In this Issue for July 2013: Real Estate Values Set Record Nationally Rising Mortgage Rates Raising Concerns Bad At Math? You're More Likely To Lose Your Home Real Estate Values Set Record Nationally U.S. home prices jumped 12.1 percent in April from a year ago, the most since March 2006. More buyers and a […]
Owners Think Homes Worth More Now Than When They Bought Them
Slightly over half of all homeowners say their homes are worth more today than they were when they bought them, according to a new national survey conducted just before Christmas. Most homeowners are confident they know what their home is worth, and a greater number than ever, some 29 percent, believe that they have lost […]
Home Values Continued Slide in 2011
Five consecutive years of declining home values have taken its toll on the country, with homeowners shouldering the brunt of these losses. In 2010, home values fell a collective $1.1 trillion according to Zillow, but in 2011 those losses have eased with Zillow estimating that home values fell by approximately $681 billion or 5.1 percent. […]
Home Values Stabilize
Home values in the U.S. declined slightly in October as the depreciation rate stabilized, but the market bottom likely will not hit until sometime next year after a drop of another 2 percent to 4 percent, according to the real estate research site Zillow. According to Zillow’s latest market report, home values fell 0.3 percent […]
Real Estate Short Sales Explained
The term “short sales” is used to describe a situation in which a homeowner is at risk of defaulting on their loan, and the lender agrees to sell the property below the original appraisal price in order to avoid foreclosure. Most lenders do not readily agree to short sales, although exceptional circumstances such as a […]
Short Sale vs Foreclosure
There are several differences between a short sale and a foreclosure. Homeowners who find they are having difficulty meeting their monthly mortgage payments should be careful to understand these differences before taking action. Discussing the options with their mortgage company, scheduling a meeting with a real estate consultant, and learning what potential taxable and credit […]
Housing Market Continues To Take A Pounding
As new indicators on the languishing national housing market continue to stream in it remains apparent that the crisis brought about by the bursting of the housing bubble is far from over. Newly released figures reveal that the prices of houses declined with greater speed during the opening quarter of this year than at any […]
U.S. Home Equity at Lowest Level in Generations
Home values are way down since the housing market hit its peak in 2006. The S&P/Case-Shiller Price Index, which is a measure of the home values in 20 metropolitan statistical areas is down by nearly a third since the market peaked. Although home prices were briefly buoyed by the 2009 and 2010 home buyer tax […]
Debt Consolidation Loans Becoming More Common
The housing slump has sent home values plummeting, and it has left an ever-growing number of homeowners upside down in their mortgage loans: They now owe more on their mortgage than what their homes are worth. This unfortunate economic reality has led a growing number of consumers to debt consolidation loans to help reduce the […]
U.S. Home Prices Fall to Pre-Bubble Levels
The drop in home values caused by the mortgage crisis has resulted in at least one positive outcome: Prices have fallen so far and so fast that home affordability is back to pre-housing boom levels, according to a new report. After reaching a peak in late 2005, the ratio of home prices to annual income […]