Feeling Nosy about DC? VA? MD?

Ok, I know you're probably not planning on moving this very second, but here's this week's list of interesting-looking listings that have just come on the market. Mind you, they may not actually be my personal listings --- just intriguing properties I've come across that week.

• Feeling nosy about the District of Columbia?
  
• Feeling nosy about Virginia?
  
• Feeling nosy about Maryland?

If you know someone who might be interested in this list, please forward it on to him or her. And if there's a listing that you're curious about yourself, just let me know ... and I'll show it to you ... just for the hell of it ... no obligation ... *I promise*. Really. (One of the perks of being the friend of a real estate agent ought to be that you get to freely snoop around other peoples' homes!

Household Hazardous Waste and Electronics Recycling Collection THIS WEEKEND

Some household products contain strong chemicals that can be flammable, corrosive, or toxic. Used properly, these products pose little threat to the environment or human health. It's when you try to dispose of them that you may be contributing to water pollution, or endangering people and pets. These household hazards should not be discarded in the regular trash, poured down the drain, or onto the ground.

Carter Barron Amphitheatre parking lot
16th & Colorado Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C.
Earth Day, Saturday, April 22, 9:00 am - 3:00 pm

Residents can drop off end-of-life consumer electronics, including audio-visual equipment, televisions, cell phones and home office equipment such as computers, computer parts, photocopiers and fax machines. These machines will be broken down into their component parts (plastic, glass, toxic metals) and recycled or disposed of safely.

For more information, visit the DPW website...
FAQ's about Household Hazardous Waste

Mortgage news ... what's happening

Mortgage bond prices fell last week applying upward pressure to interest rates. Rates were under pressure all week as trading conditions were thin ahead of the extended holiday weekend. Investor fears of inflation tied to economic growth and continually high oil prices pressured mortgage bonds. In addition, there was speculation that improved economic conditions abroad could lead to a reversal of the foreign flight to quality buying that helped interest rates remain low over the past years. For the week, interest rates on government and conventional loans rose about 5/8 of a discount point.

Consumer price index data and the Fed minutes will be the most important events this week. Producer price index, housing starts, leading economic indicators, and the Philadelphia Fed survey will also be important.

Consumer Price Index

The Consumer Price Index is widely accepted as the most important measure of inflation. The CPI is a measure of prices at the consumer level for a fixed basket of goods and services. The National Statistics Office and the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics of the Department of Agriculture collect price data for the computation of the CPI. Since it is an index number, it compares the level of prices to a base period. By comparing the level of the index at two different points in time, analysts can determine how much prices have risen in that period. Unlike other measures of inflation, which only factor domestically produced goods; the CPI takes into account imported goods as well. This is important due to the ever-increasing reliance of the US economy upon imported goods. Analysts primarily focus on the core rate of the CPI which factors out the more volatile food and energy prices.

High oil prices continue to weigh heavily upon the financial markets. The health of the economy remains uncertain. Stocks continue to bounce up and down.

Market participants expect the consumer price index to set the tone for bond market trading the last portion of this week. Inflation friendly data may lead to improvements in mortgage interest rates. However, unexpected consumer price spikes may push interest rates higher in the short-term. With the uncertainty surrounding the release now is a great time to take advantage of mortgage interest rates at their current levels.

Connie Echeverria
Loan Officer
Prosperity Mortgage Company

Feeling Nosy about DC? VA? MD?

Ok, I know you're probably not planning on moving this very second, but here's this week's list of interesting-looking listings that have just come on the market. Mind you, they may not actually be my personal listings --- just intriguing properties I've come across that week.

• Feeling nosy about the District of Columbia?
• Feeling nosy about Virginia?
• Feeling nosy about Maryland?

If you know someone who might be interested in this list, please forward it on to him or her. And if there's a listing that you're curious about yourself, just let me know ... and I'll show it to you ... just for the hell of it ... no obligation ... *I promise*. Really. (One of the perks of being the friend of a real estate agent ought to be that you get to freely snoop around other peoples' homes!

Feeling Nosy about DC? VA? MD?

Ok, I know you're probably not planning on moving this very second, but here's this week's list of interesting-looking listings that have just come on the market. Mind you, they may not actually be my personal listings --- just intriguing properties I've come across that week.

• Feeling nosy about the District of Columbia?
  
• Feeling nosy about Virginia?
  
• Feeling nosy about Maryland?

If you know someone who might be interested in this list, please forward it on to him or her. And if there's a listing that you're curious about yourself, just let me know ... and I'll show it to you ... just for the hell of it ... no obligation ... *I promise*. Really. (One of the perks of being the friend of a real estate agent ought to be that you get to freely snoop around other peoples' homes!

Mortgage rate update

Mortgage bond prices fell last week applying upward pressure to interest rates. Rates were under pressure all week as traders anticipated the employment report that was released Friday. The report indicated continued job growth that sparked concerns that the Federal Reserve will raise rates again. This data hurt the already battered mortgage bond market.

For the week, interest rates on government and conventional loans rose about 1/2 of a discount point.

Connie Echeverria
Loan Officer
Prosperity Mortgage Company

HUD proposal allows FHA to offer risk-based premiums

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is reportedly finalizing a proposal that would offer Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured mortgages with no upfront insurance premium to homebuyers with good credit, according to National Mortgage News. The legislation will allow FHA to offer risk-based premiums to both serve and attract borrowers with high credit scores as well as subprime borrowers. "This would provide an option to potential homebuyers who have no choice right now except to go to subprime lenders,” HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson said, adding that FHA is a cheaper and safer option. Based on their credit score and loan-to-value ratio, creditworthy borrowers would only have to pay a 50-basis point annual insurance premium on FHA loans.

Bankrate's forecast for the changing real estate market

Bankrate.com has unveiled its forecast for the changing real estate market in the U.S. over the next few years — the top ten markets where housing prices and values will continue to remain strong, ten markets where appreciation will pretty much top out and the ten markets that are most likely to experience a decline.

They talked to experts, studied public and private databases, analyzed market trends and examined the analyses of many others. The results are follow.

The ten "bubble blowers," where appreciation should continue to grow:

• Boise (ID)
• El Paso (TX)
• Albuquerque (NM)
• Seattle (WA)/Portland (OR)
• Salt Lake City (UT)
• Raleigh (NC)
• Philadelphia (PA)
• Atlanta (GA)
• Little Rock (AR)
• Cincinnati (OH)/Birmingham (AL) (they were too close to call)

The ten "bubble sitters," where appreciation may have peaked:

• WASHINGTON (DC)
• Ft. Myers/Cape Coral (FL)
• Chicago (IL)
• Honolulu (HI)
• Tucson (AZ)
• San Francisco (CA)
• Detroit (MI)
• Minneapolis (MN)
• Baltimore (MD)
• Denver (CO)

The ten "bubble busters," where values are expected to decline:

• Las Vegas (NV)
• Sacramento (CA)
• Phoenix (AZ)
• Boston (MA)
• Los Angeles (CA)
• Naples (FL)
• Miami/Ft. Lauderdale (FL)
• Edison (NJ)
• Newark (NJ)
• Nassau/Suffolk (NY)

You'll probably notice that Washington, D.C., tops the "Bubble Sitters" list, indicating that prices may have topped out for a while. So while other markets will continue to experience robust appreciation and others will decline, Bankrate.com appears to think that the DC market may stabilize somewhat from the hyper-inflation we've experienced over the last few years.

OK. Well. This is what many of us in the DC market have been saying for a while — though this position was not as sexy as all the sky-is-falling articles in the Washington Post and and hysterical Fox News reports. Seems we're poised for what forecasters are calling a "soft landing."

Whew.

That said, there's plenty of evidence to suggest that not *all* is well with the DC real estate market. Seems that there's a rapidly increasing inventory of condo units on the market. If you're looking to buy one of those sexy new condos where the developer is offering all sorts of groovy percs (closing cost assistance, REALTOR bonuses, free plasma screen TVs, free wireless Internet), you may want to tread carefully. If you're going to hold onto this potential unit for 5-8-10 years, you'll probably be in good shape. If you're in a job position where you have the potential of being transferred, or if you'll otherwise be in DC for a limited time — hey, DC can be a transient sort of place — think twice. Renting isn't awful. Or, you might consider a single-family home or townhome in a less sexy location.

Feeling Nosy about DC? VA? MD?

Ok, I know you're probably not planning on moving this very second, but here's this week's list of interesting-looking listings that have just come on the market. Mind you, they may not actually be my personal listings --- just intriguing properties I've come across that week.

• Feeling nosy about the District of Columbia?
  
• Feeling nosy about Virginia?
  
• Feeling nosy about Maryland?

If you know someone who might be interested in this list, please forward it on to him or her. And if there's a listing that you're curious about yourself, just let me know ... and I'll show it to you ... just for the hell of it ... no obligation ... *I promise*. Really. (One of the perks of being the friend of a real estate agent ought to be that you get to freely snoop around other peoples' homes!

Mortgage update for the week

Mortgage bond prices fell last week pushing interest rates higher. The Fed raised rates as expected, however the hope that the Fed was near the end of raising rates was diminished as the Fed indicated continued rate increases may be necessary. Unfortunately this announcement hurt the already battered mortgage bond market. For the week, interest rates on government and conventional loans rose about 5/8 of a discount point. The employment report Friday will be the most important event this week. Institute for Supply Management Index data will also be important.

A Focus on Employment
The Fed is most concerned with keeping a tight lid on inflation. Interest rate market analysts pay close attention to a multitude of measures of economic activity under the assumption that when economic activity increases to certain levels, inflationary pressures become imminent.
March employment data will be released on Friday morning. The employment data provides very important information about whether the economy is overheating to the point that inflationary pressures may increase. The logic is that as economic activity continues to grow and fewer people are left unemployed, employers have a tendency to bid up employee wages. The employment report provides an abundance of information for almost every sector of the economy. Not only does the employment report give basic employment payroll statistics for the major working sectors, it also provides the average hourly earnings and the average workweek. Using this information provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor, economists estimate many other economic indicators such as industrial production, personal income, housing starts, and GNP monthly revisions. Since there is little data for economists to base their estimates on, the margin of error for the estimates tends to be high. As a result, the employment report can cause substantial market movements. The BLS compiles data from two unrelated surveys that they conduct, the household survey and the establishment survey, in order to complete the employment report. This explains why sometimes there is an unexpected divergence between the unemployment rate and payrolls figures each month.

This week’s employment data will provide valuable insight into factors the Federal Open Market Committee will use to make future rate decisions. Employment strength may prompt the Fed to continue to raise short-term interest rates. However, if employment begins to weaken, the Fed may take a break from the continued rate hikes and mortgage interest rates may get a much-needed reprieve.

Connie Echeverria
Loan Officer
Prosperity Mortgage Company
M4049-011
4400 Jenifer St., NW
Washington, DC 20015
202.364.1300 x6061 Office
202.285.3937 Mobile
202.966.4632 Confidential Fax
866.359.7205 Confidential eFax
connie.echeverria@wellsfargo.com