Jan 21
Housing Market Only 75% Back to Normal The housing market is only about three-quarters of the way back to what is considered “normal,” when factoring in new-home construction, existing-home sales, prices, mortgage delinquencies, and the Millennial employment rate, according to a newly released report by Trulia. Two particular areas holding back the return to …
Jan 20
More Home Owners Are Remodeling Again A housing index that measures activity in the remodeling market reached a record-high in the final quarter of 2014, showing that home owners are once again sprucing up their homes following a large slowdown in remodeling activity in the years following the Great Recession. The National Association of …
Jan 19
Everyone Is Talking About Mortgage Rates Borrowing costs got even cheaper for home buyers and refinancers this week, as mortgage rates continued to descend. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.66 percent this week, the lowest weekly average since May 23, 2013, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage market survey. What’s more, the 15-year fixed-rate …
Jan 16
Mortgage Giants Urged to Ease Up on Credit The Federal Housing Finance Agency has directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to explore “alternate” credit-score models and the credit history of the loans they back. The move is part of several efforts by FHFA to ease tight mortgage standards and help more potential buyers qualify for …
Jan 15
A Second Chance at First Impressions As a real estate professional, you make your living working with people — and making that crucial good first impression is always the most important step. If you’ve had encounters that made you wish you could do them over, there’s good news: You probably can — and you’ll have …
Jan 14
A Guide to Finding Mortgage Savings Many borrowers are paying more than they need to for a mortgage because they didn’t shop around for lenders enough, according to a new study released by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In response, CFPB is releasing an interactive online toolkit called “Owning a Home,” which aims to help …
Jan 13
Mortgaged Homes Have Equity Again About 273,000 homes returned to positive equity in the third quarter of 2014, bringing the total to 44.6 million of all properties with a mortgage, according to a newly released equity report from CoreLogic using data from the third quarter of 2014. That number represents around 90 percent of all …
Jan 12
Best Bets for Housing in 2015 Forbes recently spotlighted the top places to invest in the new year, whether for investors looking for rental properties or young professionals looking to make their first home purchase. “The key is to buy in cities with strong job growth that people are moving to, so that the stock …
Jan 09
FHA Lowers Its Mortgage Costs The Federal Housing Administration is reducing its annual mortgage insurance premiums by 0.5 percentage points in a move “to expand responsible lending to creditworthy borrowers,” the White House said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. FHA also said it would take added steps over the next few months to “cut red …
Jan 08
Smaller Cities Saw Biggest Rent Hikes in 2014 Surging rental costs continue to grip national headlines, but some of last year’s biggest leaps in rental costs were in small to midsized cities. Nationwide, apartment rents increased 3.6 percent, on average, in 2014, pushing the average monthly lease rate to $1,124.38, according to Reis Inc., a …
Jan 07
Hike in Interest Rates Likely by Mid-Year Many economists believe mortgage rates will be on the move upward this year after sitting near historic lows the past few weeks. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose above 4 percent for only two weeks since Oct. 16, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage market report. That has helped …
Jan 06
Market Types You’ll See This Year From the stalwarts to the tech magnets and comeback kids, the new year is likely to see several types of markets. Redfin recently highlighted six “housing market personas” that the real estate brokerage believes will be driving the continued recovery in 2015. Here’s an overview of the personas …
