Category: Housing Market

Majority Surveyed Want to Buy Homes

A large majority of respondents to a new Housing Predictor survey said they want to buy their first home or purchase another home, indicating that pent-up demand is growing in the U.S. housing market, despite the decline in home values throughout the majority of the country. An over-whelming majority or 72% of those surveyed said… Continue reading Majority Surveyed Want to Buy Homes

Appraisal Headaches Plague Housing Market

By Kevin Chiu A handful of new appraisal services hitting the market to help lenders get a handle on foreclosures and mortgage refinancing are producing headaches for the housing market. But more affordable alternatives to full appraisals are springing up to replace broker price opinions. Street Links Lender Solutions has launched a Liquidation Value Report… Continue reading Appraisal Headaches Plague Housing Market

Investors Home Buying Binge Rages

By Mike Colpitts Investors accounted for almost 1 in 4 home purchases during the month of January, up to 23% of purchases, demonstrating that the home buying binge by investors is controlling a large portion of the U.S. housing market as bargain hungry investors attempt to cash in on deals. The figure was up 2%… Continue reading Investors Home Buying Binge Rages

Underwater Homeowners Program Launches Second Leg

By Kevin Chiu A former Goldman Sachs banker, who launched an innovative company more than two years ago in an effort to save millions of underwater homeowners from foreclosure, is expanding his firm’s program to include homeowners with second home mortgages. The firm negotiates with underwater homeowners in an effort to reduce the number of… Continue reading Underwater Homeowners Program Launches Second Leg

Mortgage Bankers Urge Single Bond Sales

By Mike Colpitts The president of the nation’s largest mortgage trade group is urging a change in the bonds that are sold to secure home mortgages. David Stevens outlined a new system to inject private capital into the nation’s mortgage market at the Mortgage Bankers Association conference in  New York  Monday, suggesting that the bonds… Continue reading Mortgage Bankers Urge Single Bond Sales

60 Minutes Whistleblower Gets $18 Million

By Mike Colpitts A Florida attorney, who was one of the first in the nation to be a whistle blower in the banks robo-signing scandal by exposing her own foreclosure to public ridicule, will be paid $18 million to settle claims over the 2009 botched foreclosure of her condominium unit. West Palm Beach attorney Lynn… Continue reading 60 Minutes Whistleblower Gets $18 Million

Renters Face Severe Affordability Shortage

By Mike Colpitts Homeowners forced to rent homes and apartments as a result of foreclosures are finding the lowest affordability of rental housing in decades as rental rates in the majority of U.S. cities climb, according to a national housing advocacy group. An estimated 70% of low income tenants are finding housing unaffordable in the… Continue reading Renters Face Severe Affordability Shortage

Group Launches $100 Million Home Rehab

An innovative non-profit group has launched an aggressive $100 million campaign to rehabilitate thousands of homes left to decay in blighted urban neighborhoods as a result of the U.S. foreclosure crisis. The organization has qualified for financing to repair vacant homes from bankers to help damaged neighborhoods. The group’s chief executive says a new initiative… Continue reading Group Launches $100 Million Home Rehab