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Written by Witold Duda
Adjustable rate mortgages are back
After accounting for nearly 70% of all mortgages issued during the boom, adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) vanished during the bust, totaling just 3% of the market in 2009. Now they make up 5% of all mortgages issued, and Freddie Mac predicts 10% by December. Behind the comeback is a simple fact: ARMs are a great bargain right now. The most common ARM loan currently has a rate of 3.5% compared to 5% for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. "For anyone with a high likelihood of moving soon, the 5/1 is a great product," said Michael Fratantoni, vice president of research and economics for the Mortgage Bankers Association. "It's a well understood product too; there's not a lot of danger with it." So why isn't everyone grabbing an ARM? Well, because fixed-rate mortgages are seen as safer because they carry the same rate over life of the loan. Borrowers always know what their payment will be. But with ARMs, interest rates change over time.
During the late 1800s, European-trained architects designed highstyle period houses for the wealthy. Each period style identifies specifically with an architecture of an earlier period and place: either early American or European precedents. Several popular period styles are included on these web sites, though other, less common period styles also appeared. During this time (mostly between 1900 and 1929), accuracy of styles became important once again, unlike Queen Anne style, which borrowed from a variety of sources. Most Important, period styles look to the past for inspiration. The trend toward period architecture gained momentum from the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, the Columbian Exposition, where historical interpretations of European styles were encouraged. Simultaneous to the rise of period-style architecture, the modern era saw its beginnings with architects who were instead looking to the future, not the past, with more progressive, modernist styles. Thus defines the eclectic movement of the early 20th century, which consisted of a simultaneous and perhaps competing interest in both modern and historic architectural traditions.