Mortgages To Givers of Down Payments By LISA PREVOST Published: December 27, 2012 HOME buyers trying to scrape together enough money to cover the typical 20 percent down payment frequently look to relatives for help. In a National Association of Realtors survey of people who bought homes from July 2011 to June 2012, about a
Read more %1$sHow Would A Recession Impact Commercial Real Estate?
While the entire commercial property industry would suffer, certain sectors would experience a surplus amount of pain. By Phil Hall Throughout the prolonged drama surrounding the so-called fiscal cliff negotiations, there has been a fear that a failure to resolve this crisis by the end of the year would result in a new recession in
Read more %1$sHow Today’s Real Estate Market has Transformed the Mortgage Industry
The real estate market turmoil in the last few years has affected the mortgage industry in unprecedented ways. For the first half of the last decade, the industry was guilty of handing out mortgages like parade clowns frantically tossing candy to spectators. During this time, many bankers and lenders were pressured by stockholders
Read more %1$sFHA sets new rules for reverse mortgages
Fixed-rate program eliminated — making reverse mortgages less risky for government, less lucrative for homeowners You’ve probably seen the reverse mortgage pitchmen at work on your TV screen — former Sen. Fred Thompson and actors Robert Wagner and Henry “Fonzie†Winkler prominent among them — urging seniors to pull cash out of their homes through
Read more %1$sLenders can foreclose on properties, even after losing the note
Prominent real estate attorney Joseph Forte recently wrote about “… the prospect of refinancing nearly $1.8 trillion of existing U.S. commercial real estate debt in the next five years.â€
In order to complete this task and to ensure that investors and lenders are willing to lend money to building owners, we must have a judicial system that is going to honor the contracts entered into with borrowers.
Read more %1$sMortgage Interest Deduction, Once a Sacred Cow, Is Under Scrutiny
Many home buyers deduct their mortgage interest when assessing their tax bill, a perk that has helped bolster the income of millions of families — and the broader housing market.
Read more %1$sLenders Loosen Up…With Luxury Buyers
By MATTHEW STROZIER Demand for new mortgages is finally revving up—among big spenders, anyway. Home sales using a jumbo mortgage had year-over-year growth of 7.9% through September, compared with 2.7% for nonjumbo sales, according to an analysis for The Wall Street Journal by mortgage-technology company FNC. It’s the latest sign that jumbo loans, defined as
Read more %1$sFactoring in Commuting Costs
By LISA PREVOST MORTGAGE lenders do not figure in a household’s likely commuting costs when weighing loan applications, but a recent study suggests that borrowers of moderate means would be smart to calculate these costs themselves before buying. The study, published in October by the Center for Housing Policy and the Center for Neighborhood Technology,
Read more %1$sMORTGAGES: The High Price of ‘Forced’ Insurance
By LISA PREVOST BORROWERS who allow their homeowners’ insuranceto lapse will often get stuck with a bill for much more expensive coverage, courtesy of their lenders. Called force-placed or lender-placed insurance, these policies protect banks’ interests when borrowers fail to follow through on the standard loan requirement that they maintain continuous coverage on their home.
Read more %1$sTips for buying a house
The top 10 things you need to know when buying a home
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