“I WILL ACT NOW. I WILL ACT NOW. I WILL ACT NOW.” Og Mandino. The markets
took those words to heart last week, with plenty of timely action ranging
from telling economic reports to interesting announcements from the
government, related to homebuyers.

On the economic news front, the headlines were mixed. On the disappointing
side was a worse than expected Retail Sales Report, which showed that
consumers are continuing to tighten their purse strings. Not entirely
surprising, but it did mark the eighth decline in the past ten months for
Retail Sales. Initial Unemployment Claims were also reported worse than
expected - which some said were due to massive Chrysler layoffs - but still
was disappointing after there had been some recent signs of improvement in
the labor markets.

However, there was positive economic news as well, including improved
readings from the manufacturing sector, as the New York Empire State
Manufacturing Index improved for the third month straight. Consumer
Sentiment was also better than the previous reading and the best since
September of last year. So although the consumer isn’t out spending money
with abandon just yet, this report shows that most folks are indeed starting
to feel better about the economic outlook, likely due in part to the values
of their investment accounts improving as Stock values move higher.

Remember, inflation is the archenemy of Bonds and home loan rates, so I will
be keeping a close eye on this in the coming months.

And as if that all weren’t enough, the government got in on the action, with
the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Federal Housing
Administration making a very interesting announcement that ultimately
appeared to be slightly premature. They announced a new plan to allow
first-time homebuyers to use the Federal tax credit of up to $8,000 for a
down payment at closing, rather than making buyers wait to receive the
benefit after the fact at tax time. However, no details or logistics of how
this will actually work were released, causing them to actually pull some of
the industry announcements as they regroup to provide more details. This
could be great news for first-time homebuyers, who are slated to account for
53% of home purchases in 2009.

 

Jim Marcinkowski

Mortgage Consultant

Neighborhood Funding, Inc.

8695 College Pkwy.

Suite 2440

Fort Myers, FL 33919

Your Direct Lender!

239-936-4232 Office

239-826-6400 Cell

239-985-4486 Fax

Apply online @

www.JimNFI.com

 

Licensed in: Florida, California, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina,
Arkansas, Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Oregon, Conneticut, Washington and soon
in Indiana.

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