Real Estate

The Treasury Department, Urban Development, and the Department of Housing are gathering this week to announce a way to help at risk borrowers who have different types of mortgages (not narrowed down to high cost mortgages and subprime loans) may be eligible for the new Project Lifeline. This project will give homeowners who are seriously overdue a 30 day suspension of a foreclosure for lenders to work out a loan that is more affordable for them.

On December 28th the Commerce Department reported that home sales have gone down a steep 9% - which was more than what people were looking for. People were hoping that the number would drop at a more decreased rate.

New-home sales dropped by 19.3% in the Northeast, 27.6% in the Midwest, and 6.4% in the South. However, sales increased by 4% in the West. Over the last 12 months, new-home sales nationwide have tumbled by 34.4%, the biggest annual slide since early 1991, and stark evidence of the painful collapse of the once high-flying housing market.
The supply of homes for sale rose to 9.3 months’ worth from 8.8 (revised from 8.5). Whereas earlier sales and price data had suggested big price cuts by homebuilders were clearing inventory, this pattern has been reversed with the November data and revisions.

Before you can officially sell your home you must take steps to ensure that you are selling it at for what it is worth. People who don’t take steps to do this will find that they have either over priced it – which makes it hard for them to sell it – or under priced it.

There are several ways to determine the value of a home. An appraisal is a professional estimate of a property’s market value, based on recent sales of comparable properties, location, square footage and construction quality. This service varies in cost depending on the price of the home. On average, an appraisal costs about $300 for a $250,000 house.

Those of you who are selling need to be prepared for a long wait. Sometimes it can take a person a whole year to sell their home – which isn’t good if you have another home lined up that you are looking at. That is why it is important to do everything you can to sell it quickly.

Many homes are being advertised on the Internet – especially if you go through a well known real estate agency. Always provide pictures – but make sure that they are well done. You want people to see a beautiful home with charm and elegance. Not an everyday home that they can live in.

When purchasing a house negotiating is what it’s all about. It’s you against the seller. One of you is trying to get the lowest price and the other is trying to sell at the highest price. At least that’s one way to look at it.

It’s more productive to look at a negotiation as a problem-solving process. You and the seller may have different ideas about what price the property should sell for. However, you’re united in a common goal of consummating a deal. The challenge is to resolve your differences through a process of give and take until you either reach your common goal, or decide to go your separate ways.

We were all hoping that the housing slump would get better with time. Unfortunately it only seems to be getting worse. People are finding it hard to bring in business and some are having to shut down. Foxtons is one such place that is closing because of the slumping housing market.

The West Long Branch-based real estate company says it’s contemplating bankruptcy protection for an orderly shutdown. It will lay off 350 of its 380 workers and intends to keep 4,400 listings on the market. Senior vice president John Blomquist tells The Asbury Park Press the company no longer has the liquidity to operate as a going concern.

Los Angeles is the place that everyone wants to see, is is the “Sultan of Sprawl”, but most people would not have known this by looking at the country’s fastest growing suburbs. Not one of these falls in the L.A. metropolitan area. The people living in L.A. have decided to move to San Bernardino, 60 miles east of L.A. This is where twelve of the country’s 100 fastest growing suburbs are located. It has experienced 130% growth since 2000.

When you have bought your very own home it is always important to keep in mind that you may not be in it forever. Some day you may decide to move into a bigger place or maybe even a smaller one. That is why you should always do things to your home that will improve it and give it more value.

Immediately when you buy your house you must be thinking of things that will make the value of the house rise. If you do things right you will raise the value of the house and when selling time comes you will be able to sell it for a much higher price then what you bought it for. That is why owning a home is often used as an investment. Here are a few tips that will help you to improve the value of your home.

After rising five straight weeks in a row, the rates on 30 year mortgages have gone down a little bit during this week as investors heard rumors suggesting that the economic drag will continue longer than they hoped.

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.69 percent this week. That was down from 6.74 percent last week, when rates had jumped to the highest level in 11 months. Analysts said the slight retreat occurred because financial markets saw two weak reports on housing as indications that troubles in the slumping sector are continuing to mount.

Like most people, Kurt Montufar, is taking advantage of the housing slump that seems to be getting worse as time goes by. Being one of the many homebuyers who were rejected as being out of the price market during the last boom, Montufar is looking for the perfect home to purchase. With foreclosures rising and sellers being forced to lower their prices, homebuyers are having the time of their lives.