AP Survey: More Homeowners Avoid Buying Homes
A growing number of Americans say they don’t plan to buy a home anytime soon, according to a new Associated Press-AOL Money and Finance survey. Nearly two-thirds (60 percent) of homeowners say they definitely will not buy a home within the next two years, up from 53 percent in September 2006. More than a quarter [...]
Homebuyers Lose Case Against Buyer’s Agent
A jury ruled against the Carlsbad, Calif., couple who sued their real estate agent for fraud and negligence, claiming his actions caused them to overpay by approximately $150,000 for the home they purchased in 2005. Marty and Vernon Ummel claimed their buyer’s agent withheld information that similar homes in the neighborhood were selling for less [...]
Foreclosures Rise in March
Foreclosure filings nationwide increased 5 percent in March from the previous month, and they were 57 percent higher than in March 2007, according to the latest report from RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosure properties. One in every 538 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing last month — including default notices, auction sale notices and [...]
Columbus Center Project moving forward
The 1.3 million-square-foot mixed-use development to be built above the Mass Turnpike seems to be pushing forward. Despite financial setbacks, Columbus Center’s developer said the $800 million project is still alive and well.”We have no intention of abandoning it,” Roger Cassin, managing partner of WinnDevelopment, told Banker & Tradesman in an interview.
The Columbus Center Project [...]
Some Cities Still Boast Low Foreclosure, Unemployment Rates
MainStreet.com compared U.S. foreclosure data from RealtyTrac to employment rates supplied by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to compile a list of five cities that are surviving the mortgage and foreclosure problems best. All five cities had low foreclosure rates and a February unemployment rate lower than or equal to the national average of 4.8 [...]
NAR Predicts Rising Pace of Existing-Home Sales
The pace of existing-home sales is expected to rise to 5.9 million in the fourth quarter, a jump from the first-quarter pace of 4.9 million, according to NAR’s latest housing forecast released this morning. But sales of existing homes for all of 2008 are forecast to reach 5.39 million, 4.6 percent below the 2007 level, [...]
Zillow Enters the Mortgage Business
This might seem like an odd time for a company to break into the mortgage lending business, but that is exactly what online real estate marketer Zillow.com is doing. The company announced that its Zillow Mortgage Marketplace will offer borrowers an open forum to request custom loan quotes directly from registered lenders, anonymously and without [...]
Fannie Mae Tightens Mortgage Rules
Fannie Mae will soon require a minimum credit score of 580 for most loans that it buys on an individual basis, the company announced earlier this week. The new rule is one of several new lending standards that Fannie Mae is implementing to stem the tide of default-related losses. In the past, Fannie Mae did [...]
Some Housing Markets Show Improvement: Report
While most U.S. cities posted home price declines in January compared to a year ago, some markets are faring better, according to the latest housing market report by Radar Logic, a real estate data and analytics company. Of the 25 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) examined, only two cities — Charlotte, N.C. and New York City [...]
