Posts with tag home buying

By Scott Sheldon Securing a mortgage today requires careful consideration of all the figures associated with the transaction. The biggest figures that most homebuyers pay attention to include loan amount, interest rate, closing costs and the one most benign to consumers, the annual percentage rate (APR for short), which... Continue Reading »

By Diana Olick In the kitschy community of St. Michaels on the Maryland shore, businesses are gearing up for the official start of the season, Memorial Day weekend. Trucks carrying dozens of bicycles are unloading into waterside racks and shopkeepers are moving their bright-colored wares out onto the sidewalks. For real... Continue Reading »

By Alison Paoli Mortgages are tricky and often hard to understand. Because most people only purchase a home every five to seven years, prospective homebuyers understandably don't spend a lot of time in the interim educating themselves about mortgages and the mortgage process. With the real estate market picking up and... Continue Reading »

Housing experts have noted that in the last few months, there has been a significant uptick in demand for homes by consumers eager to take advantage of still-low home prices and record-low interest rates. And soon that demand might spike even higher. While there's been considerable talk about the nation's shadow inventory... Continue Reading »

By Brendon Desimone When you drive a new car off the lot, it immediately loses some of its value. Does the same apply to real estate? And if so, should you care? For years, the new construction and development market has been sluggish. But now, banks are lending again for new construction, and developers are ready to... Continue Reading »

By Jeff Brown With more and more signs that the housing market is inching off the bottom, homeowners with good credit and lots of resources are once again asking the question: Can I afford a second home? There's something irresistible about the dream of a vacation place at the beach, lake or in the mountains. Summer... Continue Reading »

Serious about buying a home? It's important first to know your finances, get a solid grasp on the kind of loans available, and acquaint yourself with some homebuying strategies. Here are five essential steps to getting a sure-footed start on shopping for your first home. 1. Know what you can... Continue Reading »

A major cause of the recent housing crisis is the number of homeowners who ended up purchasing property and saddled with loans that, it turned out, they couldn't really afford. To avoid that trap, some key questions in determining how much home you can afford are: How much can you pay monthly? What are... Continue Reading »

By Seth Price for InmanNext When was the last time you sold a house for $135,000 above the asking price? An Australian man recently made headlines by doing just that -- selling his home on Twitter. With the help of digital marketer John Newell and real estate agent Hocking Stewart, Kurt Oprey was able to sell his home in... Continue Reading »

WASHINGTON -- Sales of new homes dipped in January but the final quarter of 2011 was stronger than first estimated. The Commerce Department said Friday that new-home sales fell 0.9 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 321,000 homes. That followed four straight months of gains in which home sales rose... Continue Reading »

WASHINGTON -- Fewer people bought new homes in December. The decline made 2011 the worst year for new homes sales on records dating back nearly half a century. The Commerce Department said Thursday that new-home sales fell 2.2 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 307,000. The pace is less than half... Continue Reading »

WASHINGTON -- The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell again this week to a record low. The eighth record low in a year is attracting few takers because most who can afford to buy or refinance have already done so. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage... Continue Reading »

Many Americans are planning to buy homes in the areas that have been hardest-hit by the real estate crisis, according to housing data released this week. Real estate research agency Trulia reported that there are a number of major metropolitan areas in the U.S. where people from around the country -- many of them retiring... Continue Reading »

By Michael S. Derby The younger you are, the more freaked out you are likely to be by the housing market crash. A new paper by Federal Reserve Bank of Boston economists used consumer sentiment data collected in the Michigan Survey of Consumers over the summer to try to find out how the housing market's terrible state of... Continue Reading »

In today's turbulent housing market, where supply outstrips demand and strict lenders hobble buyers, it pays to have an expert guide you through your home sale. But when the ink dries and the deal is closed, just how much of your hard-earned money should go toward the agent's commission? Not as much as you might think. Continue Reading »