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Mortgage rates ease slightly

By Inman News, Thursday, April 16, 2009.

Rates on most mortgages eligible for purchase or guarantee by Freddie Mac fell slightly this week, remaining well below 5 percent for borrowers with good credit and sizeable down payments.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.82 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ending April 16, 2009, down from 4.87 percent last week and 5.88 percent a year ago, Freddie Mac said in releasing results of its weekly rate survey.  more...

Breaking lease over 'inconvenient move'

By Janet Portman, Thursday, April 16, 2009.

Q: We're tenants in a condominium complex, where we've lived for a couple of months. We have just learned that the complex has settled a big lawsuit with the builders, which will mean we'll need to temporarily move out while workmen repair water damage to the ground floor and garage that was caused by years of leaks and seeps. Although the owner will give us some relief with the rent, he won't let us out of our lease, which we've asked for (we'd rather move out once and be done with it). Do we have any legal grounds to break the lease? --Vicky and Sam S.  more...

Making real estate portable

By Teresa Boardman, Thursday, April 16, 2009.
Flickr image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/geishaboy500/3217701386/" target=blank>geishaboy500</a>.

My business is very portable. Last Friday, while I was in my car headed to a local coffee shop to write an offer for a buyer, I moved my business from Keller Williams, a national franchise with independently owned and operated offices all over the country, to a tiny boutique brokerage in my hometown.

As my new broker transferred my license, his tiny company grew by 33 percent with a couple of keystrokes and the $20 he had to pay the state.  more...

Builder confidence index rises 5 points

By Inman News, Thursday, April 16, 2009.

An index that gauges builder confidence in new single-family homes rose 5 points in April to the highest level since October 2008, the National Association of Home Builders reports.  more...

The fine print on teaser rates

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Thursday, April 16, 2009.

Q: I'm buying a house right now, and I have a mortgage broker I really like. But I keep seeing advertisements that say the going interest rate is 5 percent. My mortgage broker keeps quoting me 5.5 percent, though. I do trust her, as she has worked for my parents and siblings for many years, but is that legitimate?

A: Go back to those mortgage adverts that piqued your interest. Scroll down -- see all that fine print? Dollars to doughnuts says that's where you'll find the reason that teaser rate is so low, when your family's trusty mortgage pro says the rate you qualify for is actually a half-point higher.  more...

New reverse mortgage limits give seniors lifeline

By Tom Kelly, Thursday, April 16, 2009.

While job cuts and dwindling investment accounts continue to plague wage-earning households, many seniors continue to wonder how long their once-healthy retirement funds will provide them with the cash needed for their leisure years.

Some good news arrived recently, especially for older homeowners who continue to make mortgage payments on their primary residence. The economic stimulus bill signed into law raises the single national loan limit for the country's most popular reverse mortgage to $625,500 from the previous ceiling of $417,000.  more...

Housing distress reaches rural America Premium Content

By Gilbert Mohtes-Chan, Thursday, April 16, 2009.

Foreclosure was like a foreign word to the folks in rural Maine.

Auctions, short sales and real estate-owned sales happened in overbuilt, high-growth cities such as Las Vegas and Phoenix -- they seemed out of place in a small state that prides itself on "the way life should be" and subscribes to a wilderness philosophy of "slow to grow."

"Mainers don't default (on loans)," said Jim Gulnac, planning and community development director in Sanford, a southern Maine town of 21,000 people.  more...

Foreclosure filings hit new highs

By Inman News, Thursday, April 16, 2009.

Foreclosure-related filings on U.S. homes during the first three months of the year were up 9 percent from the previous quarter and 24 percent from a year ago, surpassing previous highs for the current downturn, data aggregator RealtyTrac said today.

The 803,489 properties subject to some kind of foreclosure filing during the first quarter -- including default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions --  was a new record since RealtyTrac began reporting in January 2005.  more...