“…But before I was officially ready to take the home-ownership plunge, I reached out to my family and friends for advice and spent some time doing research online. This was overwhelming to say the least — there’s a lot of information out there, and a lot of opinions on the best route to take. Nevertheless, I’m glad I did it. I learned about mortgage options, escrow accounts and HOA fees, and doing my own research gave me a good look at the entire process and a better idea of what to anticipate….”

Read Story on MSNBC.com…

Are you thinking of buying a home? Check out our Homeownership Simplified section a for information & tips on buying a house and our handy calculators to figure out potential mortgages, closing costs, and more!

Given the huge public and private resources now being devoted to helping financially distressed homeowners — including the recently announced $25 billion national mortgage settlement with five major banks — you might assume that a key federal tax-law benefit underpinning these efforts would be a shoo-in for renewal.

But it’s not. The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act is set to expire in 10 months, and there are early indications on Capitol Hill that it might not make the cut. The law, first enacted in 2007, allows homeowners who have received principal reductions on their mortgages as the result of loan modifications, short sales or foreclosures to avoid income taxation on the amounts forgiven.

Read More on The Seattle Times…

Are you a struggling homeowner? Check out our Avoiding Foreclosure section for resources and tips.

Homebuilders are switching tactics and confronting head-on one of their biggest nemeses: foreclosed houses that not only lure buyers away with deeply discounted prices but simultaneously depress the appraisal values of newly built homes.

At a packed session at the recent International Builders’ Show expo here, consultants and builders said that with gluts of foreclosures in major markets around the country — and more forecast to arrive in the next two years — the time has come to stop being passive and to begin aggressively educating buyers about the often hidden costs of buying foreclosures.

Read More on The Seattle Times…

Are you thinking of buying a home? Check out our Homeownership Simplified section a for information & tips on buying a house and our handy calculators to figure out potential mortgages, closing costs, and more!

Seattle again has made an annual list of the Top 10 moving destinations in the nation. Atlanta, Phoenix and Orlando, Fla., top the list, compiled by Penske Truck Rental, continuing a trend of people migrating to the Sun Belt.

The list is based on online consumer truck-rental reservations and through Penske call centers. Here is the complete list: Atlanta, Phoenix, Orlando, Fla., Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago, Houston, Denver, Seattle, Sarasota, Fla. and Charlotte, N.C.

Times are tough in the home-building industry, meaning the 500,000 or so new single-family homes expected to be built this year are going to include more practical and value-conscious features and fewer wish-list items…

Read Story on Yahoo…

It’s a tool used by house flippers all across the nation. Stagers know its power. Real estate agents push its importance. What is this not-so-well-kept secret of real estate? A kitchen can sell a house.

A kitchen is the heart of a home. This is true all across the globe. The old saying that the “stomach is the way to the heart” carries a lot of truth. Kitchens are where we spend much of our time and most of that is with our families. It’s the room where we nourish our bodies and our spirits.

Read More on Realty Times…

Are you thinking about Buying a Home? Check out our helpful video and follow the adventures of Bob and Sally as they learn about renting versus buying a home.

Learn even more about buying a home here and then check out our handy calculators to figure out how much you can afford, possible mortgages, closing costs, and more!

For the fifth consecutive month, homebuilders are feeling upbeat about prospects for the market in single-family homes, offering another positive signal for the depressed housing industry.

The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index rose to 29 from 25 in February, hitting the highest level in four years, the National Association of Home Builders said on Wednesday.

The index has climbed 15 points since September and is now at its highest level since May 2007…

…“Builder confidence has doubled since September as measured by the HMI,” said NAHB Chairman Barry Rutenberg, a home builder from Gainesville, Fla. “Given the recent improvements in new home starts and the increasing number of markets included in the NAHB/First American Improving Markets Index, this consistency suggests that the housing market is moving toward more sustainable growth.”

Read More on MSNBC.com…

Citigroup has agreed to pay $158.3 million to settle claims that its mortgage unit duped the U.S. government into insuring risky mortgage loans for over six years.

The government said Wednesday that Citi Mortgage certified 30,000 mortgages for insurance provided by the Federal Housing Agency and submitted many certifications that were “knowingly or recklessly false.”

More than a third of those mortgage loans went into default, resulting in millions of dollars in losses for the government because of the insurance claims.

Read More on the Seattle Times…

Foreclosure activity down in state, up nationally in January

Banks took back more U.S. homes in January than in the previous month, the latest sign that foreclosures are accelerating after slowing sharply last year while lenders sorted out foreclosure-abuse claims.

Foreclosures rose 8 percent nationally from December, but were down 15 percent from a year earlier, foreclosure-listing firm RealtyTrac reported…

…Foreclosures in Washington state in January, however, fell 18 percent from December and 58 percent from January 2011.

Read Full Story on The Seattle Times…

Are you a struggling homeowner? Check out our Avoiding Foreclosure section for resources and tips.