Category: Housing Market

Mortgage Modifications Improve

Mortgage modifications have resulted in more than one million mortgage borrowers receiving a median savings of $500 a month, according to the Treasury Department. The improvement represents a 36% savings in mortgage costs to home borrowers. The temporary modifications are part of the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), which has been troubled by a… Continue reading Mortgage Modifications Improve

Underwater Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Owning a home with negative equity and a higher mortgage payment than is affordable is like living between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Yet for hundreds of thousands of homeowners that’s the way things are these days. Staggering job losses, growing under employment and record bankruptcies throwing many business owners out of work… Continue reading Underwater Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Foreclosures Keep Pace

For fifty consecutive months foreclosure notices filed against U.S. homes have risen on a year over year basis, according to the latest Realty Trac monthly report. Notices of foreclosure activity were filed against 308,524 properties in February. Foreclosure auctions, including notices of Trustee’s Sales and Notices of Sheriff’s Sales, the last steps in the foreclosure… Continue reading Foreclosures Keep Pace

Buying Ugly Houses

“We Buy Ugly Houses” has become the slogan of a franchise company that buys homes in distress. For more than 20 years Home Vestors has been getting homeowners out of trouble on their homes, buying more than 40,000 houses through its network of franchises. But the company best known for its’ television advertising campaigns reaching… Continue reading Buying Ugly Houses

Millions of Homeowners Could Receive Housing Aid

By Mike Colpitts Struggling to keep their housing rescue efforts alive, a senior Obama administration official admitted the administration has more work to do to help the growing number of homeowners at risk of foreclosure before a gathering of state housing finance agency officials in Washington. Michael Barr, the Treasury’s assistant secretary of financial institutions… Continue reading Millions of Homeowners Could Receive Housing Aid

Signs of Improvement

By Kevin Chiu The second home-vacation market, long slowed by the housing crash is showing signs of improvement amid growing buyer interest. It appears a rebound of sorts is developing in many vacation markets. The real first sign of improvement in the second home market developed in Miami, where bargain hunters are picking up some… Continue reading Signs of Improvement

Tax Credit Losing Momentum

By Kevin Chiu First time home buyers are being credited $12.5 billion in government tax credits, according to the Treasury Department. But the federal tax credit with the expansion of the program to move-up home buyers is losing momentum, a Housing Predictor analysis shows. A boom to first time home buyers and real estate agents… Continue reading Tax Credit Losing Momentum

5 More States Get $600-Million in Housing Relief

Bowing to political pressure and rising foreclosures, the Obama administration is allocating $600-million more in mortgage rescue relief efforts to five additional states. The program provides funding for Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Rhode Island and Oregon. The administration’s move comes just five weeks after allocating aid to the five worst affected states in the… Continue reading 5 More States Get $600-Million in Housing Relief

Mortgage Refinancing Program Extended

Hoping to improve its housing rescue efforts, the White House announced plans to extend its refinancing program for another year in order to give homeowners at risk of losing their homes or under water more time to refinance mortgages. The “Home Affordable Refinance Program” is a key component of the Obama administration’s efforts, expanding access… Continue reading Mortgage Refinancing Program Extended