Home

Gloomy outlook for loan mods Premium Content

By Matt Carter, Friday, October 9, 2009.

The Obama administration's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) is too focused on subprime loans to head off a projected 10 million to 12 million foreclosure starts that lie ahead if unemployment remains elevated, according to a report by a Congressional Oversight Panel.

The panel, created in conjunction with the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to keep tabs on financial markets and the regulatory system, said that even if the HAMP program meets a goal of facilitating up to 4 million loan modifications, its scope is too narrow to address foreclosures caused by unemployment.  more...

Mortgage rates breaking records

By Inman News, Friday, October 9, 2009.

Rates on several types of mortgages were at or near historic lows this week, helping spur demand for purchase and refinance loans, Freddie Mac said in releasing the results of its weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.87 percent with an average 0.7 point, down from 4.94 percent last week and 5.94 percent a year ago.  more...

Index: Inventories shrank again in August

By Inman News, Friday, October 9, 2009.

The number of for-sale listings in 26 metro markets where ZipRealty operates declined 1.8 percent from August to September, the company said, marking the 15th consecutive month-over-month decline in housing inventory.

Inventories shrank from month to month in all but four of the markets covered in ZipRealty's Housing Inventory Index, the company said. Inventories of single-family homes and condos were up in Boston (2.2 percent), Baltimore (1.5 percent), Sacramento (1.3 percent), and Charlotte, N.C. (0.2 percent).  more...

Freddie Mac REO incentive ending

By Inman News, Friday, October 9, 2009.

A program in which Freddie Mac pays some or all of the closing costs on purchases of homes in the company's real estate-owned (REO) inventory is ending this month, but Freddie will continue to provide two years of home warranty coverage on homes it sells.

Freddie Mac's SmartBuy program pays closing costs of up to 3.5 percent of a home's purchase price. On a $150,000 home, for example, SmartBuy will pay up to $5,250 of closing costs.  more...

Ditching a condo contract? Not easy

By The Real Deal, Friday, October 9, 2009.

NEW YORK -- It's often said that the devil is in the details -- and for many New York City buyers and sellers, that's increasingly become the case in the down market.

New development brokers and real estate lawyers say many of the attempts they are seeing among buyers to get out of contracts are from those arguing that the measurements on their condos are different from what they were promised. They say that sometimes buyers will invoke the claim over a minor quibble, such as small floorplan discrepancies or an inch or two difference in ceiling height.  more...