Hello Clients, Family & Friends.  First off, we hope you all are healthy and safe.  A home has a new meaning to most of us. We are here on the ground in the Keys if we can help you with anything if you are away.

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This successful Old Town Key West transient licensed vacation rental is located just steps off Duval Street! It's at the Southern end of Duval, in the Gallery District. Close to Key West shopping, restaurants and nightlife! This 4 bedroom property has 2 bedrooms and 2 baths in the main house. The great room, kitchen, bathrooms. large covered lanai and private salt water, heated pool are newly constructed. There are 2 guest suites, one poolside and one upstairs with private balcony. This arrangement is perfect for traveling with friends or family., There is room for 8 people to comfortably dine outside & a covered outdoor living space with large sofa, chairs & lounges for entertaining. Off street parking completes this highly desirable investment property. 

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By Kerry Smith

WASHINGTON (July 29, 2020) – Pending home sales continued to increase in June for two consecutive months of increases in contract activity, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). Each of the four major regions that make up the report saw growth in month-over-month pending home sales transactions, and pending sales in every area except the Northeast were higher in a year-to-year comparison.

The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), – a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings – rose 16.6% to 116.1 in June. Year-over-year, contract signings rose 6.3%. An index of 100 is the baseline – a number equal to the level of contract activity in 2001.

“It is quite surprising and remarkable that, in the midst of a global pandemic, contract activity for home purchases is higher compared to one year ago,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “Consumers are taking advantage of record-low mortgage rates resulting from the Federal Reserve’s maximum liquidity monetary policy.” © 2020 Florida Realtors®

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In June 2020, average mortgage interest rates fell below three percent for the 30-year-fixed-rate mortgage – the lowest level in modern recorded history, according to Mortgage News Daily. What caused such a dip?

A stock market sell-off sent investors to the relative safety of the bond market, wrote housing journalist Diana Olick. Mortgage rates loosely follow the yields on 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds. As more bonds were purchased, the yields went down, and mortgage rates followed. But that’s not all that happened.

Also in June, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Mortgage Credit Availability Index hit its lowest number since June 2014. The simple reason is that lenders don’t like uncertainty, so to secure those lower interest rates, borrowers are subjected to higher credit score qualifications (700 or higher per JP Morgan Chase), the temporary shelving of some loan programs (no new jumbo loans per Wells Fargo) and higher down payments (at least 20 percent). Other criteria lenders use to limit risk includes lower loan-to-value ratios and higher income-to-debt ratios from borrowers.

Yet, despite a rocky economy, June mortgage applications were up a whopping 13 percent over the previous year. Freddie Mac forecasts that interest rates will remain at or near record lows and that housing prices will moderate throughout 2021.

So, what does this mean to you, the homebuyer or homeowner? If you have good credit, steady employment, and a sizable down-payment, you’re in great shape to get or refinance a mortgage loan. In other words, nothing’s changed except tighter qualifications for higher-risk borrowers.