Boston Rents Drop as Inventory Spikes
As inventory in Boston and across the country expands, rents are dropping quickly in major metro areas. Sellers who don’t need to sell or can’t get the price they want list their homes on the rental market as well as the sales market. Boston ranked as 10th on Business Week’s list of metro areas with [...]
When your mortgage application is rejected
Don’t be surprised if your “friendly” lender, the one who invites you to sit down and apply for a mortgage, ushers you politely out the door empty-handed after you’ve chatted a bit.
The sudden chill isn’t personal. The Mortgage Bankers Association, or MBA, in Washington, D.C., estimates that about half of all mortgage applicants are now [...]
New-Home Sales Climb, But Remain Far Below 2008 Level
Sales of new single-family homes were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 337,000 in February, up 4.7 percent from the January estimate of 322,000, but were 41.1 percent below the February 2008 rate of 572,000, the U.S. Commerce Department reported this morning.
The median sale price of new single-family homes sold in February was $200,900, [...]
U.S. Expands Plan to Buy Banks Troubled Assets
The White House unveiled the details of a plan to buy up to $2 trillion in bad home loans and mortgage-backed securities from banks.
The U.S. government will match investments made by private investors and offer affordable, taxpayer-supported financing to encourage purchases of the troubled mortgage assets.
The Obama administration also plans to create public-private investment funds [...]
America’s 10 Wealthiest Towns
The very wealthy seem to be mostly immune from recent economic downturns. BusinessWeek ranked America’s wealthiest towns based on the 2008 net income and 2008 net worth of their residents.
Here’s BusinessWeek’s list of America’s top 10 wealthiest communities:
Brookville, N.Y.; average income: $328,404; average net worth: $1,670,075
Atherton, Calif.; $380,535; $1,648,161
Rolling Hills, Calif.; $324,190; $1,647,622
Kenilworth, Ill.; $334,634; [...]
Nation’s Top 10 Places to Find Jobs
With the economy in the tubes and job losses on the rise, Bostonians may be happy to know that our city made the Ajilon Professional Staffing list of the top U.S. cities to find a job. The Ajilon study is based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Metropolitan Area Jobs Report, as [...]
Mortgage Industry Update
The Commerce Department reported that housing starts unexpectedly jumped 22.2% in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 583,000 units. This ended the longest streak of declines in 18 years. Economists had anticipated a 3.4% decline to 450,000 units. Leading the surge was an 82% increase in the building of multifamily homes — condominiums, [...]
New Smoke Detector Regulation Passed
Boston: Effective January 10, 2010 only photoelectric smoke detectors will be allowed within 20 feet of a kitchen or a bathroom containing a bathtub or shower. According to fire officials this is because photoelectric detectors are less prone to false alarms when steam or smoke is produced. Outside of this area [...]
New Guidelines for Condo Mortgages
Fannie Mae has added new guidelines that might make it more difficult for condo developers to sell their units, The Wall Street Journal reports. As of March 1, the government-backed mortgage finance company has stopped guaranteeing mortgages in condo buildings where fewer than 70 percent of the units have been sold, up from 51 percent. [...]
Boston Ranked #7 Best Real Estate Markets in the US
Boston was ranked #7 as one of the best real estate markets in the country. New York City, Washington D.C., and Charlotte, rounded up the top three, with Las Vegas listed as the weakest market in the nation. Cities were ranked according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index. Released monthly, the index examines repeat home sales in 20 [...]
