Oct
30
Austin Mortgage Rates
Posted by alexb under Uncategorized
Austin mortgage planner John Schutze gives his weekly market update:
“Mortgage Rates end the week unchanged.
After a .125% increase mid-week, rates relaxed back down to last Friday’s level. With the Fed still purchasing mortgages and the mostly dim economic news rates are staying down. A lot of national press has headlined that the economy has “leveled off” but wall street investors aren’t convinced yet. As far as mortgage rates are concerned negative economic news is good.
Weekend Rates
The current rates on some of our programs are:
30 Year Fixed: 4.875 %
15 Year Fixed: 4.375 %
FHA 30 Year: 5.0 %
VA 30 Year: 5.0 %
5 Yr ARM: 3.75 %
Jumbo 30 Year Fixed:5.875 %
Jumbo 5 Yr ARM:4.625 %
30 Year Home Equity:5.0 %
The above rates are based on a $120,000 Loan Amount with a 1% Origination Fee and 740 credit score (620 score for USDA, FHA and VA loans). Some programs require slight adjustments for smaller loan amounts.”
John finds buyers the right loan for their Austin home purchase. Check out his Austin mortgage blog.
Garreth Wilcock is a Realtor ® in Central Austin. You can search Austin homes for sale at his website.
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Oct
30
Austin Mortgage Rates
Posted by alexb under Uncategorized
Austin mortgage planner John Schutze gives his weekly market update:
“Mortgage rates are higher after the Federal Reserve released internal notes of it™s Sept 22-23rd meeting which mentioned some signs that the economy may be starting to strengthen.
Also, several large corporations reported strong earnings (for example Intel and JP Morgan) which pushed the stock market higher mid-week. As we™ve discussed before, when the stock market moves higher mortgage rates generally move higher as well. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) was also released this week and remains low however many economist attribute the modest increase to several Fed Stimulus programs which artificially lowered the prices that consumers actually paid for goods.
For example, the Cash for Clunkers program allowed dealers to pass lower prices to the consumer thanks to the $4500 paid to dealers from the Fed. This skewed prices lower. Without the Fed™s involvement the CPI Report may have been higher which would indicate possible inflation which is bad for mortgage rates.
Weekend Rates
The current rates on some of our programs are:
30 Year Fixed: 4.875%
15 Year Fixed: 4.375%
USDA 30 Year: 5.25%
FHA 30 Year: 4.875%
VA 30 Year: 5.0%
5 Yr ARM: 3.75%
Jumbo 30 Year Fixed: 5.875%
Jumbo 5 Yr ARM: 4.625%
30 Year Home Equity: 5.0%
*The above rates are based on a $120,000 Loan Amount with a 1% Origination Fee and 740 credit score (620 score for USDA, FHA and VA loans). Some programs require slight adjustments for smaller loan amounts.”
John finds buyers the right loan for their Austin home purchase. Check out his Austin mortgage blog.
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Oct
10
When Is the Grocery Coming To Mueller?
Posted by garreth under Uncategorized
The second question I normally get asked by people looking to buy a home at Mueller is “When is the grocery store going to get here and which one is it?”. The developer gave some positive news this morning.
Greg Weaver at Catellus discussed progress on the grocery store at the Mueller Neighborhood Association meeting today. Here’s a clip in which he talks about things in motion.
My take on what he said is:
- It could be soon
- He’s positive about the discussions that are happening with potential tenants
- The developer appreciates the importance to the community
- Berkman will probably be opened up to allow access to the market district
- It’s still planned to be at 51st and Berkman, with parking on the 51st side
Compared to the news on the Mueller town center timeline, this seems pretty positive.
Garreth Wilcock is a Mueller Resident and Realtor ® and represents buyers and sellers of homes at Mueller. Which grocery store would you like to see at Mueller? Please comment below!
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Oct
10
Mueller Town Center – When Will It Be Here?
Posted by garreth under Uncategorized
One of the first questions I get asked by people looking to buy a home at Mueller is “When is the Town Center going to be developed?”. Here’s the answer straight from the developer.
Greg Weaver at Catellus addressed the Mueller Neighborhood Association meeting today, and one of the topics discussed was the Town Center. There have been lots of discussions about the town center – for example a focus group 15 months ago as discussed in this Mueller blog.
Here’s the clip in which he talks about the potential timeline and challenges of developing the center.
In a nutshell he said:
- It could be three to five years out
- Perhaps it can be developed incrementally
- Maybe something will spring out of the Austin Children’s Museum moving here
- The developer is considering alternative development strategies
One interesting idea, which I hope isn’t a red herring, is to indulge in the Austin boom of Airstream restaurants. Greg said that he’d been watching videos of shipping container restaurants as one alternative. Check out one example of a Müvbox in action – a green shipping restaurant.
I for one would enjoy walking to eat a few Flip Happy Crepes and some Torchy’s tacos while I wait 3 years for the town center of my dreams. Will the news that the town center is so far out affect residential sales? That remains to be seen.
Garreth Wilcock is a Mueller Resident and Realtor ® and represents buyers and sellers of homes at Mueller. What would you rather see? A full planned town center later, or an organic growth starting now – please feel free to comment!
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Oct
10
Resale Homes at Mueller – Fall 2009 Update
Posted by garreth under Uncategorized
How is the resale market at Mueller Austin? Here’s an overview of what has happened so far, and a brief clip of Catellus’ Greg Weaver talking about the upcoming development plans.
If you’ve been out and about in Mueller lately, you’ll have seen a few for sale signs – some of them popping up in the last fortnight. It’s interesting to see the difference between the current list prices and the orginal purchase prices a few years back, and the difference between list price and sales price of the recent sales. Contact me if you want more info on that.
Is now a good time to compete with new builds?
On the one hand, some of the resale floorplans or locations aren’t available for the builders. For example, the resale homes on Zach Scott with views of Lake Park or on Pinckney with easy access to the pool at Ella Wooten are hard to beat.
In addition, the builders are running out of lots and of homes they can build for the near future, until the next development phase is announced. David Weekley is selling it’s Willie model home on Zach Scott as one example, and Meritage have removed their construction trailer from McCloskey to build a home there.
Catellus, the developer, is still saying it may be 60-90 days before they release news of the next development steps. So there may be no new homes in the next phases ready in time for Spring 2010. Here’s Greg Weaver at Catellus talking about the next phases of development:
- smaller phases of development
- more organic evolution
- sticking to the original master plan, while changing the execution plan
So it seems that right now and for the next few months, there is less builder competition for portions of the resale market. Sellers can take advantage of the availability gap to sell their homes.
On the down side, the developer is talking of a 3-5 year lag for a town center, which is one key set of amenities in the eyes of many considering a new or resale home at Mueller. Less amenities might mean less interest.
In the last few months we have seen successful sales on Scales, Zach Scott and Cal Rodgers with low times on market compared to similar price points in the rest of Central Austin. If you’re considering selling, check out the tips in this article on selling your home at Mueller.
Garreth Wilcock is a Realtor ® representing buyers and sellers at Mueller and beyond. Call 512 215 4785 for more info.
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Oct
10
Austin Mortgage Rates
Posted by garreth under Uncategorized
Austin mortgage planner John Schutze gives his weekley market update:
œMortgage rates are on the increase as we end the week but still below 5.0%!
For those of you who missed the economic update at Realty Round-up this week, Dr. Jim Gaines from TX A&M said that rates will inevitably be higher down the road.
First, the Fed is slowing it™s purchase of mortgage bonds over the next few months and will stop entirely by March 31st. Mortgage lenders will need to increase mortgage rates to entice wall street investors to purchase mortgages as the Fed scales back.
Second, while inflation isn™t a concern now, the Fed is watching it closely. œIf and when the economy starts to improve, the Fed will raise the Fed Funds rate quickly to counteract inflation. This will trickle down to mortgage rates quickly.
For now, conventional rates are still below 5.0%, so let™s continue to get the message out that this is an unprecedented time to buy a home at BOTH historically low rates and low home prices!
Weekend Rates
The current rates on some of our programs are:
30 Year Fixed:4.75 %
15 Year Fixed:4.357 %
FHA 30 Year:4.75 %
VA 30 Year: 4.75 %
5 Yr ARM: 3.625 %
Jumbo 30 Year Fixed:5.75 %
Jumbo 5 Yr ARM:4.25 %
30 Year Home Equity:4.875 %
The above rates are based on a $120,000 Loan Amount with a 1% Origination Fee and 720 credit score (660 score for FHA and VA loans). Some programs require slight adjustments for smaller loan amount
John finds buyers the right loan for their Austin home purchase. Check out his Austin mortgage blog.
Garreth Wilcock is a Realtor ® in Central Austin. You can search Austin homes for sale at his website.
