Mortgage rates stay below 6 percent

Rates on 30-year mortgages edged down slightly this week, staying below 6 percent, although rates on other types of mortgages rose.

Mortgage bankers cleaning up mess they made
Across the country, key players in the real estate boom are adapting to the new reality of the marketplace and are finding new success by offering solutions to the problems they helped to create.

Fannie, Freddie may raise $20 billion
Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s regulator will allow the mortgage financiers to raise as much as $20 billion in capital as part of an agreement that lets them buy more debt securities, Bloomberg News said on Friday.

Modifying a mortgage isn’t easy. Here’s what you need to know.

Angie, a systems specialist, and her husband Raul, a Navy chief petty officer, purchased a home in Pensacola, Fla. The couple was careful to find a home they were convinced they could afford. They offered $205,000 on the property and went online to find a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, putting no money down. In the weeks before closing, everything went smoothly. Their mortgage broker had offered them a fixed-rate loan at 8 percent, with a “piggyback” loan at 11 percent to make up for their lack of down payment.

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Housing advocates protest Bear Stearns bailout

Protesters opposed to the Fed’s help in bailing out Bear Stearns entered the lobby of the investment bank’s Manhattan HQ Wednesday, demanding assistance for homeowners.

Mortgage bankers cleaning up mess they made
Across the country, key players in the real estate boom are adapting to the new reality of the marketplace and are finding new success by offering solutions to the problems they helped to create.

McCain’s housing crisis options

John McCain wants to leave the door open to a wide array of proposals to address the turmoil in home financing.

The Las Vegas foreclosure market is currently #1 in the country based on recent data from, RealtyTrac . While this is not surprising to some, this is reality to the hundreds of thousands of investors that bought property in Las Vegas.

Southern California’s housing slump hit a new bottom last month, despite low interest rates, falling prices, and promises of government assistance.

According to statistics, less than 10,000 homes were sold in the six-county region. That’s the first time that has happened since DataQuick began keeping records in 1988.  Additionally,  1 out of 4 homes sold had been foreclosed, putting additional pressure on home values.
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Those looking to buy a home today can find great deals as a result of the rise in foreclosure rates. Keep in mind, there are risks involved in buying these homes, but they can often be bargains.

You can search bank websites since banks often list their foreclosed properties for sale online.

You can also look up government-owned listings. The Department of Housing and Urban Development lists the foreclosed homes that it owns on its website as well as through local real estate agents.

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The number of homes facing foreclosure rose 57 percent in January compared to a year ago. Lenders are being forced to retake possession of homes they couldn’t unload at auctions, a mortgage research firm said Monday.

According to RealtyTrac, over 233,000 homes have recieved at least one notice from lenders related to overdue payments.  Nearly half of the total involved first-time default notices.

The worsening situation came despite ongoing efforts by lenders to help borrowers manage their payments by modifying loan terms,

Foreclosures keep skyrocketing (The Californian)
RIVERSIDE — The number of foreclosures in Riverside County continued to rise at a meteoric pace in January, increasing the downward pressure on local home prices and flooding the regular home market.

You may think that foreclosures don’t affect you, but the housing crisis could directly effect your home’s value. There are 2,000 homes that have been foreclosed on in Butler County over the last three years.

In Butler County, there 2000 homes that have bee foreclosed on over the last 3 years.

At a sheriff’s foreclosure sale for a house in Liberty Township’s Falling Waters neighborhood, $230,000 is where the bidding will start.The home’s appraised value is $345,000.

People who live in the neighborhood say it’s not just homes in foreclosure that are going for less than the original purchase price.

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