Aug 10
HARP Refinancing Continues to Surge. About a third of all Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans refinanced in June went through the recently revamped Home Affordable Refinancing Program (HARP). That’s up from a 20 percent share in April. Additionally, the number of HARP refinancing deals with high loan-to-value (LTV) ratios went up substantially. According to …
Aug 10
First-Time Home Buyers? The 5 Popular Markets. Loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration often are a lure to first-time home buyers with its low down payment requirements. In some areas, FHA-backed loans are more common than others, creating hot-spots for first-time home buyers. Inman News recently identified the top housing markets for first-time home …
Aug 10
Retiring? How Long Should You Work? How much longer are you prepared to work in the real estate industry before retiring? A new study says that any employee should plan to work up until age 70 if they want to be comfortable in retirement. About 51 percent of working households are at-risk if they are …
Aug 09
US Mortgage Applications Fell Last Week. US Mortgage Applications fell last week on lower demand for both new purchase and refinance loans, an industry group said on Wednesday. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of US Mortgage Applications activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, fell 1.8 percent in the week ended …
Aug 09
Improving Housing Markets in nearly 1/4 of the Metros. Eighty U.S. metro areas are holding a spot in this month’s Improving Housing Markets Index, a housing index that spotlights housing markets showing gains over at least six consecutive months. The National Association of Home Builders/First American’s August index shows that 75 metro areas kept their spot …
Aug 09
Gen Y Buyers brought to starter homes by builder. A national home builder is wooing Generation Y renters with back-to-basics homes that offer all of the advantages of home ownership on a comfortable budget. Chicago, San Antonio, and St. Louis are the test markets that Centex Homes is using to convert younger tenants to Gen …
Aug 08
Housing Crash Effects on Home Ownership Views? Depending on how Americans’ experienced the housing crash – —whether they were a home owner or a bystander reading about it in the news—as well as their age influenced their perceptions of home ownership today, according to a new study by economists at the Boston Federal Reserve. Two-thirds …
Aug 08
Mortgage Closing Costs on the Decline. Mortgage Closing costs have dropped by 7 percent over the last year, according to an annual survey on closing costs conducted by Bankrate.com. Closing costs average $3,754 nationwide. Title insurance and other third-party fees also saw a drop in the last year, falling 12 percent, and origination fees fell …
Aug 07
Housing Is on the Mend… Some Americans are still jittery over the housing market, but here are eight positive signs that should quell some of their fears. Housing prices are on the rise across the country. Foreclosures have slowed. Analysts suggest that as the supply of distressed homes slows, buyers will be forced into higher-price properties …
Aug 07
Stigmatized Properties Can Offer Big Bargains. Home buyers who can stomach some misfortune in a home’s past may be able to find big discounts. For example, buyers can expect to pay 10 percent to 25 percent off the regular market home price for Stigmatized Properties, according to real estate consultant Randall Bell of Bell Anderson & …
Aug 06
Mortgage Rates Inch Up After Record Streak. Following a 13-week record-low streak, 30-year Mortgage Rates—the most popular choice among home buyers—started moving back up this week, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage market survey. The average 30-year mortgage had dropped or matched record lows in 13 of the last 14 weeks. But this week, mixed …
Aug 06
Home Ownership Unswayed. Eighty-five percent of Americans say they prefer home ownership over renting, according to a newly released Fannie Mae national housing survey of more than 12,000 interviews from 2011. The study finds that the housing and financial crisis has not been a big factor in Americans’ decisions to rent or buy. “The non …
