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Builders Devise Tactics to Discredit Foreclosure Sales
February 19, 2012 in Buying a Home, Home Values, Massachusetts, Real Estate Market | Tags: Buying a Home, buying foreclosures, foreclosed homes, homebuilders, new home builders | Leave a comment
Builders Devise Tactics to Discredit Foreclosure Sales
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 also simultaneously depress the appraisal values of newly built homes.
At a packed session at the International Builders’ Show expo in Orlando, Fla., this month, 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 …
Read more at Builders devise tactics to discredit foreclosure sales.
Housing Affordability Reaches New Records
February 17, 2012 in Buying a Home, Massachusetts | Tags: Buying a Home, housing affordability | Leave a comment
Housing Affordability Reaches New Records
Nationwide housing affordability, as measured by the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI), rose to a record level during the fourth quarter of 2011, while prospective home buyers continued to feel the constraints of tighter credit standards and a soft economy.
HOI data released today indicated that 75.9 percent of all new and existing homes sold in the fourth quarter were affordable to families earning the national median income of $64,200, the highest percentage recorded in the 20-year history of the index.
Read more at Housing Affordability Reaches Record Level as Tight Credit Conditions Impede Housing Market.
Home Buying: Most Affordable in Decades
February 16, 2012 in Buying a Home, Massachusetts | Tags: Buying a Home, home prices, housing affordability, Mortgage Interest Rates, Mortgage Rates | Leave a comment
Home Buying: Most Affordable in Decades
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Buying a home is now more affordable than it has been in the last twenty years.
Thanks to continued declines in home prices and rock-bottom mortgage rates, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index hit a record level of affordability.
Read more at Home buying: Most affordable in decades.
How to Fight a Low Appraisal
February 15, 2012 in Buying a Home, Home Values, Massachusetts, Mortgages, Selling a Home | Tags: appraisals, Buying a Home, mortgage refinance, refinancing a mortgage, Selling a Home | Leave a comment
How to Fight a Low Appraisal
When it comes to selling a home or refinancing a mortgage, the appraisal process can make or break the deal.
“The appraisal is pretty much the lynchpin of any transaction in real estate these days,” says Michael Corbett, Trulia’s real estate expert and author. “Over the years there’s been so much acceleration in pricing and a huge drop in pricing that knowing the value is almost an art form.”
Read more at How to Fight a Low Appraisal.
Will the Real Estate Market Heat Up This Spring?
February 6, 2012 in Buying a Home, Massachusetts, Real Estate Market | Tags: Real Estate Market, trends in real estate | Leave a comment
Will the Real Estate Market Heat Up This Spring?
Predicting the housing market‘s fortunes in 2012 on the eve of the spring selling season is like guessing which direction an amoeba in a petri dish will move.
To be sure, most observers aren’t anticipating soaring growth. Strict mortgage lending and wary consumers still challenge the market. The thrum of foreclosures could rise this year and keep a lid on home prices. State attorneys general face a Friday deadline this week to decide whether to join a potential $25 billion settlement with five big banks over alleged foreclosure abuses.
But some experts point to reasons for cautious optimism …
Read more at Real Estate A Buy Or Bust This Spring Selling Season?
How to Beat the Competition and Buy a Foreclosure
February 6, 2012 in Buying a Home, Massachusetts, Real Estate Market | Tags: Buying a Home, buying foreclosures, home buyers | Leave a comment
How to Beat the Competition and Buy a Foreclosure
Start with your best offer and consider bumping up the deposit
Finding a bank-owned home for sale these days is hard enough. Actually buying one is an even bigger problem.
Last year the supply of bargain-basement, foreclosure homes shrank, as banks temporarily stopped trying to repossess properties to review possible paperwork errors.
But 2012 should be a different story.
Read more at How to beat the competition and buy a foreclosure.
Mortgage Rates Hit New Lows Again
February 3, 2012 in Buying a Home, Massachusetts, Mortgage Interest Rates | Tags: housing affordability, Massachusetts mortgage rates, Mortgage Interest Rates, Mortgage Rates | Leave a comment
Mortgage Rates Hit New Lows Again
Mortgage rates once again inched lower this week, lowering the cost of borrowing and increasing housing affordability.
“Most mortgage rates eased to all-time record lows this week as fourth quarter growth in the economy fell short of market projections,” Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, said in a statement.
Here’s a closer look at rates for the week ending Feb. 2:
Read more at Mortgage Rates Hit New Lows Again.
Distressed Sales Undercut Home Prices in 2011, Study Says
February 3, 2012 in Buying a Home, Massachusetts, Real Estate Market, Selling a Home | Tags: foreclosures, home prices, Home Values, Real Estate Market, trends in real estate | Leave a comment
Distressed Sales Undercut Home Prices in 2011, Study Says
A report released today says that home prices slid by nearly 5 percent last year, but also indicates that most of the decline was due to distressed sales.
CoreLogic’s December Home Price Index found that home prices fell 4.7 percent in 2011 compared with December 2010, marking the fifth consecutive year of the housing slump. But excluding distressed sales, prices only dropped by 0.9 percent in 2011. The discrepancy between the two figures highlights the foreclosure crisis‘ obstructive effect on a market recovery.
Read more at Distressed Sales Undercut Home Prices in 2011, Study Says.
Is That House Worth the Asking Price?
February 1, 2012 in Buying a Home, Home Values, Massachusetts | Tags: Buying a Home, home buyers, Home Values | Leave a comment
Is That House Worth the Asking Price?
With home values all over the map and local markets faring very differently in the wake of the housing bust, how do you know if the seller’s list price is on the money?
For most buyers, it starts with what’s known as comparable properties, or comps. In theory, a seller could price their home however they please — but …
Read more at Is That House Worth the Asking Price?
4 Questions to Ask Before Buying a Foreclosure
January 31, 2012 in Buying a Home, Massachusetts | Tags: Buying a Home, buying foreclosures, foreclosed homes | Leave a comment
4 Questions to Ask Before Buying a Foreclosure
Foreclosures can offer big bargains, but buyers need to be careful that they don’t get over their heads in purchasing a home that may need more repairs than they bargained for.
Foreclosures are usually sold as-is, and homes that are left vacant standing too long can have a lot of maintenance problems.
Real estate experts suggest buyers consider the following questions:
Read more at 4 Questions to Ask Before Buying a Foreclosure.
Size Matters Most to First-Time Home Buyers
January 30, 2012 in Buying a Home, Massachusetts | Tags: Buying a Home, first-time homebuyers, home buyers | Leave a comment
Size Matters Most to First-Time Home Buyers
When first-time homebuyers begin looking for new digs, they often have one guideline firmly in mind: think small.
“First-time homebuyers, because they have not been through the homebuying process before, have less confidence that they are making the right decision even in spite of low interest rates and affordable prices,” says Stephen Melman, director of economic services for economics and housing policy for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
Read more at Size Matters Most to First-Time Buyers.
Mild Winter Heating Up Cape Sales
January 27, 2012 in Buying a Home, Cape Cod, Home Values, Massachusetts, Real Estate Market | Tags: Buying a Home, buying a vacation home, Cape Cod real estate, home buyers, home prices, home sales, Home Values, luxury home buyers | Leave a comment
Mild Winter Heating Up Cape Sales
Single-family home sales on the Cape dropped 4.25 percent in 2011 compared to the year before, but luxury home buyers helped boost the market as the average price increased from $465,630 to $466,646 and last year saw 11 sales over $4 million compared to only five in 2010.
So far, the mild winter combined with pent-up demand in the higher end market has helped the Cape get off to a strong start with 15 listings over $1 million going under contract since the beginning of December.
Read more at Mild winter heating up Cape sales.
10 States Where You Can Get Amazing Bargains On Foreclosed Homes
January 26, 2012 in Buying a Home, Massachusetts, Real Estate Market | Tags: Buying a Home, foreclosures, home buyers | Leave a comment
10 States Where You Can Get Amazing Bargains On Foreclosed Homes
U.S. foreclosures fell 9% in December from the previous month, and these foreclosures resulted in sales that depress home prices.
RealtyTrac calculated the states with the highest foreclosure savings, as measured by average sales prices versus average foreclosure sales price.
Read more at 10 States Where You Can Get Amazing Bargains On Foreclosed Homes.
Rate on 30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rises to 3.98 Pct.
January 26, 2012 in Buying a Home, Massachusetts, Mortgage Interest Rates | Tags: 30 year fixed mortgage, Buying a Home, Mortgage Interest Rates, Mortgage Rates, mortgage refinance | Leave a comment
Rate on 30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rises to 3.98 Pct.
WASHINGTON — The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage rose this week for the first time this month, though it remained below 4 percent for the eighth straight week.
The low rates may be contributing to a slow turnaround in the depressed housing market. Still, many who can afford to buy or refinance a home have already done so.
Read more at Rate on 30-year fixed mortgage rises to 3.98 pct.
What the Fed’s Low Interest Rates Mean for Homebuyers
January 26, 2012 in Buying a Home, Massachusetts, Mortgage Interest Rates | Tags: Buying a Home, Mortgage Interest Rates, Mortgage Rates, mortgage refinance | Leave a comment
What the Fed’s Low Interest Rates Mean for Homebuyers
The Federal Reserve announced today that they will keep interest rates low until at least late 2014 in an effort to help jump-start the sluggish economy by making it less expensive to borrow money across all segments of the economy.
What this means for homebuyers and current homeowners is that mortgage rates for a purchase loan or to refinance will …
Read more at What the Fed’s Low Interest Rates Mean for Homebuyers.
5 Lessons Homebuyers Must Know
January 25, 2012 in Buying a Home, Massachusetts, Real Estate Market | Tags: Buying a Home, home buyers, housing market, Real Estate Market | Leave a comment
5 Lessons Homebuyers Must Know
NEW YORK (MainStreet) — Growing signs of improvement in the housing market could draw more buyers in the coming months, and although the rules of the game haven’t changed much, the big question for anyone returning to the housing market — or getting into it for the first time — is what are the long-term lessons to be learned from the recent housing downturn?
Read more at 5 Lessons Homebuyers Must Know.
FHA May Ease Seller Concession Cap
January 25, 2012 in Buying a Home, Cape Cod, FHA 203(k) Rehab Loans, FHA Mortgages, Massachusetts, Mortgages | Tags: FHA insured loans, FHA loans, FHA mortgages, seller assistance, seller concessions, seller contributions | Leave a comment
FHA May Ease Seller Concession Cap
Many in the real estate industry were concerned that a change announced last year to the maximum seller contributions allowed for Federal Housing Administration-insured loans could cause more deals to fall apart. The FHA announced last year that it would cut seller contributions from 6 percent to 3 percent for purchases using FHA-insured loans. Seller concessions, such as seller assistance to buyers in closing costs, can play a big part in FHA-financed home sales and in closing deals, real estate agents say.
Inman News reports that the FHA may be rethinking its seller contribution cap and will likely announce changes to its policy in April.
Read more at FHA May Ease Seller Concession Cap.
Seven Smart Ways to Pounce on Low Interest Rates
January 25, 2012 in Buying a Home, Cape Cod, Massachusetts | Tags: low interest rates, Mortgage Interest Rates, Mortgage Rates | Leave a comment
Seven Smart Ways to Pounce on Low Interest Rates
Taking Advantage of Low Rates
While go-go lending was partly to blame for the economy’s current financial troubles, ironically, borrowing money may help ease the country out of the downturn. At least that’s the thinking behind the Federal Reserve’s recent pledge to keep low interest rates into 2013.
While this move has not triggered an uptick in consumer confidence, experts agree money probably won’t get any cheaper to borrow than right now.
Read more at Seven Smart Ways to Pounce on Low Interest Rates.
Home Buying Could Soon Beat Renting
January 25, 2012 in Buying a Home, Cape Cod, Massachusetts | Tags: Buying a Home, housing market, low interest rates | Leave a comment
Home Buying Could Soon Beat Renting
Falling home prices have sent many would-be buyers to the sidelines. If all goes well, record low interest rates and rising rents may soon prompt some of them to take a second look at buying.
Unfortunately, that’s a big “if,” according to Paul Diggle, a housing economist at Capital Economics.
Read more at Home buying could soon beat renting.
Rising Rents Make Home Buying a Better Choice
January 20, 2012 in Buying a Home, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Real Estate Market | Tags: Buying a Home, Real Estate Market, rental housing market | Leave a comment
Rising Rents Make Home Buying a Better Choice
With home prices still sliding in the wake of the housing bust and credit as tight as ever, rental prices continued to increase at a fast pace this year.
Rental prices in the top 20 most-populated metro areas climbed 3.75 percent in 2011, while home prices dropped by 1.83 percent, according to a report by HotPads.com, a rental listing service that also generates data on the rental housing market. The measurements were based on the median prices of two-bedroom rentals and homes in the 20 cities.
Read more at Rental Prices Climb, Buying Remains More Affordable.
