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Consumer News and Advice Archive
Despite the “doom and gloom” in today’s headlines, in the current economic climate, homeownership is more affordable than ever, thanks to low interest rates and lower home values. For those buyers who manage to have a 20% (or more) downpayment, they believe this will get them the lowest monthly
Despite rumors to the contrary, first-time buyers are alive and kicking, buying houses at virtually the same pace as they were before the first-time homebuyers credit first stimulated demand two years ago.
For the first seven months of this year, the first-time buyer market share has been remarkably steady, ranging from 32 to 36 percent of existing home sales through the spring and summer buying season, according to the National Association of REALTORS® monthly survey of 1300 members.
The organizational benefits of downsizing can be very rewarding. You can save time, restore order, relieve stress, free up space, and perhaps most importantly, save money.
If your company is anything like mine, the last few years have been a challenge. Since so many of our company’s products and services have been developed for residential real estate, as your company goes, so goes ours. That allows us to be in a unique position of watching our clients as insiders, while being on the outside.
The view hasn’t been pretty. I have lived through every up and down market since 1977, and I have never seen the fear and hopelessness that is present today. The inability of our government agencies to “just quit tinkering” and let things stabilize has been remarkable to me.
(MCT)—The economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the three months ending Sept. 30, the government reported, easing fears that the nation would fall into a second recession but still too slow a pace to cut significantly into the high unemployment rate.
“We’re inching our way forward,” says Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial.
The new data from the Commerce Department on Thursday showed slow but steady improvement in the economy throughout 2011. The third-quarter data was in line with economists’ projections.
As temperatures dip and fall settles in with the promise of winter ahead, home owners need to pay extra attention to certain details in order to set themselves apart from the competition.
1. Maintain your landscape. Flowers aren't exactly flourishing this time of year but sellers should still make the most of what they have. Adding fall flowers like mums to your front porch or deck is always a nice touch. More importantly grass should be cut at least once per week and leaves should be cleared as much as possible.
Data through August 2011, released recently by S&P Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, showed increases of +0.2% for the 10- and 20-City Composites in August versus July.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency, with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises), has announced a series of changes to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) in an effort to attract more eligible borrowers who can benefit from refinancing their home mortgage. The program enhancements were developed at FHFA’s direction with input from lenders, mortgage insurers and other industry participants.
Renters now spend five percent more of their household budgets on housing costs than do homeowners, and the difference is growing as rents rise.
The past few weeks have showcased numerous signals that the real estate market is on the rise. Recently, we have reported statistics pointing to an industry turnaround, including a
15 percent rise in housing starts in September; a surge in
builder confidence in October, an
increase in mortgage applications and a slew of
regional market improvements
across the country.
Greg Rand (
@gsrand), CEO of
OwnAmerica, and host of Rand on Real Estate on 770 WABC, discusses concerns over negative equity on investment properties. Would a short sale be the best way to go?
A new survey of former homeowners who have walked away from their homes found that their credit was good enough after foreclosure for the vast majority to rent new housing and few were required to make a larger than normal deposit.
YouWalkAway.com, which counsels troubled buyers to strategically default, found that owners and managers of rental properties regard the influx of renters in the market due to the housing market meltdown as a boon, and many are willing to accept potential renters even if they do not have credit scores as high as landlords previously would have required.
Existing-home sales were down in September on the heels of a strong gain in August, but remain well above a year ago, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.
Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, declined 3.0 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.91 million in September from an upwardly revised 5.06 million in August, but are 11.3 percent above the 4.41 million unit pace in September 2010.
(MCT)—New residential construction surged 15 percent in September, turning in its best performance in 17 months, though economists warned that a housing recovery has yet to take hold.
While new construction is key to getting the economy going, much of the new building came from the apartment sector, which can be very volatile. Many economists also noted that permits pulled for new construction, also an important measure of builders’ plans for the future, declined in September.
Nevertheless, the news of the increase cheered investors on Wall Street as well as several housing analysts who follow the numbers closely.
With rents rising faster than last year, the picture for residential real estate investors is getting even better than it already was as a result of once-in-a-generation prices and low interest rates, according to the founder of a leading Internet platform for investors and real estate professionals.
