Michael Haigh's (mhaigh) Blog

The first sign of mold you notice may be a musty smell in your home. After looking around, you spot what looks like mold -- don't panic! You can remove unhealthy mold from your house without it costing a small fortune. Check To Be Sure It's Really Mold Mold can look many different ways, which dep...

The Federal Reserve's statement after yesterday's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting left no doubt as to the Fed's dual commitment to keeping long term interest rates down and encouraging economic growth. No changes to the Fed's current bond-buying program were made during today's FOMC ...

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) released its NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index for March on Monday. The HMI measures builder confidence in the market for newly constructed single family homes. A reading of 50 for the NAHB Housing Market Index (HMI) indicates that more builder...

Staging is the art of preparing your San Carlos home for sale before showing it to prospective buyers. The point of staging is to highlight the house's strengths, downplay its weaknesses and make it more appealing. With the right decorating techniques, you can win buyers over the moment they step...

Last week's positive employment reports were good news for the economy, which typically causes mortgage rates to rise, but mortgage rates ended the week lower. As of Thursday, Freddie Mac reports that the average mortgage rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage was 3.63 percent with borrowers payi...

When you are looking to buy a home, it is important to keep in mind that no real estate price is set in stone. There is always room for negotiation, and with the right techniques you may end up saving thousands of dollars on your dream house. However, it can be tricky to get the right reaction wh...

Buying a foreclosed property in San Mateo and the surrounding area can be different than buying other types of real estate. In many cases you will be able to get a fantastic deal on a home, but you will need to go through quite a bit of work and negotiation. Here are four tips to help you navigat...

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) released minutes from its January meeting last Wednesday, as it generally does three weeks following the most recent meeting.   The FOMC is a committee within the Federal Reserve System tasked with overseeing the purchase and sale of US Treasury securities...

This week, however, will be packed with economic reports which may have an impact on interest rates going forward. Freddie Mac reported that the average rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage rose by 3 basis points from 3.53 percent to 3.56 percent with borrowers paying 0.8 in discount points and...

Have you heard the term Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) when looking to finance real estate? You may be wondering what PMI is and how you know when you need to purchase it. These answers can be hard to find among all the real estate jargon you might be hearing lately. Below is the short version ...