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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 a 15-year fixed home loan is currently 4.07%, while the rate for a 5-1 adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) is 3.48%.

The answer depends on each person’s financial situation. A mortgage can actually be a blessing to some.

For example, mortgage interest is tax-deductible. This deduction saves taxpayers about $103 billion a year, according to the U.S. Treasury. The benefit is less to owners of low- to moderate-valued homes who may not have much interest or enough to claim it by itemizing deductions. But for families with a higher net worth, it allows a tax savings and may encourage them to buy larger homes.

With tax brackets for the wealthy rising next year, this tax break becomes more valuable. When the break is included, a 6% mortgage could have a rate closer to 4% in reality. Calculate your mortgage’s effective rate by subtracting your tax rate from 100 and multiplying that number by the interest rate. For example, a 28% tax bracket with a 6% mortgage would result in (.06 x 72) to equal the equivalent of a 4.32% mortgage rate after considering tax savings if itemized. That helps the interest look less daunting.

In addition, with the possibility of investing with a goal of a 5 or 6% return, instead of putting that money into a mortgage, the homeowner could get a return higher than the effective rate, which could help grow net worth. On the other hand, if the effective rate is higher, it may make sense to pay down the mortgage.

Another situation that makes paying off a mortgage attractive is for someone at risk of bankruptcy. Many states offer protection from creditors seizing a home to pay debts. If a home is paid in full, it is more likely the owner could stay in it if he goes broke, providing he can pay for the upkeep.

Money taken out for a mortgage also could reduce net worth later in life. The potential for higher investment returns are gone; that money will not be able to grow if investments grow over the long term. Not to mention having too much invested in a house. That could be detrimental at retirement. While we can get a loan for a house, there are no loans to finance retirement.

(c) 2010, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

The government-controlled mortgage giant said that it would instruct the companies servicing its loans to recommend when it should pursue a so-called deficiency judgment—a court order requiring a defaulting borrower to pay any remaining unpaid portion of the loan after a seized home is sold.

Lenders rarely employ court proceedings to pursue foreclosures in California, nearly always opting instead for a streamlined procedure involving a trustee’s sale of the home. Under state law, lenders who opt for court proceedings can obtain a deficiency judgment if the mortgage was used to refinance a home, but not if it was used to finance a purchase.

“It’s not a hollow threat,” said Alex Creel, chief Sacramento lobbyist for the California Association of Realtors, which has called for legislation that would ban deficiency judgments in many cases of refinanced mortgages.

Fannie Mae also said it would make new mortgages harder to obtain for borrowers if it can be proved that they engaged in a “strategic default”—abandoning a home to foreclosure not because the required payments are unaffordable but because the mortgage is larger than the value of the residence. For such a borrower, Fannie said it would not buy or guarantee another home loan for seven years.

Borrowers who worked in good faith with their loan servicers to try to stay in their homes would be barred from Fannie loans for only two or three years, even if they eventually lost their homes after attempts at loan modifications failed.

The ban on getting a new Fannie loan is significant because home buyers have little choice these days for financing except for mortgages bought or backed by Fannie, its sister company Freddie Mac or the Federal Housing Administration. The three government-run entities financed 95% of new U.S. home loans last year.

Freddie Mac, which already blacklists strategic defaulters for five years, said it would study Fannie’s changes and “consider additional changes to our polices as needed to responsibly manage risks.”

Borrowers who default on FHA loans for any reason currently can’t get another loan insured by the agency for three years. Legislation pending in Congress would impose a lifetime ban on FHA loans to borrowers determined to have made a strategic default.

Fannie Mae’s get-tough policy on so-called walkaways is the latest fallout from the housing meltdown, which has eroded the once widely held belief in homeownership as the path to household wealth.

Foreclosures continue at a rate of 2.5 million a year, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairwoman Sheila Bair said, and some 11 million households owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth.

Fannie Mae’s new policies are designed to prod borrowers into pursuing alternatives to foreclosure, including short sales—transactions in which lenders allow a home to be sold and cancel the debt while accepting less than full payoff of the mortgage.

Borrowers who are slightly underwater—owing just a little more than their homes are worth—are unlikely to stop paying their mortgages if they have the resources, according to studies by research firm CoreLogic. But if the home’s value is at least 25% less than the loan amount, borrowers are far more likely to walk away.

Last March, 31% of foreclosures were described as strategic by the borrowers themselves, compared with 22% in March 2009, researchers at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University reported.

(c) 2010, Los Angeles Times.

On the other hand, a lot of what’s going on is really “greenwashing,” where any excuse to label something environmentally friendly leads to marketing claims that are standing on some very thin ice. Seriously, other than its color, how green can an automobile really be? How about chemical cleaners or genetically engineered foods? These products are stretching the use of the term beyond any sensible meaning.

The good news is that in the construction and renovation of America’s housing, we can incorporate materials, designs and practices that make a significant contribution to sustainability and protecting our environment. And, to support this effort, there’s been a lot of momentum created through the efforts of the U.S Green Building Council’s LEED program, the National Association of Home Builders Green Building Program, the Energy Star program and many others. Those in the business of building and remodeling homes as well as those buying and owning homes have become more aware and more committed to this cause.

The great news is that one of the most important keys to successfully greening America’s current stock of housing can be found in using the 203k loan, and along with it, the Energy Efficient Mortgage. The 203k really is the “Green Mortgage” since it offers a practical, cost-effective solution to providing funds for these improvements.

The 203k allows homeowners to amortize the cost of improvements that provide long-term cost savings over the life of the mortgage, enjoying the benefits of a lower interest rate than a short-term financing option would offer. Using an Energy Efficient Mortgage, these improvements can be added to a 203k loan, allowing homeowners to exceed the FHA loan limit total by the approved energy efficient costs. For many, this offers an opportunity to not only offset the cost of these improvements with utility savings, but even an overall reduced cost of homeownership. And in the process, we’re helping reduce America’s energy dependence.

As the emphasis on preserving our environment and natural resources continues, it makes sense for us to do our best to help more Americans not only make their homeownership dreams come true – but with the power of the 203k, also turn those dreams truly “green.”

Here are the top 10 things you should know about the financial regulations bill.

1. End of too-big-to fail: If a big financial firm is failing, it will have only one fate: liquidation. There will be no taxpayer funded bailout. Instead, regulators will have the ability to shut down and break apart failing financial firms in a safe, orderly way – without putting the rest of the financial system at risk, and without asking taxpayers to pay a dime.

2. Close loopholes in regulation of major financial firms: Loopholes that allowed firms like Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and AIG to operate without tough standards or oversight were major contributors to the financial crisis. Regulatory reform will close these loopholes, and create accountable regulation for all firms that pose the most risk to the financial system. It will end the ability of financial firms to avoid tough standards by manipulating their legal structure.

3. Bring transparency to hedge funds: Financial reform will require advisers to hedge funds to register with the SEC for the first time, bringing transparency and oversight to these unregulated financial firms.

4. Constrain the size of the largest firms: Financial reform will prevent any financial firm from growing by acquisition to more than 10% of the liabilities in the financial system. This will reduce the adverse effects of the failure of any single firm and prevent the further concentration of our financial system.

5. Reform executive pay and strengthen shareholder protections: Financial reform will give shareholders a say in the compensation of senior executives at the companies they own, and require that the compensation committees of corporate boards are independent.

6. Separate banking and speculative trading – the Volcker Rule: Financial reform will protect taxpayers and depositors by separating risky, speculative “proprietary trading” from the business of banking.

7. Strongest consumer protections ever: Instead of seven federal agencies with only partial responsibilities for consumer protection, there will be one agency with the sole responsibility of establishing clear rules of the road for banks, mortgage companies, payday lenders, credit card lenders and other financial service firms and for enforcing these rules. From now on, every consumer will be empowered with the clear and concise information they need to make financial decisions that are best for them.

8. Crack down on the abuses in the mortgage markets at the center of the crisis: Financial reform will ban abusive practices in the mortgage markets, like those where brokers got paid more to put families into higher priced loans than those they qualified for, and require mortgage brokers and banks to consider a family’s ability to repay when making a loan. The reforms will also require lenders and Wall Street loan packagers to keep skin in the game when selling off loans to investors and make full disclosure so investors know what’s in those packages. Reforms of credit rating agencies will help make sure investors do not rely unwisely on their ratings on these packages.

9. Safer, more transparent derivatives market to help Main Street businesses: By bringing the derivatives markets out of the shadows, reform will benefit those businesses that use derivatives to manage their commercial risks. Reform will benefit Main Street companies at the expense of Wall Street’s hidden fees. That’s good for every farmer and every manufacturer that uses derivatives the way they were meant to be used. Derivatives reform also means the taxpayer won’t be on the hook for reckless risks of an AIG.

10. Support long term job growth by helping prevent future crises: By making the financial system safer and stronger, reform will reduce the chances that a financial crisis deprives businesses of the credit they need to grow and to create jobs. Financial reform will ensure businesses a more stable and predictable source of credit through the business cycle and reduce the risk of a sharp and sudden cut-off because of financial panic.

RISMEDIA, June 14, 2010—(MCT)—The U.S. economy is in a moderate recovery and should continue growing through next year, but the unemployment rate is expected to remain higher than usual, and it will take “a significant amount of time” to replace the jobs that have been lost in the recession, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said recently.

In testimony before the House Budget Committee, Bernanke offered a mix of optimism and reality check. He pointed to numerous signs of improvement in the economy, but cautioned that improvement in the vital housing sector has been shallow and remains vulnerable.

The Fed’s release of the Beige Book, a survey of economic conditions conducted by its district banks, later confirmed Bernanke’s views. The survey found all 12 Fed districts reporting economic growth, the first time that’s happened since a deep recession began in December 2007.

Private forecasters shared Bernanke’s growing optimism.

Mark Zandi, the chief economist for Moody’s Analytics, recently released a report on economic conditions in the nation’s largest metropolitan areas that was encouraging.

“The economic expansion is broadening out across the country, with nearly two-thirds of the nation’s metro areas now out of recession,” Zandi told McClatchy Newspapers. “The strongest areas are mostly in the South and Midwest, as the economy is benefiting from the strong turn in manufacturing activity, a solid farm economy and more stable housing markets.”

In another positive sign, the Labor Department reported that job openings leapt in April to their highest level in 16 months, signaling that the private sector is ripe for a return to hiring.

“We’re still expecting that the job machine gets cranked up and pushes the unemployment rate a few tenths of a percentage point lower by the end of the year,” said Chris Varvares, the president of Macroeconomic Advisers LLC, the influential St. Louis forecaster. The firm expects 3.7% growth this year and unemployment, now at 9.7%, to dip to the low 8% range next year.

The Fed expects the economy to grow in the range of 3.5% this year, Bernanke said, and faster next year as stimulus spending by the government gives way to business and consumer demand for goods and services.

“This pace of growth, were it to be realized, would probably be associated with only a slow reduction in the unemployment rate over time. In this environment, inflation is likely to remain subdued,” Bernanke said. He later added, “In all likelihood, however, a significant amount of time will be required to restore the nearly 8.5 million jobs that were lost over 2008 and 2009.”

The economy has been growing steadily, and the nation has added jobs in five of the last six months. There also have been less publicized improvements. “Real consumer spending has risen at an annual rate of nearly 3½% so far this year, with particular strength in the highly cyclical category of durable goods,” Bernanke testified. “Consumer spending is likely to increase at a moderate pace going forward, supported by a gradual pickup in employment and income, greater consumer confidence and some improvement in credit conditions.” That’s all likely to increase the demand for goods and services, fueling further economic growth in what economists call a virtuous cycle, he suggested.

“Looking forward, investment in new equipment and software is expected to be supported by healthy corporate balance sheets, relatively low costs of financing of new projects, increased confidence in the durability of the recovery, and the need of many businesses to replace aging equipment and expand capacity as sales prospects brighten,” Bernanke said. “More generally, U.S. manufacturing output, which has benefited from strong export demand, rose at an annual rate of 9% over the first four months of the year.”

For all the positive signs, however, a dark cloud remains over the real estate and construction industries. The temporary boost from a home buyer tax credit is likely to fade now that the April 15 deadline for the program has passed.

The Fed chairman said that “looking through these temporary movements, underlying housing activity appears to have firmed only a little since mid-2009, with activity being weighed down, in part, by a large inventory of distressed or vacant existing houses and by the difficulties of many builders in obtaining credit.”

As if to cement that point, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that mortgage applications fell last week to their lowest level since 1997. It was a clear sign that the expiration of tax credits reduced incentives for home sales.

Things aren’t much better in commercial real estate, Bernanke suggested, as spending on nonresidential buildings has been curtailed because of high vacancy rates, low property prices and difficulty in obtaining loans.

“Meanwhile, pressures on state and local budgets, though tempered somewhat by ongoing federal support, have led these governments to make further cuts in employment and construction spending,” he said.

Bernanke expressed confidence that the growing debt crisis in Europe won’t slow growth in the United States and pitch the economy back into recession, suggesting that events in Europe will have only a modest impact so long as the U.S. economy continues to grow.

Mounting government and private-sector debt in Europe has led to concerns of default in several European Union countries, and, given the swelling U.S. federal budget deficit, Bernanke warned lawmakers to get U.S. borrowing under control.

Once economic conditions have returned to normal, Congress and the president must address the structural problems in the nation’s health and welfare programs as baby boomers, the 75 million Americans born from 1946 to 1964, enter retirement and strain government programs, Bernanke said.

The Fed chief also took a victory lap of sorts. When House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt, D-S.C., asked him whether he thought that unpopular government spending and bailout programs helped speed a turnaround, Bernanke said, “Yes, Mr. Chairman, I do.”

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator, rose 6.0% to 110.9 based on contracts signed in April, from an upwardly revised 104.6 in March, and is 22.4% higher than April 2009 when it was 90.6. That follows gains of 7.1% in March and 8.3% in February.

Pending home sales are at the highest level since last October when the index reached 112.4 and first-time buyers were rushing to beat the initial deadline for the tax credit. The data reflects contracts and not closings, which usually occur with a lag time of one or two months.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said this second round of surging sales from the tax credit extension looks as strong as the original tax credit. “There were concerns that only a small pool of buyers were left to take advantage of the tax credit extension. But evidently the tax stimulus, combined with improved consumer confidence and low mortgage interest rates, are contributing to surging sales,” he said. “The housing market has to get back on its own feet and now appears to be in a good position to return to sustainable levels even without government stimulus, provided the economy continues to add jobs.” NAR expects a net of 1 million additional jobs in the second half of this year and about 2 million in 2011.

“The home buyer tax credit brought close to 1 million additional buyers into the market, which is now helping the trade-up market and has significantly improved the inventory situation. This stabilized home prices more quickly and has preserved about $900 billion in home equity; in turn, that is keeping additional households from going underwater and risking foreclosure,” Yun said.

The PHSI in the Northeast jumped 29.5% to 97.9 in April and is 24.5% above a year ago. In the Midwest the index rose 4.1% to 104.2 and is 17.9% above April 2009. Pending home sales in the South slipped 0.6% to an index of 123.9, but is 31.3% higher than a year ago. In the West the index rose 7.5% to 107.9 and is 12.0% higher than April 2009.

“A big concern surfacing recently is insufficient time to close the deal at the settlement table. Under normal circumstances, two months would be enough time from contract signing to settlement date,” Yun said. “However, the recent housing cycle has brought long delays related to the short sales approval process by banks, and from ongoing appraisal issues. There could be a sizable number of home buyers who responded to tax credit incentives, but may encounter problems meeting the settlement deadline by June 30.” Because of these market challenges, NAR has asked Congress to provide flexibility on the deadline for closing.

RISMEDIA, June 3, 2010—The continuing trend of fusing indoor and outdoor spaces reflects the consumer’s holistic approach to home. Here are a few ideas from Lowe’s to help your customers create a great al fresco experience:

Setting the Scene
Create a space that welcomes guests—day and night—with these four key elements:

1. Gazebo: This sleek structure provides a contemporary aesthetic, while the rust-free aluminum frame and water-repellent canopy make it durable enough for year-round use. Here, the gazebo is set over a deck surrounded by pavers and pea gravel.

2. Dining Set: The clean lines of the dining table  continue the modern feel of the space. The set features a rust-free aluminum frame with a natural, wood-grain look and durable cushion fabrics.

3. Patio Set: A small table and a pair of comfortable chairs are all you need for sipping a summer drink and catching up with an old friend. This wicker bistro set  features natural-colored cushions and tropical-patterned pillows.

4. Chandelier in the Gazebo: Cast a soft, intimate glow on the dining table with a candlelit chandelier.