KathyMcAlpin.com

Here’s a link for travel alerts in the Phoenix area for this weekend.

http://www.azdot.gov/ccpartnerships/news/closures/index.asp

Hope this is helpful for you!

Here is the Metro Phoenix area Travel Alerts for this weekend.

http://www.azdot.gov/ccpartnerships/news/closures/index.asp

Have a safe and happy weekend!

Here’s a link to travel limitations in and around the Greater Phoenix area.

http://www.azdot.gov/ccpartnerships/news/closures/012712.pdf

Have a safe and happy weekend!

Here is a link to the ADOT map of freeway closures for this weekend.

http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1103007733076-62/WeekendFwyAlertMapADOTJan1912b.pdf

Check it out if you plan to go across town during this fabulous weekend.

Here is a link to the ADOT Freeway Closures information for this weekend.  Helpful to check when you head across town!

http://www.azdot.gov/ccpartnerships/news/closures/index.asp

Have a fun and happy weekend!

The mortgage industry is scrambling with the changes being established by the Feds.  The latest is their change in funding fees for VA Loans.  In this case, it’s a break for those using their VA loans.  Here’s a link to my mortgage contact Eddie O’Dowd’s site that shows what these changes are.

http://eddiemortgage.com/2011/09/16/3017/

Also on October 1st, the HUD is LOWERING its FHA loan limits, which could negatively impact the plans of some potential borrowers.  Here’s a link to Eddie’s information on this change as it will affect Arizona residents.

http://eddiemortgage.com/2011/08/30/maricopa-and-pinal-county-arizona-fha-loan-limit-changes/

As our country and state continue to deal with the trials of our taxed economy, changes in the mortgage and real estate worlds keep us professionals scrambling to do our jobs helping our valued clients.

I received the following from Joe Hansen, a mortgage professional here in the metro Phoenix area.  Joe works with buyers to help them get their credit up to par so they can buy a home.  With so many people going to school after a job loss to get marketable in a new skill, Student Loans are something with which many people will be dealing.  Hope Joe’s information will help you.

Student Loans

Paying off your student loans sooner lowers your credit score

As unfair as it sounds paying off your student loan sooner will lower your credit score
down by 10-15 points. Lenders do not like their borrowers paying off their
loans earlier as they will lose the interest income that they earn from you.

Although this is not necessarily a bad thing for you to do, paying off your student
loans sooner is not better than paying it on schedule. Sadly, there is no
credit score rating boost for paying it off sooner.

Student loans with longer repayment periods lower your score

Student loans that takes 10 years or more to pay off will lower your credit score. For
example, Sallie Mae gives you 10 years to pay off your loan. Although that is
not a bad thing since it is an agreement with you and Sallie Mae and it is a
very common period of time for student loans repayment, it will report to the
credit score as “too long to pay off a debt”. Continue reading »

As this week of July 4th, 2011 nears the end, I received an email from a dear friend with this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5lbNXNn3CI

I’ve seen lots of things come across the internet, through email and facebook.  Last Sunday, as Mass let out, our choir sang America the Beautiful and many of the people in the church stood still through the song.  The usual rush to the parking lot was suspended.  It made me happy.

We’re all busy these days with all the things we’re busy with.  But I’m happy that so many of our fellow countrymen still feel the call of patriotism.  I’m hoping that our service people who are busy risking their lives taking care of us know just how many of us value their contributions.

God Bless America….

In 2010, 21 Phoenix-area children drowned.  So far this year, eight have lost their lives.

Each year, we hear of children drowning.  Most could have been prevented by closer supervision.   An article written for the Arizona Republic
tells some of these tragic stories:

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/05/29/20110529arizona-drownings-families-guilt.html

Drownings occur in pools, of course, but also in bathtubs and occasionally in toilets, or buckets where water has been left standing.  Some children are left near a pool in the care of an older child.  Some are left in the tub while their supervisor retrieves clothes or answers the
phone.  Others are awake when their caretaker is asleep.

Some children drown in pools with no fences.  Some drown in pools where there is a fence but the gate is propped open or broken or has an insufficient latch that allows a little one to drag a toy over so they can open the gate for themselves.

Some who drown have crawled through a doggie door.  Others have gone out with an adult who gets busy with a project and loses track of the little one.  One year-old baby girl, granddaughter of my friend, drowned in her other grandmother’s toilet while the grandmother was busy in another room.

If there is a pool on the property, a fence must be up with a working gate latch that will foil attempts by little hands to open.  Continue reading »

Just got this update from my loan officer friend, Steve Johnson.

FHA Mortgages Drop After Fee Hike

An increase in FHA fees is being blamed for a sharp drop in mortgage applications for home purchases last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Home purchase mortgage applications fell 13.6 percent last week, to their lowest point in nearly two months. Applications for government-backed mortgages for home purchases fell 26.6 percent in the wake of a 0.25 percentage point increase in the annual insurance premium charged for FHA loans.

The scheduled increase, which took effect Monday, April 18, raised the annual insurance premium on FHA mortgages to a maximum of 1.15 percent of the loan balance, up from 0.90 percent previously.

The weekly figures were also depressed by the Good Friday holiday, when markets were closed.

The sharp decline follows a four week period in which purchase applications had risen by 20 percent, likely due to FHA applicants trying to beat the deadline, according to Michael Frantantoni, MBA vice president of research.

Mortgage refinance activity was largely unchanged, declining 0.6 percent during a week in which mortgage rates eased slightly. Continue reading »