Dallas Home Appraisals News and Information

The jobs report released this morning showed unemployment at a 25-year high, with 2 million jobs being lost since the beginning of 2009 and over 5 million jobs lost since January 2008.  It will be interesting to see how this affects consumer confidence, and whether low interest rates, low home prices and tax credits will be enough in the face of uncertainty for new buyers to jump into the housing market.

In the meantime, there are some great money saving tips today online at msn.money.  The tips touch on pretty much every part of your budget, and if you have a lot of time to kill (hey, it's Friday, and this isn't just surfing, it's research) there are links to even more money-saving tips ranging from how to lower grocery bills,  to how to save money on sneaky fees, to free or nearly-free ways to entertain your kids -especially important with summer rapidly approaching!  The article on low cost ways to entertain your kids is posted on destroydebt.com, which also looks like a good site if you are struggling with debt or trying to boost your all-important credit scores.

Most people are probably ready to coast into the weekend, and put off thinking about mortgages, interest rates and property tax assessments for a few days.  But stay vigilant - interest rates tend to rise more quickly than they fall, so if you think you might be in the market to buy or refinance in the next 90 days you need to stay on top of the news.  There are several sites that offer to send you daily rate watch emails (google "rate watch emails") and for a quick check of national rates you can go to Bankrate.com.  For a referral to a mortgage broker, lender or real estate professional in the Dallas/Fort Worth area please contact us.

Next week might also be a good time to take a look at your property tax assessment and decide whether or not you think it might be high, as protests must be filed between May 1 and June 1, 2009 (in Dallas county and others).  If you are considering filing a protest, please contact Blue Star Appraisals Inc. for a no-cost, no-obligation consultation.