When it comes to Costa Mesa home loans, Ellie Mae has the inside scoop.

“Ellie” is a tech company that provides automation software to a large chunk of the mortgage finance industry, including Costa Mesa lenders. Since more than a third of all U.S. home loans flow through its systems, Ellie Mae gets a first-hand look at what’s going on in residential home sales and financing. Up there from its perch on the electronic balcony, it gets a very accurate picture of the action in real time.

Ellie issued a news release last Wednesday that contained some interesting tidbits that might benefit Costa Mesa homeowners or about-to-be homeowners. These releases are timely glimpses of the tides of U.S. home loan trends and specifics of what’s being…

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 Last Wednesday and Thursday’s stock market nosedive had analysts debating whether the Fed’s hike in interest rates was to blame. Since Costa Mesa mortgage rates are likely to also be affected, local selling-minded homeowners might well have begun to wonder whether we are headed into a less-than-favorable selling environment.

If so, would listing your home now make sense? Would holding out until lower Costa Mesa mortgage rates reappear be worth the wait? The benefit to potential buyers would be immediate: more affordable monthly payments for the same asking price.

Ultimately, the answer to that timing question will always be uncertain, but one clue can be found in the history of mortgage rates in recent decades. According to the Freddie…

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When it comes to selling your Costa Mesa home, kitchens get the Grand Prize for being the room that gets the most attention. But it’s increasingly possible for bathrooms to give them a run for the money.

Kitchens take first place because so much of a typical Costa Mesa family’s “together” time is spent there. Preparing and serving meals is, for most of us, a positive part of the day we look forward to. As a result, the quality and practical layout of a kitchen get a lot thorough going-over during showings and open houses. It’s amazing how frequently prospective buyers stop to chat with the showing agent right there in the kitchen. People just like kitchens—so having one that’s especially appealing is an indisputable plus for selling any Costa Mesa…

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By last Friday, anyone planning Costa Mesa real estate dealings would have been following the week’s developments on the mortgage interest rate front. Since Costa Mesa’s mortgage interest rates are the most volatile factor influencing affordability, changes can have large consequences.

The key information source in that arena is the Mortgage News Daily, a must-read for industry insiders. As soon as Wednesday’s big news broke—the Federal Reserve’s decision to hike its benchmark interest rate—it made for interesting reading.

If the Fed’s morning announcement had most everyone expecting a quick move to higher Costa Mesa mortgage rates, by noon MND readers would have been less certain. By Wednesday afternoon its lead headline was “Mortgage…

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Throughout the country, spring and summer are when the most serious house hunting takes place. Springtime is, after all, the season when it just feels right to undertake major initiatives—and buying Costa Mesa homes certainly falls into that category.  

But if your own school or work calendar doesn’t dictate the timing, there are some good reasons why putting it off until next year may not be in your best interest. Here are four worth considering:

  1.       Wealth-building. If you are now renting, the sooner a portion of your monthly housing spend begins to go toward building equity for your own account, the better. All those TV commercials about starting early to save for retirement are reminders of the same immutable truth.
  2.       Home…

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