Foreclosed Americans find way back to homeownership

May 17, 2012

Interviews with more than 30 lenders, builders, Realtors and consumers suggest that a growing number of Americans are getting back into the housing market, even though they went through a foreclosure, bankruptcy or short sale in recent years.  Much of the comeback has been made possible because of help from the U.S. government, namely the Federal Housing […]

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Is Now the Time to Buy Your First House?

May 15, 2012

It’s been a scary few years for the housing market. But at some point, the nightmare has to end. Is now the time? Should first-time home buyers consider jumping into the market? Two experts square off. Wall Street Journal  May 14, 2012

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Mortgage Rates Still Falling

May 11, 2012

Average fixed mortgage rates again fell to record lows after elections in France and Greece added to worries over the future of the euro zone and its common currency. A decline in stock prices also pushed investors into Treasury securities; mortgage rates are closely linked to Treasury yields. For the week ended Thursday, the 30-year fixed-rate […]

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Homeownership Rate Falls To 15 Year Low

May 3, 2012

The homeownership rate fell in the first quarter to the lowest level in 15 years as more Americans lost homes to foreclosure and shifted to renting amid the weak economic recovery. According to the Census Bureau the homeownership rate fell to 65.4% at the end of March from a peak of 69.2% at the end […]

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Why Home Prices Won’t Recover . . .But You Should Still Buy

May 1, 2012

U.S. house prices will likely never recover. But that’s no reason not to buy. That’s because the natural rate of price appreciation for houses is zero after inflation. Prices will eventually stop falling and will resume rising. But over the long term, they’re unlikely to resume rising faster than inflation. That’s why prospective buyers should […]

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Housing Ends Slide – Faces a Long Bottom

April 30, 2012

Nearly six years after home prices started falling, more U.S. housing markets appear to be nearing a new phase: a prolonged bottom.  Hitting a bottom, of course, isn’t the same as a full-fledged recovery, which is still years off for many housing markets, as well as for millions of people who purchased homes or took […]

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Housing Index Reaches New Low

April 25, 2012

The S&P/Case-Shiller index, which tracks home prices in 20 cities hit a new low in February, falling 3.5% below its year-earlier mark to a level not seen since late 2002. Separately, an index from the Federal Housing Finance Agency showed that home prices in February turned positive from one year ago. The 0.4% gain in […]

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Explosion in Student Debt Drags Down Housing

April 17, 2012

The cost of attending college in the U.S. has risen about three times as fast as wages since 2001. Soaring education-related debt will become “a significant drag on the housing market” as former students struggle to obtain mortgages at an affordable rate, according to Pierre Lapointe, a strategist at Brockhouse & Cooper. Bloomberg News  April […]

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Inherited IRAs: A Great Deal for Heirs

April 16, 2012

Under current rules, heirs get to stretch withdrawals from an inherited IRA across their own life expectancies, meaning the assets could potentially increase in value, tax-deferred, for decades.  Yet many unwitting families cash out the account, losing the possibility of a life-expectancy payout. Wall Street Journal   April 13, 2012

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Surprise Discounts Emerge For Forclosed Homes

April 12, 2012

There’s something new in the foreclosure marketplace, not just the “deep discounts” described by the National Association of Realtors but submarine markdowns which test the limits of financial understanding, deals beneath the surface of the foreclosure system with discounts so large they’re difficult to explain. RealtyTrac  April 11, 2012

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Estate Tax Repeal Gains Momentum in the States

April 4, 2012

While Washington continues to debate what to do with the federal death tax, the top rate is now 35% and is scheduled to rise to 55% next year, states are starting to recognize that their high estate taxes chase away wealth producers. Last year Ohio abolished its estate tax, joining the 28 other states that do […]

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Sales of Vacation Homes Surged Last Year

March 30, 2012

Sales of investment and vacation homes surged last year, the latest evidence that investors and higher-income households are taking advantage of low home prices to scoop up bargains. In its annual survey, the NAR found that the number of homes purchased by investors rose 65% during 2011 to 1.2 million, accounting for 27% of all […]

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