With national interest rates near historic lows, a slight decline of available homes on the market and decelerating declines in prices, there is enough evidence to give hope that the market may finally be showing signs of stabilizing.
January Real Estate Report
Each of the four regions witnessed drops in their median home prices during the month of November. The region with the most noticeable decline was the West, where the median home sales price was down 6.8 percent from the same month a year prior.
Understanding Adjustable Rate Mortgages
You've probably heard a lot about ARMs in the news of late, but many people still find them confusing. They know that the rate changes, but they aren't sure how. ARMs really aren't all that complicated. An ARM has two elements: The interest rate and monthly payment. With a fixed rate mortgage those items stay the same throughout the life of the loan. With an ARM, the interest rate changes and in turn, causes changes in your monthly payments.
Selling a Home on a Busy Street
Selling a house on a busy street requires a determined effort from the home seller and the Realtor to emphasize the many positive aspects of the home. According to real estate professionals, there are several ways to attract interested home buyers to those busy streets with the double yellow lines down the middle, and reach your goal of a successful home sale.
Cleaning Up Your Credit
Mortgage lenders generally check with three credit bureaus in order to evaluate your past payment history. Your goal in cleaning up your credit report should be to clean up each of the three bureaus. If you only work on one, this does not effect the reporting to the other bureaus.
Assistance Programs for First Time Homebuyers
Although many people can afford a mortgage payment and associated costs to owning their own home, the thought of coming up with a substantial down payment often stops them from taking the plunge. Charity organizations and federal institutions are available to these buyers to assist with this problem.
When Your Home's Value is Less Than the Mortgage
With the real estate market cooling off some people are finding themselves in an awkward situation. For the first time in years the value of their home is less than what they owe on their mortgage. Several things have contributed to this. First, home prices aren't increasing like they were the last few years and in come cases have even dropped. Second, specialty loan products like option ARMs and interest only loans have made it easy people to buy more home than they can afford. There is a solution.
The Facts about Mortgage Buy Downs
With a volatile market and more and more Americans having less than stellar credit, selling a home is not as easy as it once was. But one option that many people may not be aware of is called the "mortgage buy down."