Rising interest rates drive up August home buying

Rockford-area home buyers leapt into action in August, as mortgage rates climbed to a two-year high, with total home sales and the average price reaching new highs in the current housing recovery. The three-month rolling average price hit a 32-month high at $114,774 in August, the highest monthly average since $117,520 in January 2011. The

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How to Prep Your Home for the Market

By Kate Rogers Homeowners who have been sitting on the sidelines mulling whether or not to jump into the market, housing experts offer the following advice: jump in. Existing home sales jumped 6.5% in August to the highest level in four years and homebuilder confidence also climbed to its highest level since 2005 for the month.

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Owning a Home Isn’t Always a Virtue

By ROBERT J. SHILLER In the aftermath of the subprime mortage crisis,our national commitment to homeownership is sure to be questioned as we consider what to do about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the enterprises that are meant to increase the supply of money available for mortgages and are now under government conservatorship; the Federal

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Why Home-Price Gains Will Slow Amid Higher Mortgage Rates

By Nick Timaraous Here’s a look at seven areas to watch during the second half of 2013: 1. What will higher mortgage rates do to housing demand? 2. Don’t higher mortgage rates help in the short run by bringing more buyers off the fence? 3. Who is knocked out of the market by rising rates?

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6 hurdles that can stand between you and your mortgage–and what to do about them

By Mayra David If you’re looking to buy a NYC apartment, there’s a decent chance you are also in the market for a mortgage. We asked some experts to spot some of the most common hurdles tripping up NYC buyers these days and give us their suggestions for overcoming them. 1. Being self-employed or having

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Pre-Closing Credit Checks

By Lisa Prevost Buyers waiting to close on a mortgage should avoid doing anything that might change their credit picture until after the documents are signed and the money is delivered. Buyers waiting to close on a mortgage should avoid doing anything that might change their credit picture until after the documents are signed and

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Why mortgage rates change on a daily basis

By Barry Nielsen In a free market system the price of a good is determined by the supply and demand for a good. When the supply of a good falls or the demand increases, prices go up. The opposite is true when the supply increases or the demand falls. This basic economic rule holds true

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Rising home prices rescue underwater homeowners

By Julie Schmit Demonstrating the power of rising home prices, the number of underwater homeowners has dropped below 10 million for the first time in more than at least three years. Nationwide, 9.7 million, or 19.8% of homeowners with a mortgage, owed more on their homes than they were worth as of March, says market

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Top 12 questions New Yorkers ask their mortgage bankers

Sponsored by National Cooperative Bank If you’re applying for a mortgage or refinancing your existing one in the post-Lehman world, you probably already know that there’s a bit more to the process than finding the best rate and filling out some paperwork–and that it behooves you to go in with your eyes wide open. To

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A Deduction Unevenly Used

BY: LISA PREVOST A new report from the Pew Charitable Trusts reinforces what many economists have been saying for some time: the mortgage interest deduction primarily benefits high-income homeowners. The report charts the geographic distribution of those using the deduction across and within the 50 states. The states with the largest percentages of tax filers

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