Lowered mortgage rates should encourage refinancing
Freddie Mac announced Thursday, Feb. 12, that the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®) shows that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 5.16 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending February 12, 2009, down from the previous week when it averaged 5.25 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.72 percent.

Freddie Mac analysts are optimistic that the lowered rates will encourage many homeowners to refinance their mortgages. "Interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages are almost 1.5 percentage points below 2008's peak set on July 24, 2008, offering many homeowners an incentive to refinance," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. "This would translate into a monthly payment savings of around $188 on a $200,000 mortgage.

For more information about this report, you can read Freddie Mac’s news release at the company’s official website.

JPMorgan, Citigroup halting foreclosures
An Associated Press report announced Friday, Feb. 13, that JP Morgan Chase plans to halt new foreclosures for owner-occupied home loans through March 6.

Citigroup, Inc. plans a similar action, as the company announced it would suspend foreclosures on all “Citi-owned first mortgage loans that are the principal residence of the customer, as well as all loans Citi services where we have reached an understanding with the investor”. Citi’s suspension of foreclosures will continue until the current presidential administration finalizes details of the loan modification program or until March 12 -- whichever comes earlier.

For more information, read the Associated Press article here.

Bradford to speak at Association of Texas Appraisers Conference
Jeff Bradford, CEO of Bradford Technologies, Inc., will speak Saturday, Feb. 14, at the Association of Texas Appraisers Mid-Year Educational Conference in New Braunfels, Tex. Bradford is scheduled to speak about “Using More Analytics and Trend Analysis In Your Appraisal Reports”.

Additional details are available: click here.

ClickFORMS Tech Tip: Anti-Virus software preventing saves

We’ve had a number of users who have been experiencing problems when saving reports lately. An error message is generated stating “Cannot rename file or folder. Access denied”. We’ve found that the error is caused by certain anti-virus software.

To resolve this issue:

• Open the anti-virus software control panel
• Click the Settings option
• Select the Ignore specific files/folders option
• Click the Browse button and browse to: My Documents/My ClickFORMS

Once your selection is made the virus software will ignore changes you make to your ClickFORMS files.

Didyaknow?
ClickFORMS features technical support via instant messaging. In ClickFORMS, just go to the Help menu, choose Instant Message Support, and click “Chat Live with Tech Support”. A Customer Service representative will assist you instantly. This is the fastest way to get the answers you need.