Are FHA Loan Limits Increasing $100,000?
on Nov 20, 2009 in Mortgage Buried at the bottom of a New York Times article on the trouble FHA housing loans are in is this tidbit, Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts wants to raise the lending limits of an FHA loan $100,000. A few weeks ago, Congress extended the hig...

7 Million More Foreclosures To Hit The Market?
on Nov 19, 2009 in Real Estate  How scary is that number, 7 Million. If it was the deficit, it would not even scratch the surface. But it is the number of homes that are essentially in a foreclosure backlog. These 7 million foreclosures represent those that are being negotia...

Top 10 Most Affordable Real Estate Markets in 2009
on Nov 19, 2009 in Top 10 Real Estate Lists If you are looking to move to someplace affordable, we have the list for you. The criteria that the National Association of Home Builders uses is if the home is affordable for families living at the median income of $64,800. So while these cities ar...

Lowes See Home Improvement Market Improving In Hard Hit Areas
on Nov 17, 2009 in Real Estate The housing downturn also took a big chunk out of the profitability of the home improvement stores. Think about it, who wants to invest in a home that is losing value or that you may have to turn over to the bank. When you can not pay the mortgage, p...

First Time Home Buyers Account For Nearly Half of Home Sales
on Nov 16, 2009 in 2009 Real Estate Forecast Great news, the new home owner stimulus package did work. Nearly half of all homes sold between July 2008 and June 2009 were by first time home buyers. Average price was $156,000 and the median income of the household making the purchase was $61,600.

Commercial Real Estate Seeing Bottom
on Nov 16, 2009 in Commercial Real Estate After a few years of following real estate, it is interesting to see the difference between the residential real estate market and the commercial markets. For the residential market, real estate is home, a major investment, personal, and passionate.

FHA Running Out Of Money
on Nov 13, 2009 in Real Estate The Federal Housing Administration is nearly broke. Or in their parlance, dangerous low in cash reserves. Yes, this is the same FHA that has provided loans to those who are unable to come up with the down payments that most banks are requiring or tha...

Digital Assets For Real Estate Professionals
on Nov 13, 2009 in Real Estate Tools The past couple of weeks I have spent working and talking with people outside of the real estate industry about their web presence. It really brought home the point of how advanced many real estate agents, mortgage professionals, and those in the ind...

Who Is Watching Fannie And Freddie? Answer Nobody Now. Internal Auditor Fired
on Nov 11, 2009 in Real Estate Who is watching the hen-house full of 6 trillion dollars? If you are thinking about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, today the answer is nobody. The agencies inspector general must have been getting too close to the truth as he has been fired in a co...

Third Quarter Existing Homes Sales Increase 11.4 Percent, Prices Drop 11.2 Percent
on Nov 10, 2009 in 2009 Real Estate Forecast With stimulus provided by the new homeowners tax credit, we saw an increase in home sales in the 3rd Quarter of 2009. That is the good news. The bad news, prices dropped 11.2 percent from 2008 levels, ones anyone who watches real estate know were ane...