LeadToRealty News Syndication System http://news.leadtorealty.com Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:18:10 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://news.leadtorealty.com/index.php/Latest/Pending-house-sales-rising.html It might be fuelled by the tax credits, but it's good news nonetheless: pending home sales have risen again for the 8th month in a row. That's the longest continual rise since 2001, reports the National Association of Realtors (NAR).Q3's Pending Home Sales Index, published by NAR, indicates that in September 2009 contracts signed rose 6.1% to 110.1, up from 103.8 in August. This is a large improvement from 2008's September index when it stood at 90.9. For perspective, the... Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:24:01 +0100 http://news.leadtorealty.com/index.php/Latest/Expanded-Home-Buyers-Tax-Credit.html Key lawmakers in the Senate have tentatively agreed to extend the existing $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers and also offer a new $6,500 credit for existing homeowners who have lived in their current residence for a consecutive five-year period in the past eight years. There are some income limitations, but they're more lenient than the original restrictions: individuals making $125,000 a year or married couples making $225,000 a year will not be eligible. For home buyers, this is... Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:47:00 +0100 http://news.leadtorealty.com/index.php/Latest/Figures-for-February-home-values.html According to the Federal Housing and Finance Agency, things looked a little brighter for sellers on the month of February. Based on their monthly home price index, prices on singe family homes rose by 0.7%. This score is garnered from purchase prices of homes financed or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Fannie, Freddie, and the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks in the nation, are overseen by the... Thu, 23 Apr 2009 07:31:16 +0100 http://news.leadtorealty.com/index.php/Latest/Essentials-in-buying.html When looking at buying, there are a few things that should be considered or put into motion before going down that path. First of all, consider your current living situation. If you buy a home, are you going to be staying there for at least a couple of years? If your answer is no, then buying may not be right for you. A lot of money goes into buying and... Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:36:19 +0100 http://news.leadtorealty.com/index.php/Latest/Hopeful-refinancers-in-today-s-market.html While interest rates are at an all time low, it is not that easy to actually get one. Due to the state of the market, lenders are more hesitant to wade into certain mortgage situations, especially for those that do not have excellent credit scores. Note that the fair credit scores of today, were considered great yesterday. The first big step is too look at where you fit in... Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:30:14 +0100 http://news.leadtorealty.com/index.php/Latest/Numbers-increase-for-ObamaAs-loan-modification-plan.html President Obama´s loan modification plan is finally underway. On Wednesday, the Treasury Department introduced the first six organizations to sign up with the plan. They are JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, GMAC Mortgage, Saxon Mortgage Services, and Select Portfolio Servicing. The amounts that each organization could get in incentive payments and subsidy are the following: Chase with $3.6 billion, Fargo with $2.9 billion, Citigroup with $2 billion, GMAC with $633... Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:37:58 +0100 http://news.leadtorealty.com/index.php/Latest/Small-decrease-seen-in-mortgage-applications.html After five weeks of increase, applications for new loans for home purchase or refinance dropped the week of Good Friday. The total amount of applications fell 11%, with purchase applications falling 11.3% and those for refinancing by 10.9%. The Mortgage Bank Association attributed this to the holidays, stating The MBA does not provide a holiday adjustment for the Easter/Passover weekend, which may have contributed to this week's decrease in... Wed, 15 Apr 2009 09:38:20 +0100 http://news.leadtorealty.com/index.php/Latest/Homebuilders-combining-forces.html Centex Corp. will soon become a part of Pulte Homes, thus creating the biggest homebuilding company seen to date. Holders with Centex will get a 0.975 share of Pulte for every Centex share they own. Putle shareholders will then contain 68% of the newly formed company, with Centex holders owning 32%. Each company reportedly has $1.7 billion in cash, making over $3.4 billion in liquidity for the new company.... Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:49:14 +0100 http://news.leadtorealty.com/index.php/Latest/Unemployment-the-biggest-factor-in-foreclosures.html While Obama´s administration is working hard to prevent foreclosures by leaning on loan modification, many fear that that wont be enough and is not resolving the main problem. According to a study done by the Boston Federal Reserve, the main cause for late payments, higher then that of huge interest rates, is unemployment. While high interest rates are a problem, the biggest problem borrowers are facing is not having a... Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:58:50 +0100 http://news.leadtorealty.com/index.php/Latest/Mortgage-applications-increase-due-to-current-buying-conditions.html According to the Mortgage Brokers Association, their index for mortgage applications (which can be for buying or refinancing) increased for the week ending April 3rd, going up 4.7 to 1,250.6. Also, results indicate that the majority of those applications were for buying, rather then refinancing. The chief economist for LendingTree.com, Cameron Findlay, said that over the past few weeks his company has had a strong demand for home loans.... Wed, 08 Apr 2009 10:41:35 +0100 http://news.leadtorealty.com/index.php/Latest/As-aid-increases-so-does-fraud.html Obama´s administration is pumping out a lot of funds to try and help homeowners, to the tune of $75 billion. The problem is that besides attracting struggling homeowners, these actions are also drawing in the predators. Tim Geithner, Treasury Secretary, commented that Those who would seek to prey on the most vulnerable also seek to intensify their efforts as well,...We will aggressively pursue those involved in mortgage rescue scams.... Tue, 07 Apr 2009 09:30:59 +0100 http://news.leadtorealty.com/index.php/Latest/California-slowly-rebuilds.html The market crisis has been a hard blow to all of the nation, however the one must damaged has been California. It has suffered a huge quantity of foreclosures and avalanches in home price values. Based on data complied by the California Association of Realtors, CAR, their median price for single-family homes in February, lowered 41% from that of last Feb., banking at $247,590. Home construction is also almost non... Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:42:35 +0100 http://news.leadtorealty.com/index.php/Latest/Servicers-could-be-more-accessible-but-will-they-be-more-helpful.html When a borrower is getting in over their head, they are always recommended to turn to their loan servicers, which leads to automated telephone calls, push option 1, being on hold for who knows how long, transferring you to another department, and then perhaps a voice mail. JPMorgan Chase is looking to make this easier by creating more homeownership centers, where borrowers, counselors, and servicers could meet. More homes could... Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:01:05 +0100 http://news.leadtorealty.com/index.php/Latest/Pending-Homes-current-stats-and-future-predictions.html The Pending Home Sales Index is slowing moving up. According to the National Association of Realtors, the index, taken monthly, went up 2.1%, going from 80.4 to 82.1. The best increase was seen in the Midwest, with pending home sales raising by 14.5%, followed by the West at 13.5%, Northeast at 10.6%, and the South at 4.4%. This may be due to housing affordability having risen in February.... Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:31:21 +0100 http://news.leadtorealty.com/index.php/Latest/Where-is-the-market-going-and-what-should-we-do-from-here.html Based on estimates by Moody´s Economy.com, it is believed that home prices will finally stop lowering at the end of this year. They are estimating that median prices will fall about 10% more over the 27% they have already dropped since the boom of prices was seen in 2006. Of course, these predictions are all based on the hope that President Obama´s efforts to help the economy will work: billions... Wed, 01 Apr 2009 12:21:25 +0100