Real Estate Consumer News

Mortgage Interest Rates Fall Again to Yet Another New Record Low

Dennis Norman — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:43:33 +0000

Today Freddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey, showing average mortgage rates have dropped to new all-time record lows! [...] Related posts:

What are the hot spots in the U.S. attracting home buyers?

Dennis Norman — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:32:55 +0000

Well, I guess my wife and kids aren't the only people that want to move to Florida! According to a report released by Trulia, house hunters from all over the country are searching for homes in Florida. In fact, of the top 10 metro areas where demand among online house hunters is strongest, seven are located in Florida! Florida also, according to the report, leads the list of states existing residents don't want to leave as well with many times more people from outside of Florida searching for homes in Florida than searches outside the state by people living in Florida. The metro in the number 1 slot is Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Florida with 8.8 times more "inbound" property searches than "outbound" property searches. Wow! [...] Related posts:

Home prices in U.S. fall in November – Back to mid-2003 levels

Dennis Norman — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:35:06 +0000

This morning, the S&P/Case-Shiller Index report for November was released showing US home prices decreased from the month before as well as the year before. The 10-city and 20-city composites fell by 1.3 percent each and the home price indexes were down 3.6 percent and 3.7 percent respectively from the year before. For a second consecutive month, 19 of 20 cities covered by the indices also saw home prices decrease. [...] Related posts:

Houses and the human body have a lot of similarities

Gerry Loesch — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:12:14 +0000

Have you ever thought about the similarities between houses and the human body? For example as our bodies age, things are not quite as straight, square and firm as they once were in our younger years. At one time I had a 44 inch chest and now with age it seems that chest dimension is closer to my waist line. In most cases, this aging in homes translates into floors not being totally level and windows and doors being skewed slightly or not latching. While this may create slight operational issues these conditions are quite common in older homes, some more so than others depending on the age, floor plan, design etc. While one could, in theory go through and re-level the floors, in my opinion in most cases this would be an unnecessary expense and cause additional problems. Quite frankly many look at these conditions as part of the “character” and “charm” of an older home. [...] Related posts:

Mortgage Rate Update; Should you Rent or Buy a Home?

Robert Fishel — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:31:11 +0000

Until recently, home ownership was no bargain compared to renting, according to Paul Diggle, a housing economist at Capital Economics. Recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau and published statistics from Thomson Datastream indicate that rising rents and falling mortgages are tipping the scales towards home ownership. The median monthly mortgage payment has fallen to about the same as a median monthly rent check. [...] Related posts:

New homes sales fall in December and make 2011 worst year on record

Dennis Norman — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:56:34 +0000

Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau released new home sales data for December 2011 showing a decrease of 2.2 percent from the month before, and a decrease of 7.3 percent from a year ago. The seasonally-adjusted new home sales rate for December was 307,000 homes, down from an [...] Related posts:

One in five home sales is a foreclosure and only two-thirds the cost of a non-foreclosure home

Dennis Norman — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:19:03 +0000

Foreclosure Price 34 Percent Below Average Price of Non-Foreclosures RealtyTrac, today released its third-quarter 2011 U.S. Foreclosure Sales Report, which shows that sales of homes that were in some stage of foreclosure or bank owned accounted for 20 percent of all U.S. residential sales in the third quarter of 2011, down from 22 percent of all sales in the second quarter and down from 30 percent of all sales in the third quarter of 2010. [...] Related posts:

AG Settlement: Not Perfect, But Significant Reform of Mortgage Servicing

News Desk — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:32:18 +0000

Based on what we've heard, the settlement between major banks and states' Attorneys General (AGs), the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of Justice would represent an important step forward in addressing foreclosure abuses. The settlement would include key reforms to clean up unfair mortgage servicing practices. It would also provide an important template for ways banks can use principal reduction to reduce unnecessary foreclosures and put the country back on a path to economic recovery. [...] Related posts:

Ten cities that receive the most online home searches

Dennis Norman — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:10:33 +0000

Realtor.com, which claims to have more traffic on it's website than any other real estate website in the world, released their report for December showing how 146 metro areas in the U.S. stack up in terms of popularity for home searches. Chicago was number 1 on the list again this month, followed by Detroit, MI, and Los-Angeles-Long Beach, CA. [...] Related posts:

Home sales and prices increase in December; Inventory down to near-normal level

Dennis Norman — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:14:51 +0000

Today's existing home sales report from the National Association of REALTORS® shows existing home sales in December were at at a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 4.61 million units which is an increase of 5.0 percent from the month before and an increase of 3.6 percent from a year ago. The actual number of homes sold in December was 350,000 which is 4.5 percent more than the month before and 1.4 percent more than December 2010 when there were 345,000 homes sold. [...] Related posts: