With the start of  the new year, why not make a new New Year’s resolution? Instead of vowing to exercise more or eat healthier (not that these aren’t worthy goals), you might want to resolve to become a homeowner. If you’ve previously been a renter, buying a home may seem overwhelming. This really is the perfect time to buy a home, though: mortgage rates are currently lower than they’ve ever been.

According to a recent article in RIS Media, a real estate information website I follow, Freddie Mac just released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey. Great news for home buyers: mortgage rates are down in every category. For instance, a 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 3.89 percent last week, down from 4.71 percent at this time last year. Similarly, last week’s 15-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 3.23 percent, as opposed to last year’s 4.08 percent. And the five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable rate mortgage averaged 2.82 percent last week, versus last year’s 3.72 percent.

All  these numbers make for pretty dull reading, I know. They add up to exciting possibilities, though. So take the plunge and make 2012 the year of home ownership. As an experienced New Jersey Realtor, I’d be delighted to help make this happen for you. Happy New Year!

I don’t generally have a lot of time to watch television; being a New Jersey Realtor means being “on call” day and night. I am determined to make time for Designing Healthy Communities, though. This is a four-part series airing soon on WLIW  (and other public television stations) which looks at the links between our built environment (urban sprawl, concrete jungles) and public health issues like obesity and asthma. I’m especially interested in the first episode, called “Retrofitting Suburbia.”  In this episode, Dr. Richard Jackson, the series host, looks at communities in Colorado and Georgia that have taken steps to encourage mass transit and bicycling as legitimate forms of transportation. The series runs on February 2 and 3;  it should make for valuable, and fascinating, viewing.