We did it! 9 REO (bank owned homes) in about 90 minutes! Following our first time homebuyer seminar last Thursday, Saturday’s caravan was intended to show a variety of neighborhoods, price ranges, and condition of homes (some gorgeous, some “fixer uppers”) in Ventura. We call it “speed dating” because we’re into and out of each home FAST – 5 minutes max!

We had about 16 people attend our first time homebuyer seminar last night at the CitiBank conference room in Ventura. Don covered the new $8,000 first time buyer tax credit and financing. In the second half, I covered “reality checks” first time buyers face, plus reviewed the Residential Purchase Agreement which covers the rights and responsibilities of both the buyer and seller. Tomorrow (Saturday) we take these folks on a “speed dating” caravan of REO properties in Ventura – weather looks great for a fun morning!

Today is Saturday morning and Leslie and I are back from my Tenant in Common Association (TICA) conference in San Diego. With the bombshell announcement by the Fed on Wednesday, I was curious to see how fast interest rates would soften, so this morning I checked a mortgage rate sheet we get daily and was pleasantly surprised to see that rates have softened by about 1/4%. Not too shabby! It would appear the Fed’s decision is starting to have its intended impact on the mortgage market.

After yesterday’s post about the Fed pumping 1 trillion into bond purchases, Bill, a client, emailed me this website that pictorially shows what one trillion dollar bills look like – unbelievable! Thanks Bill.

Driving down to San Diego today to attend the Tenant in Common Association’s spring conference, I was blown away listening to the radio that the Federal Reserve will buy up to 1 trillion dollars of bonds. Huge news! It was reported that this caused the most significant drop in yields on 10 year Treasury bonds since at least 1962. But how does this affect  potential homebuyers? Read the rest of this article »