The May increase to $305,000, compared with the same period a year earlier, reflects a shift in sales in the region. Purchases climb 7.2% as buyers rush to take advantage of tax incentives. The Southland’s housing market surged in May with the median home price soaring 22.5% from its year-earlier level as tax incentives for [...]
Filed under: California Real Estate News, Economic Recovery, First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit, First-Time Homebuyers, Foreclosures and Short Sales, Home Buying, Home Prices, Home Sellers, Home Selling, Housing Market Trends, Local LA Real Estate News, Market Update, Mortgage Rates on June 21st, 2010 | Comments Off
Reporting from Washington — New research suggests that buyers’ minds are so taxed after they go through the ordeal of finding a house that they often rush into the next step — applying for a loan — and make poor choices. Sometimes they opt for the first choice presented to them without regard to the [...]
Filed under: Consumer Protection, First-Time Homebuyers, Home Buying, Lending Info, Mortgage News, Mortgage Rates on June 11th, 2010 | Comments Off
Case-Shiller index of 20 metro areas shows prices up 2.3% in March from a year earlier. But they fell 0.5% from February. The mixed reading leaves economists disagreeing over where the market is headed. Home prices in 20 major cities gained ground in March for the second consecutive month compared with their beaten-down year-earlier levels, [...]
Filed under: California Real Estate News, Economic Recovery, First-Time Homebuyers, Foreclosures and Short Sales, Home Buying, Home Prices, Home Sellers, Home Selling, Housing Market Trends, Local LA Real Estate News, Market Update, National Real Estate News on May 26th, 2010 | Comments Off
Kenneth R. Harney The Los Angeles Times For several years, the Federal Housing Administration has been the go-to financing resource for cash-strapped home buyers who can’t come up with a big down payment. It has zoomed from barely a 3% market share to nearly 30% of home purchase loans. But now, FHA-insured mortgages could be [...]
Filed under: First-Time Homebuyers, Home Buying, Lending Info, loan modification, Mortgage News, Mortgage Rates, National Real Estate News, Property Insurance on January 6th, 2010 | Comments Off
Some brokers are willing to lower their fees or help their clients save in other ways. But you have to ask. By Mark Yemma The Los Angeles Times David Herron doesn’t consider himself a particularly hard-nosed negotiator. After all, Herron works as a technical service specialist for the Fantasmic show at Disneyland, and that happiest-place-on-Earth [...]
Filed under: First-Time Homebuyers, Home Buying, Problem Solving on December 11th, 2009 | Comments Off
Residential real estate market shows signs of gaining momentum, while manufacturing appears to lose steam By Dina ElBoghdady The Los Angeles Times The uneven nature of the economic recovery was on display again Tuesday with the release of mixed data on pending home sales, manufacturing and construction spending. The residential real estate market showed signs [...]
Filed under: Economic Recovery, First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit, First-Time Homebuyers, Home Buying, Housing Market Trends, Market Update, National Real Estate News on December 2nd, 2009 | Comments Off
The median sales price in Southern California rises 1.8% in October By Alejandro Lazo The Los Angeles Times Southern California’s housing market showed fresh signs of a comeback last month as first-time buyers took advantage of a federal tax credit aimed at keeping the fragile recovery on track. And the tax credit program, which was [...]
Filed under: California Real Estate News, Economic Recovery, First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit, First-Time Homebuyers, Foreclosures and Short Sales, Home Buying, Home Prices, Market Update, National Real Estate News on November 18th, 2009 | Comments Off
Lower Prices Have Spurred Home Sales, but Looming Foreclosures and High Unemployment Are Clouding the Outlook The U.S. housing market has been in a slump for the past four years. When will it ever end? In recent years, real estate has proven as jittery and unreliable as any other market. The average U.S. home price [...]
Filed under: Economic Recovery, First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit, First-Time Homebuyers, Foreclosures and Short Sales, Home Buying, Home Prices, Jumbo Home Loans, Market Update, National Real Estate News on November 18th, 2009 | Comments Off
If you fit the criteria and are considering buying another house in the coming year, you might want to speed up the process and close by the June 30 expiration date. By Kenneth R. Harney The LA Times Take a close, hard look at the new $6,500 federal tax credit for so-called move-up home buyers [...]
Filed under: Economic Recovery, First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit, First-Time Homebuyers, Home Buying, National Real Estate News, Tax Issues on November 16th, 2009 | Comments Off
October 29, 2009 Senators agreed Wednesday to extend a popular tax credit for first-time home buyers and to offer a smaller credit to some repeat buyers. The tax credit provides up to $8,000 to first-time home buyers but is set to expire at the end of November. Senators agreed to extend the existing tax credit [...]
Filed under: Economic Recovery, First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit, First-Time Homebuyers, Home Buying, National Real Estate News, Tax Issues on October 30th, 2009 | Comments Off
