As a result of the Fed’s actions this morning announcing they will purchase mortgage back securities (highlighted in red below), interest rates have dropped significantly, putting a 30 year conforming fixed rate mortgage in the 5.75% range!!
WASHINGTON (AP) – “The Federal Reserve said Tuesday it will buy up to $600 billion in mortgage-backed assets in another attempt to deal with the financial crisis.
The Fed said it will purchase up to $100 billion in direct obligations from mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as the Federal Home Loan Banks. It also will purchase another $500 billion in mortgage-backed securities, pools of mortgages that are bundled together and sold to investors.”
(Harker Heights) Eva Keagle of ERA Colonial Real Estate was named one of America’s top real estate professionals by REAL Trends. She is now a member of “The Real Estate Top 200,” a prestigious national awards ranking sponsored annually by The Wall Street Journal, lore magazine and REAL Trends. Keagle is now ranked in the top 1 percent of the more than 1.2 million REALTORS® nationwide.
The Real Estate Top 200 rankings were announced this month at the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®’ Annual Conference and Expo in Orlando at a gala awards presentation and dinner.
The Real Estate Top 200 honored the top 50 residential agents and agent teams in four categories:
- Individual Sales Professionals – Sales volume
- Individual Sales Professionals – Transaction sides (in each real estate transaction, there are two sides that can be represented by a real estate agent: a buyer’s and a seller’s.)
- Team Professionals – Sales Volume
- Team Professionals – Transaction sides
According to The Real Estate Top 200, Keagle had transaction sides totaling 172 ranking her 47th in the nation in 2007.
“The old saying, ‘the best keep getting better,’ certainly pertains to Keagle’s award-winning productivity and sales in 2007,” said Anne Randolph, publisher of lore Magazine.
“Being named to The Real Estate Top 200 is truly an honor and it is our pleasure to have the opportunity to recognize Eva Keagle’s efforts, which exceeded 99.9 percent of the more than 1.2 million REALTORS nationwide,” said Marti Gallardo, vice president of classified advertising for The Wall Street Journal.
About ERA Colonial Real Estate, Inc.
The top ERA Franchisee in Texas and a National Top 10 Company, ERA Colonial Real Estate is celebrating its TWENTY FIRST year in the Central Texas real estate market. ERA Colonial Real Estate serves Central and South Texas as well as the Texas Hill Country from its Sales Centers in San Antonio, Georgetown, Austin Lakeway and Harker Heights. Since joining the ERA system in 1997, the company has grown from $42,000,000 in sales volume with one office to its current production of over $270,000,000. ERA COLONIAL REAL ESTATE was named as ERA Franchise Systems, Top Overall Real Estate Company in 2004, was a top five finalist for the award in 2007 and has won National Acclaim for Real Estate Sales Training Innovations via its Career Institute. ERA Colonial Real Estate offers its services with 70 highly trained, professional sales associates in the vibrant Heart of Central and South Texas. The company’s top sales associate, Eva Keagle (Harker Heights) has won the ERA Franchise Systems National Service award an unprecedented two consecutive years and was the Franchise’s Top Overall (National) Sales Associate for 2006 and 2007.
About The Real Estate Top 200
The Real Estate Top 200 awards program was developed jointly by The Wall Street Journal’s Business Development Group and REAL Trends, a leading source of analysis and information for the residential real estate brokerage industry, and lore magazine, the “people” magazine for the industry. The Real Estate Top 200 honors America’s elite real estate agents and their companies and is compiled and analyzed by REAL Trends. Winners were published in a special advertising supplement of The Wall Street Journal, lore magazine and on www.loremagazine.com.
AUSTIN (Business Wire) – According to a recent survey by QuantumDigital, real estate professionals are hooked on social networking websites.
A whopping 67 percent of the real estate professionals who responded to QuantumDigital's survey said they are part of an online social network — Facebook and LinkedIn being the two most popular.
The survey was sent to 10,000 industry professionals. Among other findings:
Direct mail, newsprint, e-mail and online marketing are the defacto marketing channels for real estate professionals.
On average, agents and brokers typically spend 10 percent of their gross commissionable income a year on marketing, 4 percent of which is allocated to direct mail and 6 percent to online or e-mail channels.
Sphere of influence is still the number one way to get new business.
E-mail is used for customer retention and follow-up, while direct mail and online marketing are used for customer acquisition.
Realtor.com, Craigslist and corporate websites are the three most popular listing sites.
For the full list of top ten findings and additional information, click here.
WASHINGTON (Austin American-Statesman) – Rates on 30-year mortgages dropped sharply this week, falling to the lowest level in five weeks.
Mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.04 percent this week, down from 6.46 percent last week. The decline pushed 30-year rates down to the lowest level since they stood at 5.78 percent the week of Sept. 18.
Analysts attributed the decrease to an easing of inflation concerns, which now have been replaced with rising worries that the country could be headed for a prolonged recession.
SAN ANTONIO (San Antonio Express-News) – Texas added 693 megawatts of wind capacity in the July–September period, bringing the state’s total wind capacity to 6,000 megawatts.
With these additional megawatts, the Lone Star State has more wind energy capacity than Germany, India and Spain, according to the American Wind Energy Association.
In July, the Texas Public Utility Commission approved a plan to build almost $5 billion worth of transmission lines to transport wind power from West Texas and the Panhandle to big Texas cities. The new lines should be in service in four to five years.
One megawatt can power 200 homes in Texas during hot weather when air conditioners are running.
The plan will allow 18,456 megawatts to reach and power 3.7 million homes on the hottest days of the year and over 11 million homes in cooler weather.
FED to Buy Up to $600 Billion in Mortgage-Backed Assets
