Existing Home Sales Surge in July
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The housing data that many have been looking forward today arrive, bringing optimism about the housing market. Indeed, today’s existing home sales data showed a rather significant surge. Apparently, already lived in homes are in high demand. CNN Money reports on the housing market:
“The housing market has decisively turned for the better,” said [...]
Mortgage Rates Down, Mortgage Applications Up
This week has seen another change in mortgage interest rates and in the number of mortgage applications seen. Mortgage rates have fallen to 5.12%, reports Freddie Mac. This is on a 30-year fixed loan. The 15-year rate is 4.56%. In addition to falling mortgage rates, there has also been an increase in mortgage loan applications, [...]
Considering Home Ownership
Even though building starts fell in July, builders are starting to feel optimistic about the housing market. Indeed, much of the optimism is coming from first-time homebuyers rushing to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit for buying a home this year. And, that $8,000 can be used right now in order to help make [...]
More Foreclosures May Be Coming
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With the news that close to half of home mortgage loans may be underwater by 2011, there is speculation that more foreclosures may be coming. Indeed, there are concerns that foreclosures might be on the way as the incidence of negative equity increases. While negative equity does not always mean foreclosure, [...]
Nonperforming Loans Could Cause Further Problems for Banks
One of the issues that has some still worried about further economic developments are threats to banks. Many banks are seeing nonperforming loans. These are loans that are delinquent. Part of the problem is that many banks (more than 150 publicly traded) have 5% or more of their holdings in loans that are not performing [...]
Mortgage Servicers Messing Up
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There have been some interesting developments lately that have many wondering just how diligent mortgage servicers have been. While mortgage servicers were recently chastised for being slow to help with loan modification and foreclosure prevention, it appears an even bigger problem is brewing. Perhaps mortgage servicers are slow because some [...]
Want the Best Mortgage Rate? Be Prepared to Pay Points
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Many people are looking to find the best mortgage rates right now. Even though mortgage rates are reasonably low right now, it can be tough to get the best rates. And mortgage interest rates are rising. MarketWatch reports on recent mortgage rates — the points you need to pay in order to get [...]
Is Now the Time to Ask for Lower Rent?
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You may not be quite ready to buy a home, but does your landlord need to know that? With home prices falling, and a number of incentives available for first time homebuyers, it is no surprise that many are making the move from renting to buying. And this is not [...]
Is Now the Time for a Reverse Mortgage?
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Many seniors are lamenting the hit taken to their retirement accounts and other investments. As a result, they are looking for a little extra cash to help them ride out this recession while not depleting the principal in investment accounts. One of the ways to do this is through [...]
Will 50% of Mortgages Be Underwater by 2011?
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Today, Deutsche Bank forecast that by 2011, 50% of mortgages will be underwater. BloggingStocks reports on some of the findings of the study:
Declines in home prices and the fact that some of those difficult mortgages just aren’t going away put 26% of homeowners in this situation by the end of last March, and [...]
