Michael Haigh's (mhaigh) Blog

It can be very difficult to determine what your property is worth in the current marketplace, because you are biased by what the property is worth to you. These emotions can get in the way of impartially evaluating a property and often cause sellers to overprice their home. When pricing your prop...

Last week was jam-packed with economic news; here are some highlights with emphasis on housing and mortgage related news: Monday: Retail sales for April increased to -0.1 percent from the March reading of -0.5 percent and also surpassed Wall Street's downward forecast of -0.6 percent. Retail sale...

Going green is not just a new trend; it is a way of life that benefits not only the environment, but also your health — and your pocketbook. Green living cuts down on carbon emissions and creates a healthier environment both inside and outside of a home. While green structures sometimes cost more...

Home builders are gaining confidence in current and future market conditions for new homes, but continue to see below-average foot traffic in new homes. The reading for May's National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) /Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) increased by three points to a readin...

Everyone knows that first impressions are important. By carefully staging your home, you can positively influence the feelings your potential buyers have when they are viewing the property. Staging is the art of decorating and arranging the spaces within your house to make it more appealing to bu...

When deciding to sell a piece of Burlingame real estate, there are certain things you must disclose about the property to the buyer before the sale can go through. Disclosure laws are put in place to protect the buyer from unknowingly purchasing defective property. Not disclosing certain informa...

  Mortgage rates rose last week with average rates a 30-year fixed rate mortgage rising from last week's 3.35 percent to 3.42 percent with buyers paying all closing costs and 0.7 percent in discount points. Average rates for a 15-year fixed rate mortgage rose from 2.56 percent to 2.61 percent wit...

RealtyTrac recently reported that national foreclosure filings are down while foreclosure filings are seeing marked increases in some states. There are two systems for foreclosing residential real estate in the United States; judicial and non-judicial foreclosure. The states individually decide w...

The American Tax Payer Relief Act of 2012, passed early this year, re-instated a law enabling U.S. homeowners to deduct their annual mortgage insurance premiums from their taxes. The law expired in 2011, but with the Tax Payer Relief Act, Congress extended the deduction for 2012 and 2013. In addi...

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly Non-farm Payrolls and National Unemployment Rate for April last Friday. These two reports are collectively called the Jobs Report. 165,000 jobs were added in April, while the unemployment rate dropped from 7.60 percent in March to 7.50 percent i...