Dec 27
Underwater Home Owners Face Heavier Tax Burden If Congress doesn’t act on the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, which expires at the end of this year, it could leave distressed borrowers with an additional financial burden in 2014. The measure was designed to keep underwater homeowners from having to pay income taxes on the …
Dec 27
New-Home Sales Drop in November Sales of new single-family homes dropped 2.1 percent in November, according to the Commerce Department’s latest new-home sales report, which was released Tuesday. New-home sales reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 464,000 units for the month. Still, that’s up 16.6 percent from November 2012, and last month’s numbers …
Dec 24
Job Growth to Drive 2014 Housing Market The housing recovery is expected to remain strong in the new year, driven by economic growth and an improving employment picture, economists say. In fact, job growth likely will be one key to driving housing growth in the new year. An estimated 2 million or more jobs …
Dec 24
Education Campaign on New Mortgage Rules The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is launching an education campaign to help make home buyers and home owners more aware of new mortgage regulations coming in January. The materials are available at CFPB’s website. The information includes fact sheets and tip sheets, such as on what a Qualified Mortgage …
Dec 24
Top 10 Housing Bets for Investors Investments in single-family homes for rental properties will remain an attractive venture in many markets in the new year, says Ingo Winzer, president of Local Market Monitor. Winzer notes that Texas and Oklahoma offer some of the best bets “with their low unemployment rates and ability to profit for …
Dec 20
10 States Facing the Highest Foreclosure Rates Foreclosures are falling, but they still remain a problem in some pockets across the country. Foreclosure activity in November was found to be the highest in the following states, according to RealtyTrac: Florida: 1 in every 392 housing units received a foreclosure filing in November (down …
Dec 19
Home Owners Stand to Recapture More Equity in 2014 The number of underwater homes continues to slip, with 791,000 properties regaining equity during the third quarter, CoreLogic reports. Currently, about 13 percent of all homes with a mortgage — or 6.4 million — remain in negative equity compared to 14.7 percent — or 7.2 million …
Dec 19
Home Builders End the Year More Upbeat Home builders are getting more optimistic over the single-family home market, specifically over current sales conditions, sales expectations, and prospective buyer traffic, according to the December reading of the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. “Following a two-month pause in the index, this uptick is …
Dec 18
Multigenerational Households a Lasting Trend? The recession set off a new wave of multigenerational households, which began to increase in late 2007. Fewer new households were created as more people doubled up to ride through economic hard times. College grads moved back home, and aging parents moved in with family. But as the economy …
Dec 17
Where Energy Bills are Highest In some states, homeowners are paying nearly twice as much as the national average for electricity. That’s according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the government agency responsible for the collection and dissemination of energy information, which released its most recent “Electric Sales, Revenue, and Average Price” report last month. …
Dec 16
Mortgage Rates Dip Slightly This Week Fixed-rate mortgages changed little this week, but remain near its highs in recent months. Freddie Mac reports the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending Dec. 12: 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 4.42 percent, with an average 0.7 point, dropping from last week’s 4.46 average. Last year …
Dec 13
U.S. Sees Record Low Natural-Disaster Activity in 2013 This year saw a record low number of natural-disaster events in the U.S., despite a few highly publicized storms — such as the twisters that ravaged Central Illinois — according to CoreLogic’s annual Natural Hazard Risk Summary and Analysis. The report covers hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, wildfires, and …
