Are you thinking green this Spring? Not only can energy efficient windows, doors and skylights reduce energy bills they can also reduce your federal tax load! Visit Energystar.gov to see how you can save! These incentives are rewards for making your home more efficient and consuming less energy.

Our governing documents describe allowable signs as either for sale or for rent. Since no other types of signs are described, some interpret to mean no others are allowed. This seems overly restrictive. What about open house, garage sale and political signs? How about holiday decorations and flags?

We are all under the gun every day in real estate sales. Most of us get up every morning unemployed. We need to go out and find a person to buy and sell with everyday. How do we “pressure proof” our business?

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 FHFA, who issued the following response: Freddie Mac has historically used the structuring of Collateralized [...]

Everyone knows that the housing market has been a little daunting for the last several years. Ups and downs, talk of good news and bad news, and a confusing amount of information about rising and falling mortgage rates has rendered the market all but inaccessible for a lot of prospective buyers. Good news! Times are [...]

Editor’s Note: The below article, which originally appeared in the December 2011 issue of Real Estate magazine, features updated information regarding the National Flood Insurance Program. The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (NAR) is a leading advocate regarding federal legislative and regulatory issues affecting the industry and homeowners. NAR’s efforts drove these accomplishments in 2011: Restructuring [...]

The UFA Default Risk Index for the fourth quarter of 2011 edged lower to 131 from last quarter’s revised 133, which suggests that residential mortgage default and prepayment risks are continuing their return to normalcy. According to the latest UFA Mortgage Report by University Financial Associates of Ann Arbor, Michigan, the stage is set for [...]

Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) recently released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), showing average fixed mortgage rates changing little and remaining near their historic lows while adjustable-rate mortgages averaged new record lows. The 30-year fixed has averaged at or below 4 percent for the fourth consecutive week. 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged [...]

When the Obama administration rolled out the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) in 2009, officials estimated 3 to 4 million borrowers would seek relief from their mortgages through the program amidst the worst recession and housing market collapse in decades. More than two years later, those projections have proven to be optimistic, to say the [...]

The national delinquency rate for residential home loans fell to 7.99 percent in the third quarter—the lowest reading since the fourth quarter of 2008. This represents a decline of 45 basis points from the second quarter of this year, and a drop of 114 basis points from the third quarter of last year. The Mortgage [...]

Unemployment and other factors have caused many homeowners to involuntarily default on their mortgages. At the same time, falling home prices, the possibility of being underwater for many years and advice from certain influencers, or “mavens,” may have encouraged others to simply stop paying, with deleterious consequences in some markets, according to a study released [...]

Mortgage applications increased 10.3 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 4, 2011. According to the release, the Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 10.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week [...]

Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) released the results of its third quarter refinance analysis showing homeowners who refinance continue to strengthen their fiscal house by maintaining or reducing their mortgage debt. In the third quarter of 2011, 82 percent of homeowners who refinanced their first-lien home mortgage either maintained about the same loan amount or lowered [...]

Consumer money resource Bills.com recently released its 2011 Third Quarter Mortgage Report. Driven by an increased demand for refinance loans, consumer traffic to the company’s mortgage tools and calculators more than doubled from the second quarter. The majority of homeowners preferred 15-year fixed-rate loans as a way to combine lower interest rates with the stability [...]

Effective October 1, 2011, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lowered their conforming loan limits back to 2008 levels. And that means many home buyers suddenly need a jumbo loan to qualify for the homes they want. Real estate professionals who have worked with jumbo loans in the past know that the process and underwriting guidelines [...]

Despite the “doom and gloom” in today’s headlines, in the current economic climate, homeownership is more affordable than ever, thanks to low interest rates and lower home values. For those buyers who manage to have a 20% (or more) downpayment, they believe this will get them the lowest monthly mortgage payment. However, simply because buyers [...]

Eliminating or curtailing the mortgage interest deduction would have a disproportionate impact on younger, middle-class families, who would see their ability to become home owners significantly diminished, with sober implications for their longer term financial prospects, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) told Congress recently. “How housing is treated in any future tax reform [...]

Pending home sales slipped in August with a mixed regional performance but are higher than a year ago, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.  The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, declined 1.2 percent to 88.6 in August from 89.7 in July but is 7.7 percent above August 2010 [...]

What do you do when the appraisal on the dream home you want to buy comes in below the price in the offer the seller has accepted—even as much as 10 to 20 percent below? Chances are that raising the cash for your down payment and closing cost has tapped you out. Finding thousands more [...]

(MCT)—With mortgage interest rates hovering around 50-year lows, refinancing is an appealing prospect for many homeowners. I think this is especially true considering the stock market’s August gyrations. Taking nervous energy and using it to focus on sure-thing money moves such as lowering payments or paying debt faster makes sense. According to Freddie Mac’s weekly [...]

The number of consumers across the country who filed applications for new home loans recently fell considerably, as fewer borrowers sought to refinance their existing mortgages. Informa Research Services, a subsidiary of Informa plc (LSE: INF), suggests that consumers review online rate tables to find the best rates with which to refinance a current home [...]

If you’re on the verge of losing your home, or you know someone who is, then you also know about the long, bureaucratic process involved in applying for a loan modification from a lender. The most common approach is to apply under the new Home Affordability Mortgage Program (HAMP), but lenders also accept modifications from [...]

RISMEDIA, August 1, 2011—The remodeling market slipped under pressure from a sluggish economy according to the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) Remodeling Market Index (RMI), which dipped during the second quarter to 43.9 from the first quarter result of 46.5. An RMI below 50 indicates that more remodelers report market activity is lower compared [...]