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➽ Open House This Sunday!
34 Carew Terrace, Springfield, MA 01104-
Beautiful home – 3 BR Colonial on terrific park like street.
Come on by to check it out and MAKE an OFFER!
If you need to be Pre-Qualified, give us a call now!
(413) 736-0062
A leap year consists of 366 days, as opposed to a common year, which has 365 days. During Leap Years, we add a Leap Day, an extra – or intercalary – day on February 29. Nearly every 4 years is a Leap Year in our modern Gregorian Calender. Why do we need Leap Years?
Leap Years are needed to keep our calendar in alignment with the Earth’s revolutions around the sun. It takes the Earth approximately 365.242199 days – or 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds (a tropical year) – to circle once around the Sun.
However, the Gregorian calendar has only 365 days in a year, so if we didn’t add a day on February 29 nearly every 4 years, we would lose almost six hours off our calendar every year. After only 100 years, our calendar would be off by approximately 24 days!
How do we calculate Leap Years?
In the Gregorian calendar 3 criteria must be met to be a leap year:
The year is evenly divisible by 4;
If the year can be evenly divided by 100, it is NOT a leap year, unless;
The year is also evenly divisible by 400. Then it is a leap year.
Who invented Leap Years?
Julius Caesar introduced Leap Years in the Roman empire over 2000 years ago, but the Julian calendar had only one rule: any year evenly divisible by 4 would be a leap year. This lead to way too many leap years, but didn’t get corrected until the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar more than 1500 years later.
Capital Economics expects the housing crisis to end this year, according to a report released Tuesday. One of the reasons: loosening credit.
The analytics firm notes the average credit score required to attain a mortgage loan is 700. While this is higher than scores required prior to the crisis, it is constant with requirements one year ago.
Additionally, a Fed Senior Loan Officer Survey found credit requirements in the fourth quarter were consistent with the past three quarters.
However, other market indicators point not just to a stabilization of mortgage lending standards, but also a loosening of credit availability.
Banks are now lending amounts up to 3.5 times borrower earnings. This is up from a low during the crisis of 3.2 times borrower earnings.
Banks are also loosening loan-to-value ratios (LTV), which Capital Economics denotes “the clearest sign yet of an improvement in mortgage credit conditions.”
In contrast to a low of 74 percent reached in mid-2010, banks are now lending at 82 percent LTV.
We are ready to “Help You Find Your Next Pad!” LeapFrog Realty Group is here for you!
The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell again this week to a record low to 3.88 percent this week!
The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage ticked up to 3.17 percent from 3.16 percent, which was also a record low. Records for mortgage rates date back to the 1950s.
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
LeapFrog Realty Group would like to say Happy New Year to all of our present, past and future clients. We are grateful for each and every client and wish you all the best! A healthy, happy, loving, fun-filled exciting 2012 wish from our family at LeapFrog Realty Group to you and your families! Cheers! Give us a call & “We’ll Help You Find Your Next Pad!”
Great Sign of The Times for 2012- Things are getting better!! A monthly index that tracks pending sales of U.S. existing homes rose to its highest level in 19 months in November, according to a report released today from the National Association of Realtors.
From all of us at LeapFrog Realty Group~ We wish you the very best holiday season and a happy New Year! Call us for all of your real estate needs and we will help you find your next pad!
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Mortgage rates sunk to record lows again this week.
The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 3.94%, matching the all-time low hit in early October, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage rate survey. Meanwhile, 15-year fixed-rate loans hit a new record low of 3.21%, surpassing the record set on October 6.
Five-year adjustable rate mortgages also plumbed new depths, hitting 2.86% for the week.
“We’ve been hanging around record lows for a few months now and we finally hit another one,” said Keith Gumbinger of HSH Associates, a provider of mortgage data.
Low-interest mortgages will be available at least through mid-2012, according to Freddie Mac’s chief economist, Frank Nothaft.
If you have been saying to yourself I would love to find my new home, well take some action! December is a wonderful time to dust off your wishlist and take a leap of faith in searching for your next new home or condo! Face the facts, the rates are at historically low points and you deserve to take advantage of those rates don’t you? We think so! Why sit around trying to time the market when you can make things happen now for you and your family! Call us to set up an initial meeting to make this the best holiday season yet! Celebrating in your new home!
March 12, 2012
leapfrogrealty
