Mortgage Loans

Mortgage Loans

Free First Time Home Buyer Seminar – February 23, 2008 at 10:00 AM

John Thomas February 7, 2008

There will be a Free First Time Home Buyer Seminar on Saturday, February 23, 2008, at 10:00 AM. The seminar will last about 2 hours and each participant will be able to receive a free copy of their tri-merge credit report. The seminar will cover all of the basics of buying a new home in Delaware. The seminar will cover Delaware FHA loans, Delaware VA loans, My Community loans, and First Time Home Buyer Loan Programs.  Each participant will receive a Free Audio CD on Credit Scoring, Credit Scoring Handbook, Homebuying Handbook, and an opportunity to meet with a mortgage planner to be pre-approved to buy a home at the seminar. Keep Reading...

New Castle County, Delaware Sewer Bills are Due By the end of February

John Thomas February 7, 2008

New Castle County has sent out the sewer bills and the first thing you will notice is that they are considerably higher than they were last year. Why? Because New Castle County needs to pay for its inflated government jobs and its very liberal pension plan that we flip the bill for. Oh yeah, they also raised your property tax and will do so again next year. Way to go Chris Coons.

New Castle County calculates your sewer charges based on water usage data provided by your water supplier. Four quarterly readings are compared – usually, those from the fourth quarter of 2006 and the first three-quarters of 2007. New Castle County uses the two-quarters of lowest consumption, adds them together and doubles this sum to create an annual billing consumption. Keep Reading...

Prevent Costly Delaware Homeowner’s Insurance Claims

John Thomas January 20, 2008

Surprisingly, most homeowner’s insurance claims are not made because of fires, storms, or other news-worthy natural disasters. Instead, the culprit is almost always a small maintenance problem that is neglected or ignored until it grows into a large and costly repair.

That is why preventative maintenance is one of the best investments that a Delaware Homeowner can make.  If you spend a little money now to look after a leaky toilet, which might take an hour or so, you could prevent serious and expensive damage to floors and walls, which might take days to clean up and repair. Keep Reading...

Free Budgeting Seminar – February 6th at 6:30 PM

John Thomas January 20, 2008

There will be a Free Budgeting Seminar on February 6, 2008, from 6:30 PM till 8:00 PM at the Citizens Lending Group’s Office in Newark, Delaware.  The seminar will cover the basics of making a household budget, how to track daily, weekly, and yearly expenses, and how to use your budget as part of an overall financial plan. Each participant will receive a free Excel Budget Calculator.

To register for the Seminar, please call 302-368-7132 Ext. 12 and ask for John Thomas.

If you would like to apply for a Mortgage Loan, you can APPLY ONLINE HERE, you can call John Thomas at 302-703-0727. Keep Reading...

Delaware Mortgage Loans – Market Update – January 16, 2008

John Thomas January 16, 2008

Delaware Mortgage Rate Update – January 16, 2008

Bonds are trading worse today as traders take a profit. The reading on inflation was not good, so this gives the Feds a reason to only drop the Fed Funds rate 0.25% instead of the anticipated 0.50%. A cut of 0.5% is already priced into the mortgage market so if it is cut only 0.25% then the rates will get worse.

The Consumer Price Index which is a very good measure of inflation has been trending higher for the last 3 months and came in higher today.  The Feds have another report coming out at 2:00 PM today which is a read on the current economic conditions in the market place. Keep Reading...

How to Disaster Proof Your Finances

John Thomas January 16, 2008

You can’t always avoid natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, or hurricanes, but you can minimize their impact on your finances. Do you have a plan for how you would cope if a hurricane like Katrina or Floyd or some other potentially devastating event even the loss of a job hit you?

Have a Plan

Think about. What are the disasters that could most likely affect you and your finances?  Now, imagine that a disaster did happen.  What would you want to have taken care of ahead of time? Begin to do those things. Take care of yourself, your loved ones, and your property first; prepare a survival plan; maybe stock up on clean water, flashlights, batteries, an emergency kit, and canned goods.  But beyond these steps, it also critically important to set up a good practical financial plan. Keep Reading...

Delaware Mortgage Loans – Weekly Mortgage Market Update – January 14, 2008

John Thomas January 14, 2008

“If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute”…That’s a saying heard often in places where the weather can turn on a dime, making it very difficult to forecast. And while the weather patterns can change direction quickly, the recent movement of stocks and bonds rivals the rides at an amusement park.


“Turbulent” and “volatile” best describe the action in the markets. Stocks and bonds have had wild swings of late as the possibility of a recession loom. The Federal Reserve is concerned about a recession but doesn’t want to cut rates too deeply because it may stoke the flames of inflation. Keep Reading...

Doug MacGray’s Weekly Financial Update – Week of January 14, 2008

John Thomas January 14, 2008

SLOPPY FOURTH QUARTER;  According to Morningstar,  the average returns by mutual fund category for the fourth quarter of 2007 were:

  1. taxable bonds:  +1.3%
  2. municipal bonds:  +0.5%
  3. international stocks: -0.8%
  4. U. S. stocks:  -2.8%
SLOPPY WEEK:  For the week, the Dow declined -1.5%, the S&P 500 -0.75%, Nasdaq -2.6%, and the Russell 2000 -2.4%. Year-to-date, the Dow is now down -4.9%, the S&P 500 -4.6%, Nasdaq -8.0%, and the Russell 2000 -8.0%. GROWING RETIREMENT ASSETS: According to a recent study by the Investment Company Institute, total U.S. retirement assets climbed to $17.4 trillion at the end of the second quarter of 2007, up from $16.7 trillion at the end of the first quarter of 2007. Retirement savings account for almost 40 percent of all household financial assets in the U.S. IRAs held $4.6 trillion at the end of the second quarter of this year, up from $4.4 trillion at the end of the first quarter. Mutual funds manage 47 percent of IRA assets. Americans held $4.4 trillion in all employer-based defined contribution retirement plans, of which $3.0 trillion was held in 401(k) plans. Those figures are up from $4.2 trillion and $2.8 trillion, respectively. LONG TERM CARE COSTS:  If you wonder what the costs of long term care are in your area (they vary wildly), check this website:  

https://www.ltcfeds.com/ltcWeb/do/assessing_your_needs/costofcare?action=costofcare Keep Reading...