Archive for the ‘Mortgage’ Category

More properties going to the auction block as judicial foreclosure states clear backlogs

Thursday, November 14th, 2013

Foreclosure backlogs continue to ease in states where courts handle the process as the number of properties headed to the auction block climbed for the 16th month in a row in October, according to the latest report from foreclosure data aggregator RealtyTrac. Overall U.S. foreclosure activity — filings of default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions…Read More »

Increase in Interest Rates Had Minimal Impact on Housing Activity

Tuesday, November 12th, 2013

> Little Impact from Higher Interest Rates > FHA Share Declining > Chase Social Media Webinar > Housing Demand Remains Strong Issue  / November 2013 Increase in Interest Rates Had Minimal Impact on Housing Activity Three months after interest rates on mortgages started to increase, the housing market showed few signs of weakness due to…Read More »

Home prices post strongest annual gain in nearly 8 years

Friday, November 8th, 2013

Home prices in most metropolitan areas grew significantly in the third quarter, with the national median price rising at its fastest annual clip in nearly eight years, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). During the same period, existing homes sold at the fastest annual rate recorded in more than six years, according to NAR’s latest…Read More »

Santa Barbara, Reno are top ‘Turnaround Towns’

Friday, November 1st, 2013

With median list prices up 44.3 percent in the third quarter from a year ago and inventory down 24.5 percent over the same period, Detroit, despite filing for bankruptcy in July, experienced the most significant housing recovery from July to September, according to realtor.com’s third-quarter “Turnaround Towns” report. Detroit ranked No. 7 on realtor.com’s second-quarter…Read More »

New mortgage rules may crimp lending, but should build investor trust

Friday, November 1st, 2013

While some say new mortgage rules scheduled to take effect on Jan. 10 could crimp lending, the rules are key to building private investors’ confidence in the secondary market, according to a white paper released today by real estate data and technology firm CoreLogic. “Setting the rules and boundaries for consumer mortgage loans is one of the…Read More »

Government shutdown won’t shut down FHA

Tuesday, October 1st, 2013

Despite reports to the contrary, the Federal Housing Administration will not stop processing loan applications in the event of a government shutdown at midnight tonight. In what appears to be a reversal of an earlier position stated last week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Office of Single Family Housing will continue…Read More »

Mortgage fraud risk declines, but more dollars at stake

Sunday, September 29th, 2013

Although the risk of mortgage fraud is declining, an increase in mortgage applications due to the rebounding housing market means more dollars are at stake for lenders, according to a quarterly report from real estate information and technology firm CoreLogic. Fraud risk among U.S. mortgage applications fell 5.6 percent year over year in the second…Read More »

A 20-year legal battle over a water management district’s condition for development is over — sort of.

Friday, September 27th, 2013

Early in her legal career, working for her father’s property rights law firm in south Florida, Amy Brigham Boulris took an interest in “exactions” — cases in which jurisdictions impose conditions on landowners before development can occur. For years, she closely followed the case of Coy A. Koontz, a Florida businessman who purchased 15 mostly…Read More »

Cash sales’ share of total purchases skyrockets by nearly a third in 2 months

Thursday, September 26th, 2013

All-cash home sales skyrocketed during the summer of 2013, with their share of total sales growing by close to a third from June to August amid sustained appetite from investors, a recent spike in interest rates and tight inventory. Cash purchases’ share of total sales leaped to 45 percent in August from 39 percent in…Read More »

Borrowing to the Max for a Home

Wednesday, September 18th, 2013

Q. I am planning on buying a condominium and I can afford to pay as much as half of it with cash. But with mortgage rates going up nearly every week, should I get the largest loan that I can qualify for now? I know I won’t be able to borrow at these relatively low…Read More »