Get low: The rates for 30- and 15-year fixed mortgages continued to drop last week, according to the Zillow Mortgage Rate Monitor, an online mortgage service. Zillow says the average 30-year rate nationally fell to 5.05% at the end of last week, compared with a 5.07% rate the week before. Fifteen-year rates were naturally lower, coming in at 4.7%. That compares with a 4.72% rate the week before.
Books are in order: Tropicana Entertainment, the parent company of the Belle of Baton Rouge, says a Delaware bankruptcy court has approved its reorganization plans. That clears the way for Tropicana to get out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The plan eliminates more than $2.4 billion in debt and more than $125 million in annual interest payments. Financing will also come from billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who is eyeing the Tropicana in Atlantic City, N.J., which is in a bankruptcy court auction. The plan still has to be approved by gambling regulators in several states, including Louisiana, Mississippi and Nevada. Tropicana owns four gambling boats and five casinos.
