Morning Briefing: Mortgage applications decline

Mortgage applications decline… Dr Disgusting lists Laguna Beach home… Buyers resort to desperate tactics to snag home…

Mortgage applications decline
Mortgage applications were lower in the week ending Sept. 25 compared to a week earlier. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey showed that the seasonally adjusted index decreased 6.7 per cent and on an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 7 per. The Refinance Index decreased 8 per cent; both the seasonally adjusted and unadjusted Purchase Indexes decreased 6 per cent.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 58.0 per cent of total applications from 58.4 per cent the previous week; ARM share remained unchanged at 6.9 per cent of total applications; FHA share increased to 13.8 per cent from 12.9 per cent the week prior; VA share increased to 10.3 per cent from 10.0 per cent the week prior; and the USDA share of total applications remained unchanged at 0.7 per cent.
 
Dr Disgusting lists Laguna Beach home
The gastroenterologist known to CBS viewers as Dr Disgusting has listed his Laguna Beach home. The OC Register reports that Dr. Jorge E. Rodriguez’s hillside home with three en-suite bedrooms has been his main home since 1995 when he bought it for $560,000. It’s listed at $2.64 million. The medic says he prefers his new way of living, in a high-rise condo in LA.
 
Buyers resort to desperate tactics to snag home
Around a dozen homebuyers were so desperate to buy a new home in North Texas that they camped out overnight to be first in line. The Collin County model home park in McKinney was the setting for the unusual behavior and is an indication of the heat in the area’s housing market. “It’s getting scary,” Dr. James Gaines, chief economist of the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University told The Dallas Morning News “If people are camping overnight to buy houses, that does not sound good.” Low supply and high demand are driving up prices which increased almost 9 per cent in the year to July 2015. The homes that prompted people to sleep in tents to buy are valued at around $315,000, above the area’s median $285,000.