percent higher than during the same time last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

A few months ago all the so-called mortgage experts and real estate pundits were convinced that interest rates for mortgage loans were going to start increasing in 2016, signaling the end of years of abnormally depressed borrowing costs. They predicted homebuyers were about to experience significantly increasing interest rates for the first time in years.

Mortgage interest rates are cooperating. Now Massachusetts homebuyers just need some more real estate inventory, so that they can take advantage of the lower cost of a home loan. 

Average U.S. mortgage interest rates declined for the fifth straight week, Freddie Mac reported in its weekly mortgage market survey on February 4, 2016. 

If you follow the stock market you know it has been a wild ride this week and for most of the new year.

The new Truth-in-lending RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rules, which went into effect in October, came with some new real estate industry jargon, as well as a new tool for homebuyers to compare home loans offered by competing lenders. 

Massachusetts homebuyers, especially in the Greater Boston area, have seen real estate inventory decline for several years, and some real estate professionals believe rising mortgage interest rates may exacerbate the situation. 

Despite concerns among potential Massachusetts first-time home buyers over the Federal Reserve raising short-term interest rates and how that might eventually affect mortgage interest rates, 30-year, fixed-rate interest rates for home loans have declined and remain low.   

Not since Y2K have so many predicted such great disruption and chaos in our lives.

MassHousing launched Operation Welcome Home last month, a new conventional loan product for eligible Veterans that combines a traditional 97 percent loan-to-value first mortgage with a zero-interest second mortgage of up to 3 percent to create a 100 percent financing product that offers essentially the same attributes of a traditional VA loan.

The average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage interest rate in the United States remained less than 4 percent when it declined to 3.95 percent from 3.97 percent the previous week, according to government-sponsored mortgage buyer Freddic Mac.  

Boston has happy home buyers, while Las Vegas lacks reliable residents, according to a new study by WalletHub, a consumer finance website. The study looked at how the housing recovery affected consumers across the country. Having the right type of financing could set home buyers up for happy home ownership while risky mortgages could set families up for failure down the road. Metro areas with high equity values, low interest rates and strict lending practices show promise for a stable housing market recovery. The following 1:24-minute video is from USA Today.