The New York Times ran an important story this week concerning pregnancy and mortgage approvals. Titled “Need a Mortgage? Don’t Get Pregnant“, the article discussed the difficulties that expecting and recently-expanded families are having with their mortgage financing. NBC’s...

Morning television can be “light”, but as far as personal finance interviews go, this Suze Orman segment from The Today Show is loaded with practical financial planning advice. Titled “What Should You Do First?”, Ms. Orman addressed the real-life, money management conundrums...

As its June 30, 2010 closing deadline approaches, the federal home buyer tax credit is back in the news. Unfortunately, the headlines are misleading. Contrary to what you may have read (or heard), the federal home buyer tax credit has not been extended past June 30, 2010. At least not yet. And here’s...

If you plan to finance your Tacoma home with a conforming interest only mortgage, get your loan application submitted no later than this Friday, June 18.  Starting next week, Fannie Mae is clamping down on the popular loan product. An “interest only” mortgage is exactly what its name...

In May 2010, Retail Sales at non-store retailers — a category that includes Amazon and eBay — topped $29 billion, up 16 percent from May 2009. Clearly, Americans are doing an increasing amount of shopping online.  And we’re paying our bills online, too. But how well are we...

A new loan quality initiative from Fannie Mae is making it harder for Tacoma home buyers and refinancing homeowners everywhere to close on a mortgage. Beginning June 1, 2010, with all new applications, Fannie Mae wants lenders to verify that borrowers have not taken on new debt during the underwriting...

A new loan quality initiative from Fannie Mae is making it harder for Seattle home buyers and refinancing homeowners everywhere to close on a mortgage. Beginning June 1, 2010, with all new applications, Fannie Mae wants lenders to verify that borrowers have not taken on new debt during the underwriting...

Home values rose in March, according to the Federal Home Finance Agency’s most recent Home Price Index. Values were reported higher by 0.3 percent, on average, from February. We use the phrase “on average” because the Home Price Index is broad-reaching, national housing statistic....

After starting the day in the red, mortgage rates rebounded Wednesday afternoon after the Federal Reserve released its April 27-28, 2010 meeting minutes. It’s good news for home buyers and would-be refinancers.  Mortgage rates continue to troll along multi-year lows. “Fed Minutes”...

Single-family Housing Starts rose by 55,000 last month, suggesting ample housing stock from which can choose this summer. The report is a slightly larger read than what economists had expected. Furthermore, for the first time since June 2009, Housing Starts appears to have broken away from its half-million...