First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit May Return Shaun Donovan, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, said Sunday that the housing market’s July woes were “worse than expected” and that the administration may support a new homebuyer tax credit. In an interview on CNN, Donovan said the administration is “concerned” about the path of the industry. [...]
Luxury Homes Languish as Wall Street Pinches Wealthy Looking for a bargain? Actor Eddie Murphy’s 30-room Englewood, N.J., mansion, which went on the market in 2004 for $30 million, can be yours for $12.75 million. And hip-hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons’ 35,000-square-foot mansion in Saddle River, N.J., — offered for $23.9 million in 2007 — is [...]
US Senate: Homebuyers Tax Credit Deadline Extended The US Senate passed an amendment to extend the closing deadline for home buyers who qualified for the tax credit pleases Realtors and Homebuyers. The original deadline date of June 30 has now been extended to September 30. This is an extremely important measure as it will help [...]
Consumers who make a late payment or violate other terms of their credit card agreements will get a break under new Federal Reserve Board rules announced Tuesday.
Fed Chief Cautiously Optimistic about Economy The U.S. economy is in a moderate recovery and should continue growing through next year, but the unemployment rate is expected to remain higher than usual, and it will take “a significant amount of time” to replace the jobs that have been lost in the recession, Federal Reserve Chairman [...]
Real Estate Q&A: How to Help Family Member Buy a Condo QUESTION: My sister wants to own a $50,000 condo in California that is under foreclosure from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. But she does not have the money. I would like to help by buying this condo outright. I am being [...]
Market Snapshot Monday June 7, 2010 Started a little soft early in the rate market this morning with the stock index futures a little higher after the heavy and deep selling on Friday after the May employment report shook investors. All through last week the estimates were continuing to increase on the number of jobs [...]
10 Important Tips to Successful Real Estate Investing When it comes to investing, everybody has certain goals and aspirations. However, we have found that there are certain guidelines every aspiring real estate investor needs to know: 1. Compare property values and rents Financial statistics only go so far; the best measure of a property’s market [...]
Fannie Mae “Loan Quality Initiative” How Will This Affect Borrowers? Beginning with applications dated June 1st, Fannie Mae is implementing the “Loan Quality Initiative” (LQI) guidelines. All Fannie Mae lenders must adhere to these guidelines. In a nutshell, the LQI guideline changes are: Credit re-verification just prior to or on the day of funding: Fannie [...]
Single-family Housing Starts rose by 55,000 last month, suggesting ample housing stock from which California can choose this summer. The report is a slightly larger read than what economists had expected. Furthermore, for the first time since June 2009, Housing Starts appears to have broken away from its half-million unit plateau. 593,000 new homes were started [...]
Have you been thinking of investing in a foreclosed home? The game plan sounds simple enough: purchase a foreclosure at pennies on the dollar, cover the mortgage by renting the property to tenants, and then sell it at a tidy profit when the economy recovers. Unfortunately, when it comes to buying foreclosures, “things are not [...]
Your Mortgage Approval Isn’t Final Until It’s Funded, a host of things can “go wrong” while your home loan is underway. Some are in your control, many more are not. And just being aware of some potential pitfalls could help save your loan down the road, and your peace of mind today. MSN Money ran a [...]
The majority of people looking for, or considering buying, a home had no plans to take advantage of the first-time or move-up/repeat home buyer tax credits, according to a survey recently released from Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. The survey, conducted earlier this year, was designed to identify factors affecting today’s home-buying decisions. It [...]
With short sales making up almost 35% of home sales in March and the country facing a national foreclosure problem I thought this is a good time to explain the Nitty Gritty on Short Sales. If you missed the 7 Short Sale Myths you can find it by following the link. What is a short [...]
On Friday, May 14, 2010, FOUR BANKS were SHUT DOWN by U.S. regulators. The four failed institutions were located in Georgia, Michigan, Missouri and Illinois. This brings the total number of US Bank Failures to 72 so far in 2010, compared to 140 in 2009, 25 in 2008 and 3 in 2007. If bank failures continue [...]
What is a Strategic Default and Foreclosure A “strategic forclosure” or “strategic default” happens when a homeowner decides to quit making mortgage payments as a wealth-protection strategy. The homeowner doing a strategic forclosure may be almost broke, or may have substantial financial assets. A strategic forclosure or strategic default should be distinguished from bankruptcy or [...]
The national foreclosure rate is finally falling. According to foreclosure-tracking firm RealtyTrac.com, the number of foreclosure notices dropped 2 percent between April 2009 and April 2010. Two percent may not seem like much, but it’s the first time in the history of the RealtyTrac report that the annual foreclosure rate has dropped. To be sure, foreclosure rates [...]
Mortgage markets improved last week — but barely — as ongoing doubt surrounding the health of Greece and the Euro pushed additional investors into safe assets, including mortgage bonds. Mortgage rates were wildly volatile between Monday and Friday before closing the week slightly better than their best levels of the year. It’s the 3rd straight [...]
Recently I’ve been receiving a number of questions asking Homeownership After Short Sale, Is It Possible. Many people who through no fault of their own had to sell were blocked from repurchasing a house for four years or longer, even though they’d rebuilt their credit, had qualifying incomes and were fully capable of handling a [...]
If you’re truly interested in the who, what, where, why and when’s of the big mortgage meltdown that lead to the economic situation our country finds itself in, you definitely want to read “The Big Short” by: Michael Lewis. I remember sitting in my office in September 2006, telling people we were seeing the beginning [...]
Independent Mortgage Brokers and Bankers have had a significant positive impact on the lending industry. Today, the use of a professional Mortgage Broker or Banker is one of the key strategies used by sophisticated borrowers. What is a Mortgage Broker? A Mortgage Broker is an independent real-estate financing professional who specializes in the origination of [...]
For Sale: Palm Springs
