Hoffman Home Team’s Blog

The Hoffman Home Team in wanting to keep you informed is providing the following information. This information is courtesy of Cherry Creek Mortgage. For more information on Buying a home and the current interest rates Click Here or to recieve a FREE Market Valuation on your current Home Click Here or Call Us Directly at 303-539-5395. 

Existing Home Sales Rise 5.1% In February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.72 million units from a pace of 4.49 million units in January, but are 4.6 percent below the 4.95 million-unit level in February 2008. The national median existing-home price² for all housing types was $165,400 in February, down 15.5 percent from a year ago when the median was $195,800 and conditions were close to normal;Treasuries Little Changed as U.S. Announces Toxic Asset Plan. Two-year note yields rose for a third consecutive day as the Treasury prepared to sell $98 billion of securities this week: $40 billion of two-year notes tomorrow, $34 billion of five-year debt the following day and $24 billion of seven-year notes on March 26. This week’s auctions will exceed the $94 billion record the Treasury set for coupon-bearing securities in the week ended Feb. 27.  Emerging-market stocks climbed the most in almost two weeks on speculation U.S. efforts will pull the global economy out of recession. U.S. Treasury Announces $1 Trillion Toxic-Debt Plan that will deploy an array of tactics to remove the devalued loans and securities from banks’ balance sheets so they can start lending again and help resuscitate the economy. Because the program depends on private investors stepping up, it may be weeks or months before it’s clear whether the approach will work. The program has two parts. It will address both the legacy loans banks are holding on their balance sheets and the legacy securities backed by mortgage-related debt that is clogging the balance sheets of financial firms. Under the legacy-loan program, investment funds will be created to purchase pools of assets. Treasury will provide 50% of the equity capital for each fund while private managers retain control of asset management subject to FDIC oversight. Treasury said it will approve as many as five asset managers “with a demonstrated track record of purchasing legacy assets,” but it might consider adding more managers depending on the quality of applications received. To be pre-qualifed as a fund manager, the manager must submit an application to Treasury by April 10.  Banks will identify the assets they wish to sell. The FDIC will conduct an analysis to determine the amount of funding it is willing to guarantee. Leverage won’t exceed a 6-to-1 debt-to-equity ratio, said the Treasury Department. Meanwhile, the highest bidder will have access to the Public-Private Investment Program to fund 50% of the equity requirement of their purchase.Treasury’s Summary of Terms for PPIP Legacy Securities (Text). The following is a reformatted statement entitled “Legacy Securities Public-Private Investment Funds, Summary of Terms” released today by the U.S. Treasury about its Public-Private Investment Program.As It Starts Programs, Fed Weighs How to Stop Them. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told community bankers in Phoenix Friday that the central bank’s support would “taper off” once the economy and housing market recover. “We are very much aware that we don’t want to be in the credit markets forever,” he said. “We need to help them now, but we want to have an exit strategy, and allow those markets to recover and become again fully private sector.” Economic Calendar for upcoming releases: