EBBY STILL PARTYING AT 99!

DALLAS (Dallas Morning News) – The buzz around town is not about the Mavericks or the Cowboys this week, but about local real estate legend Ebby Halliday and her 99th birthday.
Although her birthday is today, the celebration began Friday and will continue until tomorrow.
The founder of Ebby Halliday Realtors, which began in 1945 and is now a $4 billion business, wanted a low-key birthday, but Dallas did not think that was suitable.
The festivities began Friday night at the Dallas Mavericks game, where her favorite player, Dirk Nowitzki, presented her with an autographed team ball, and have continued on party buses, in church, at the Winspear Opera House and with lunch with T. Boone Pickens.
“If I live to be a hundred, and the celebration is any faster or more furious, I won’t be able to stand it,” Halliday said.

DALLAS (Dallas Business Journal) – By the end of 2009, 10.3 percent of Texas home loans were delinquent — up 0.5 percent from the third quarter — but the number of loans 30-60 days delinquent fell 11 basis points to 4.43 percent, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
A loan is considered delinquent if one or more payments are past due.
Nationally, the delinquency rate declined 17 basis points to 9.47 percent, and the rate for loans 30-60 days delinquent fell 46 basis points to 3.36 percent.
“This shows a significantly improved housing market, even from 90 days ago,” said Scott Norman, vice president of the Texas Mortgage Bankers Association.
The year concluded with 2 percent of Texas home loans in foreclosure, compared with 4.58 percent nationwide.

NEW YORK (New York Times) – April 5th will mark the beginning of a new program by the Obama administration intended to end the foreclosure crisis — one that will pay homeowners to sell their homes.
The program will allow owners to sell their homes for less than they owe and give them cash to expedite the process.
Hundreds of thousands of delinquent borrowers will be encouraged to sell their houses through short sales, in which properties are sold for less than the balance of the mortgage.
The new program will give the servicing bank $1,000, and another $1,000 may go toward a second loan, if one exists. The distressed homeowners will also receive $1,500 in relocation assistance.
Borrowers could suffer less damage to their credit ratings under the new program, and they will receive the lender’s assurance that they will not later be sued for an unpaid mortgage balance.

SEATTLE, March 2 /PRNewswire/ — The 30-year fixed mortgage rate on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace is currently 4.80 percent, down four basis points from 4.84 percent compared to this same time last week. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate peaked at 4.87 percent late last week before hovering below 4.80 percent over the weekend.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060503/ZILLOWLOGO)
Zillow’s real-time mortgage rates are based on thousands of custom mortgage quotes submitted daily to anonymous borrowers through the site, and reflect the most recent changes in the market. These are not marketing rates, or a weekly survey.
The rate for 15-year fixed home loans is currently 4.23 percent, while the rate for 5-1 adjustable-rate mortgages (ARM) is 3.57 percent.
The total volume of mortgage requests in the past week was unchanged from the prior week. Of last week’s requests, 32.2 percent were for refinance loans, 65.8 percent were for purchase loans and 2.0 percent were for home equity loans. The prior week, 30.2 percent of requests were for refinance loans, 67.7 percent were for purchase loans and 2.1 percent were for home equity loans.
Below are current rates for 30-year fixed mortgages by state. Additional states’ rates are available at: www.zillow.com/Mortgage_Rates.
State Current 30-Year Fixed Rate (3/2/10) Last week’s 30-Year Fixed Rate (2/23/10) Change in Basis Points
California Mortgage Rates
4.71% 4.82% -11
Colorado Mortgage Rates
4.88% 4.92% -4
Florida Mortgage Rates
4.79% 4.86% -7
Illinois Mortgage Rates
4.79% 4.85% -6
Massachusetts Mortgage Rates
4.90% 4.88% +2
New Jersey Mortgage Rates
4.86% 4.89% -3
New York Mortgage Rates
4.88% 5.00% -12
Pennsylvania Mortgage Rates
4.81% 4.78% +3
Texas Mortgage Rates
4.69% 4.82% -13
Washington Mortgage Rates
4.82% 4.89% -7

About Zillow Mortgage Marketplace
Zillow Mortgage Marketplace is a free, open, and transparent lending marketplace, where borrowers connect with lenders to find loans and get the best mortgage rates. Borrowers anonymously submit loan requests and receive an unlimited number of custom mortgage quotes with real rates directly from thousands of competing lenders. Zillow Mortgage Marketplace also provides mortgage calculators, mortgage advice, mortgage widgets, and lender directories.
Zillow.com and Zillow are registered trademarks of Zillow, Inc.
SOURCE Zillow.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Associated Press) – Homeowners have received another year to refinance their loans under the Home Affordable Refinance Program, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced yesterday.
The program, which was originally scheduled to end June 10 but now expires June 30, 2011, allows borrowers who owe up to 25 percent more than their homes are worth to refinance at lower interest rates.
The Treasury Department reports that, so far, the program has helped about 220,000 homeowners with loans owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, far less than the projected four to five million.