Latest Posts from My Blog
Diving home sales stoke new worries about economic recovery
Friday, August 27, 2010
The end of a popular government stimulus program drove home sales in July to their lowest levels in more than a decade, fueling fresh concerns about the economic recovery. Home sales fell 27.2% nationwide from a month earlier, the National Assn. of Realtors reported. That was a much bigger drop than expected, as the boost [...]
More recent mortgage modifications seem to be sticking
Friday, August 27, 2010
BOSTON — Homeowners who had mortgages modified recently are faring better than those who did so earlier in the housing crisis, according to a report released Tuesday, possibly debunking predictions of a huge wave of defaults to come. The State Foreclosure Prevention Working Group warned of other troubling signs, however, on the same day that [...]
Good-faith closing cost estimates get real under new loan rules
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Mortgage lenders must now pay the difference if a loan’s closing costs come in higher than they estimated, which means no more lowballing to lure customers. Facing new penalties if they lowball estimates of upfront mortgage costs, lenders and brokers appear to be coming clean about how much borrowers will pay. As a result, the [...]
California home sales stall in July
Monday, August 23, 2010
California home prices remained almost flat in July but sales stalled as federal tax credits for buyers expired. The median price paid for a home last month was $268,000, down less than 1% from June, and up 7.2% from July 2009, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego. The year-over-year increase was the ninth in [...]
FTC’s fake mortgage-company site aims to educate about scams
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
The folks at Esteemed Lending Services are out to teach people a lesson. Esteemed Lending isn’t a mortgage lender at all. It’s a fictitious company. If it existed, it might have taken a lot of people for a ride down the road to ruin. But it does live in cyberspace, where many scam artists lurk. [...]
Short sales soar in California
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Real estate deals in which lenders agree to take less for a property than the balance on the mortgage have tripled since 2008, a report says. Sales of homes for less than the amount of their outstanding mortgage debt have tripled since 2008, particularly in California and the Sunbelt, according to a report released Tuesday. [...]
Index of pending home purchases falls 2.6% in June
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
An index of home purchase contracts fell 2.6% in June from May as the expiration of federal tax incentives for buyers continued to damp demand from home shoppers for a second straight month, according to the National Assn. of Realtors. The trade group’s pending home sales index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed for [...]
Fixed mortgage rates keep falling
Monday, August 2, 2010
The average on a 30-year loan drops to 4.54%, while 15-year mortgages are down to 4%, Freddie Mac reports. This marks the sixth straight week of record lows. The Gershwin standard is “Nice Work If You Can Get It.” The refrain in today’s housing market would be: nice loans — if you can get them. [...]
Sellers should ensure that condo projects are on approved list for FHA mortgages
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Reporting from Washington — Condominium owners who are trying to sell in today’s agonizingly slow housing market should make sure that their community is on the Federal Housing Administration’s approved list. Ditto for someone who is thinking about refinancing a condo. Under a little-noticed edict put in place in December, the FHA is no longer [...]
New residential construction drops in June
Friday, July 23, 2010
Housing starts fall 5% overall from May, single-family home construction is down 0.7% and apartment construction declines nearly 20%, the government says. It’s the latest sign of trouble in the housing market. New residential construction dropped in June, another indication that the U.S. housing market is struggling. Housing starts fell 5% in June from May, [...]
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