Builder Confidence for the 55+ Housing Market Ends Fourth Quarter on an Upswing

Builder confidence in the 55+ housing market for single-family homes rose four points to 18 compared to the same period a year ago, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) 55+ Housing Market Index (HMI).

“We are …

Obama Moves Forward with Foreclosure Prevention

Last Wednesday, February 1, President Obama announced the details of a plan to help homeowners refinance their mortgages in hopes of bolstering the housing market.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, this proposal will allow buyers …

Rand on Real Estate: Disaster on the Horizon

The federal government is planning a major new initiative to convert foreclosures into rentals. But as Greg Rand (@gsrand), CEO of OwnAmerica and host of Rand on Real Estate on WABC Radio in N.Y. explains, we need to …

Don’t Forget a Home Inspection with a New Construction Home

Every home—whether it’s a resale or new—has some kind of an issue, and the reality is that there is no “perfect” house. Many homebuyers embark on their search for a home with the belief that new homes should be flawless, …

Information Is Power…Again

Setting yourself apart from your competition is becoming increasingly difficult. The emergence of social media into the business world has created platforms where constant, ongoing contact is possible. As a result of this desire to be in constant contact, many …

Facebook Files for Initial Public Stock Offering

(MCT)—Facebook has filed papers for what’s expected to be the largest initial public offering ever to come out of Silicon Valley and one of the largest in U.S. history.

Ending months of breathless speculation, the 8-year-old social networking company has …

Mortgage Applications Down Nearly 3 Percent Last Week

Mortgage applications decreased 2.9 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending January 27, 2012.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, …

FHFA Responds to NPR Freddie Mac Refinance Story

A ProPublica–NPR news story recently suggested that a mortgage financing vehicle utilized by Freddie Mac may be preventing homeowners from refinancing. While FHFA does not typically comment on its supervisory activities, the circumstances here require some clarification, according to the …

Consumer Sentiment Picks up in Fourth Quarter

(MCT)—The lower-than-expected annualized growth rate of 2.8 percent reported Friday for the final three months of 2011 raises doubts about the strength of the U.S. recovery, and concerns that 2012 may be another year of muddling along.

Most mainstream economists …

Mixed Mortgage Messages: Originations Decline but Quality Soars

Mortgage originations plunged 10.1 percent from November to December, continuing a decline from 2011’s September peak. At the same time, loans originated over the last two years have proved to be some of the best quality originations on record.

New …

Investors with Cash Fuel Uptick in Home Sales

Regional Spotlight—Investors with cash continued to reap a harvest of bargain-priced bank-owned and short sale properties across the San Francisco Bay Area in the fourth quarter of 2011, sparking a slight uptick in home sales compared with the same period …

The Power of Belief and Expectation

While you may not always get what you want, you will almost always get what you expect. Surprisingly, the power of belief and expectation work just as effectively on your feelings of self-doubt and limitation as they do on your …

New Initiative Will Coordinate Probes of Mortgage Meltdown

(MCT)—The Obama administration’s new effort to investigate the causes of the nation’s mortgage meltdown will focus on coordinating the often overlapping state and federal investigations and on holding accountable those whose misconduct led to the global financial crisis.

A team …

Take Advantage of Record Low Rates before They Rise

Low interest rates, as we all know, are making history. Last week, according to an article found on CNNMoney, “rates on both the 30-year and 15-year fixed loans fell to new records, at 3.89 percent and 3.16 percent, respectively, according …

Remodeling Market Index Rises to Five-Year High

Remodeling sentiment rose to the highest level in five years, according to the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) Remodeling Market Index (RMI) for the fourth quarter of 2011. Released yesterday, the RMI increased to 46.6 in the fourth quarter …

Obama HARP Expansion Builds on New Refi Momentum

In his recent State of the Union speech, President Obama announced he will push for legislation that will significantly expand the newly revised HARP program that allows underwater homeowners to refinance at today’s historically low rates.

Obama’s expansion would allow …

Builders Commend White House Focus on Helping Homeowners

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) commends President Obama for offering proposals in the recent State of the Union address to help families stay in their homes and stanch foreclosures, and is urging policymakers to take additional actions to …

Look for Continued Housing Market Recovery in 2012

The end of 2011 brought good news on the nation’s economic front, with unemployment in December falling to its lowest level in three years and the economy adding 200,000 jobs during the same month.

Dave Liniger, chairman and co-founder of …

Water-Wise Bathroom Redo Gives Consumers a Chance to Win $100

HouseLogic.com, a comprehensive website about all aspects of homeownership from the National Association of REALTORS®, has launched a new online sweepstakes. Readers who leave comments on a blog featured at the site will have a chance to win a $100 …

Success Strategies: 4 Quick Ways to Be More Productive

If being connected 24/7 was supposed to make our lives easier, the business world didn’t get the memo. Most American professionals just can’t shake the end-of-the-day feeling that they didn’t get enough done. So day after day, they find themselves …

Miami Home Sales Break Record in 2011

Regional Spotlight—Miami home sales set a new record in 2011, exceeding transaction levels during the height of the real estate boom in 2005, according to the 26,000-member MIAMI Association of REALTORS® and the Southeast Florida Multiple Listing Service (SEFMLS). Total …

Finding the Positives in Economic and Housing Conditions in 2012

While 2011 was clearly a challenging year, there is a lot to be positive about looking ahead. Economically, while buffeted by natural disasters and fiscal policy indecisiveness at home and a European sovereign debt crisis abroad, the U.S. economy was …

Don’t Shoot the Messenger; Appraisers Not at Fault for ‘Low’ Home Values

Don’t blame the real estate appraiser if it turns out that house you’re trying to sell or buy isn’t worth what you thought it was. That was the message delivered recently by the Appraisal Institute, one of the nation’s largest …

Safeguard Your Health Care Dollars

More Americans are paying more of their health care costs out of pocket every year because they lack insurance, have higher deductibles and co-payments, or have chosen a Health Savings Account plan.

There are ways they can save money without …

Taxpayers, What Are Your Rights? Report to Congress Focuses on IRS Funding

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson recently released her annual report to Congress, identifying the combination of the IRS’s expanding workload and declining resources as the most serious problem facing taxpayers.

The result, the report says, is inadequate taxpayer service, …

2012 Is the Year of the Political Economy

Fiscal policy issues and political economic uncertainty will take center stage in determining the degree of consumer and business activity—key drivers of economic growth—during 2012, according to Fannie Mae’s (FNMA/OTC) Economics & Mortgage Market Analysis Group. The forthcoming presidential election, …

Numbers Vary by Region in Real Estate Auctions

Real estate auction activity continues to thrive. In today’s tumultuous economy, both residential and commercial properties are selling in droves via auction.

According to PropertyAuction.com, the number of auctions posted on their site has almost doubled in 2011. From January …

The Vote is In: Americans Place High Value on Homeownership

By an overwhelming margin, American voters strongly value homeownership and would oppose efforts to weaken or eliminate the mortgage interest deduction or diminish a federal role to help qualified home buyers obtain affordable 30-year mortgages, according to a new nationwide …