The upper end market for real estate is picking up. This reminds me of prior downturns, when people waited for the bottom of the real estate market to turn, and when they finally decided to buy, they paid thousands more by waiting because the bottom had passed them by. Which brings up actor Nicolas Cage’s [...]
Home building rose 8.9 percent in November to an annualized rate of 574,000, the U.S. Commerce Department announced Wednesday. The rate was still 12.4 percent below what it was in November 2008, but the increases were nationwide, with the Northeast leading the trend with housing starts rising 16.4 percent. Housing starts rose 12.3 percent in [...]
The good and bad of foreclosures is a mixed bag. The bad is that banks which pushed these risky loans are going to take a bath. The bad is that people who are being foreclose on either because of being tricked into a bad loan or loss of income, are going to have bad credit [...]
I wrote earlier that we should not walk away from your house if you are upside down on your mortgage. I’ve changed my mind. If you lost your job or had a great reduction in income for whatever reason, the banks don’t seem to care. I’ve read and seen were they’ll stall until you have [...]
It seems that times are getting harder for mortgage brokers. First, they can’t in most cases use their appraiser of choice and now, they have to give you a close estimate of closing costs when you purchase a home. No longer will you be given an approximate closing cost. Than find the final closing costs [...]
More than 80 percent of new single-family homes have at least two bathrooms, which occupy an average of 300 square feet of floor space, or 12 percent of the total area, according to a study by the National Association of Home Builders. The home builder’s study reports a major return on value for extra bathrooms: [...]
It seems that people are always trying to make money by illegal means. If they would put as much effort into doing something legally as the schemes they come up with, they would in all probability make more money. At least they wouldn’t end up in jail. A case in point is the scheme by [...]
The latest figures from ForeclosureRadar show that the number of distressed filings in California, one of the worst hit states in the country, fell in August. Notices of default in California, which is the first step in the foreclosure process, dropped from July to 36,396 filings, a monthly dip of 19.1% and a 14.2% decrease [...]
More people are becoming landlords in an economy where selling a home can be challenging. The nation’s second-largest home insurer, Allstate Corp., says the number of homeowners converting their homeowners insurance to landlord policies rose 27 percent in the first quarter of 2009. Jim Bass of Jim Bass Real Estate Group in Frederick, Md., says [...]
There are a lot of things driving the real estate market in California. The affordability index has increased to 67%. That is, 67 percent of potential buyers can now afford to buy a home. Prices driven down by short sales and foreclosures, have a dark side, but have created buying opportunities for investors and first [...]
