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New tax credit for first-time home buyers will stimulate market
Article from Vancouver Sun:

Redirect Notice

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A government watchdog on Wednesday said Fannie Mae (>> Federal National Mortgage Association) and Freddie Mac’s (>> Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp) regulator needs to curtail the rising cost of their legal expenses since there is no end in sight to the widening taxpayer tab keeping the two firms afloat.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are spending tens of millions of dollars to cover the legal costs of former executives who face various private, class-action lawsuits and government investigations, according to the report.

The overseer of the two firms, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, needs to limit litigation costs, the agency’s inspector general said in the report.

FHFA agreed to pay to defend the agencies and former officers when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken over by the government in 2008, and they have yet to cut off funding for the mounting legal bills.

“FHFA must continue its efforts to both control and scrutinize these legal expenses now and in the future,” Steve Linick, inspector general of the finance agency, said in a statement.

From 2008 through 2011, Freddie Mac has advanced about $ 10.2 million for…………………continues on 4-traders
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Mira Mesa Real Estate Agent Accused of Mortgage Loan Fraud
Article from NBC San Diego:

High profile real estate agent Eric Elegado, his wife Charmagne and seven associates are charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and other charges involving an alleged mortgage loan fraud.

Elegado, whose image is on bus benches and signage around Mira Mesa, is known as an expert in real estate short sales in San Diego County.

He appeared in a downtown courtroom Monday to face criminal charges.

Elegado was arrested Friday and named in a 12-page indictment.

Eric and Charmagne Elegado and seven other defendants were charged with wire fraud and other felonies involving falsified mortgage applications submitted to lenders in 2002 to 2007 according to sources.

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Home Loan Representative
Candidate will originate 1-4 family residential mortgage loans and to participate in activities to increase the credit union's share of the local mortgage market in the St Croix Valley Region. The Local Job Board is a full functioning employment search …
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Property Trax: Wisconsin home sales increase in January, while price lags
Article from Wisconsin State Journal:
KAREN RIVEDAL | Wisconsin State Journal | krivedal@madison.com | 608-252-6106 | @PropTrax madison.com | | Posted: Monday, February 20, 2012 12:45 pm

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By Joe Brennan

(Updates with analyst, bank comments from fifth paragraph.)

Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) — Bank of Ireland Plc Chief Executive Officer Richie Boucher said he expects the bank’s home-loan arrears to peak this year and loan-loss…………………continues on BusinessWeek
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Sharpen up your home loan.
Article from Sydney Morning Herald:

With the big four banks increasing their lending rate, it’s imperative borrowers take control of their finances by shopping around for the best loan on offer.

When the going gets tough, you should get going. Barbecues around the country are buzzing with talk of the banks’ recent moves to slug borrowers with higher rates outside the cover of a rate hike from the Reserve Bank. But now’s the time to stop talking and start making moves to get a better deal from your lender.

”Our phones have been running hot with people wanting to know what’s on offer,” iSelect’s Matt Cuming says. ”We tell them this is a time to be looking around.”

There are opportunities for borrowers who are prepared to dig around for a better deal. Savings of more than $ 200 a month on a standard variable loan for a mortgage of about $ 300,000 are possible if you’re prepared to switch from the big players to smaller lenders (see table below).

For many borrowers, it’s not only the cheapest rat…………………continues on Sydney Morning Herald
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Buying a home is now more affordable than it has been in the last twenty years.

Thanks to continued declines in home prices and rock-bottom mortgage rates, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index hit a record level of affordability.

According to the index, 75.9% of all new and existing homes sold during the three months ended Dec. 31 could have been comfortably purchased by families earning the national median income of $ 64,200.

That was the highest percentage recorded in the 20-year history of the index, and a sharp increase from just three months earlier when 72.9% of all homes sold were considered affordable.

Unfortunately, being able to afford a home and actually being able to buy one are two different matters entirely. According to Barry Rutenberg, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Gainesville, Fla., potential home buyers are still finding it difficult to land mortgages. Mortgages are cheap but you can’t get one

“While today’s report indicates that home ownership is within reach of more households than it has been for more than two decades, overly restrictive lending conditions confronting home buyers and builders remain significant obstacles to many potential home sales,” he said.

Those who do…………………continues on 13abc Action News
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Key to the City sparks Schenectady home buying
Article from WNYT:

Posted at: 02/19/2012 8:02 PM | Updated at: 02/19/2012 8:04 PM
By: Dan Levy

SCHENECTADY – In Schenectady on Sunday, there was a big push to continue re-energizing residential neighborhoods one house at a time.

City officials say the Key to the City partnership has already been successful attracting new home owners into Schenectady and those leaders, along with bankers and realtors are determined to continue transforming the Electric City into an ideal, desirous community in which to raise a family.

After living in Schenectady for 13 years, Fernando Jimenez is now convinced he wants to buy a home in the city.

“It’s not only just to buy a home,” Jimenez says, “It’s also to be a part of Schenectady and help in its growth. To me it’s appealing because it’s also becoming part of the solution.”

City leaders are hoping more people like Jimenez attend one of the many open houses hosted by Prudential Manor Homes. It’s part of a “Key to the City” initiative involving KeyBank which makes loans available for credit qualified, owner-occupied home purchases.

The program launched at the end of last September and they’ve already closed on 17 properties.Joseph Riedhammer, Senior Loan Officer of KeyBank Community Development, says the numbers speak for themselves.

“We’ve had 98 new inquiries since January third,”…………………continues on WNYT
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AFP – Germany’s president resigned Friday after a string of scandals, handing Chancellor Angela Merkel a political headache at home as she battles to lead Europe from its debt crisis.

“I am … today stepping down from the office of federal president to free up the way quickly for a successor,” Christian Wulff said in a dramatic three-and-a-half-minute televised statement from his Bellevue palace.

Germany needs “a president that enjoys the trust of not only a majority, but a broad majority of citizens,” said a sombre Wulff, with his wife Bettina at his side.

“The developments of the last days and weeks have shown that this trust and therefore my effectiveness have been damaged.

“For this reason, it is no longer possible to carry out the office of president both domestically and abroad the way it needs to be done,” added the head of state.

“I have made mistakes, but I was always honest,” he said.

Prosecutors in the Lower Saxony state where Wulff was formerly premier said late Thursday they had asked parliament to lift his immunity in order to investigate allegations he abused his position.

Merkel’s hand-picked choice for Germany’s head of state has been battered by almost daily allegations in the media that he accepted favours when he was premier of Lower Saxony.

Wulff is from the same conservative…………………continues on FRANCE 24
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Public sector banks announce small cuts in home loan rates
Article from NDTV:
State Bank of India, however, is not looking at base rate cut immediately, which is currently at 10 per cent. Instead, it is looking to cut education loan rates.

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Hiring Heroes: Veterans United Home Loans
(Source: Veterans United Home Loans) – COLUMBIA, Mo. (Feb. 16, 2011) — Veterans United Home Loans was among 10 mid-Missouri businesses honored this week for hiring veterans. The company received an award as part of the Show-Me Heroes Initiative, …
Read more on LoanSafe

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List Price: $ 433.99

Price: $ 433.99

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Halifax survey shows house price slump
Article from This Just Happened:

A survey compiled by the Halifax bank has shown that since the UK’s 2007 property boom only two local authority areas have seen house price rises and that out of the 20 top best performing areas sixteen of them were in the south of England.

South Lakeland in Cumbria and Rochford in Essex were the only two areas where house prices had risen although the data did show that there were some exceptions that included retirement and holiday areas like Ceredigion and the Derbyshire Dales.

Although being recognised as one of the top 20 performing areas there had been a 7 per cent drop in house prices in Aberdeenshire and despite the fact that the area had in general gained a boost from the locally based oil industry.

The average house price across the UK according to the survey figures now was £172,427 which showed a drop in value of just less than a quarter since the property boom peak.

One of the most dramatic price falls highlighted in the survey was that of Craigavon in Northern Ireland where the average home was now valued at £103,383 showing an alarming fall from their best boom time price of £213,844. In fact Northern Ireland had the nine worst area…………………continues on This Just Happened
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Has your home been on the market for 60 days, 90 days, more? If that’s the case, there are probably some very good reasons why your home isn’t selling. One of the most common reasons why a house isn’t selling is that it doesn’t show well. So, if your home isn’t selling, it will most likely benefit from the home makeover tips in this book to help you attract qualified buyers. The good news is that most of the work required to get your home into tip top selling condition is cosmetic and relativ

List Price: $ 16.95

Price: $ 16.95

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Home Buying: Most Affordable In Decades
Article from WCTI12.com:

By Les Christie

POSTED: 10:05 am EST February 16, 2012

UPDATED: 10:41 am EST February 16, 2012

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German President Christian Wulff has announced his resignation, after prosecutors called for his immunity to be lifted.

An ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr Wulff is embroiled in a scandal over a home loan that he accepted when he was premier of Lower Saxony.

Mrs Merkel cancelled a visit to Italy on Friday to deal with the crisis, and she will give a statement shortly.

German media say the crisis is unprecedented in post-war Germany.

The BBC’s Berlin correspondent Stephen Evans says the affair will be no more than a headache for Chancellor Merkel, whose approval rating is high among the German people.

However, it comes at a time when she does not need any new headaches, as Germany wrestles with the eurozone debt crisis, our correspondent adds.

And Mrs Merkel had fought to get Mr Wulff, an ally in her centre-right C…………………continues on BBC News
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Rate on 30-year mortgage stays at record 3.87 pct.
Article from Boston.com:

The low rates have done little to boost the struggling housing market. Rates have been below 5 percent for all but two weeks in the past year. Yet few people can qualify for the rates and many of those who can have already done so.

And prospective buyers don’t want to put money into a home that they fear could fall in price over the next few years.

Sales of previously occupied homes were dismal last year. New-home sales in 2011 were the worst on records going back half a century.

Builders are hopeful that the low rates could boost sales this year. But so far, they have had a minimal impact.

Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, said mixed readings on consumer confidence underscore the fragile condition of the housing market.

Surveys of small business owner and homebuilder confidence rose in January and February, respectively. But the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment fell in February, breaking a five-month upward trend.

To calculate the average rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country Monday through Wednesday of each week.

The average rates don’t include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.

The average fee for the 30-year loan was unchanged at 0.8; the average on the…………………continues on Boston.com
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At $ 260,000, the region’s median home price was only 5.2% above the low hit during the worst of the recession in 2009, according to San Diego research firm DataQuick. January brought a 3.7% decline in the median price, the point at which half the homes sold for more and half for less, compared with both a month earlier and a year earlier.

Foreclosures, tight mortgage credit and high regional unemployment remain significant impediments to a housing recovery, though experts warn that January is not indicative of how the rest of the year will play out. Many observers expect the long-suffering housing market to finally hit bottom in 2012, particularly if the jobs picture brightens.

“While we are seeing year-to-year declines in home prices, I think we should probably see things level out as we get further into 2012,” said Robert Kleinhenz, chief economist with the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. “As we get further into the year we may see home prices stabilize.”

A separate report by Irvine data tracker RealtyTrac showed progress on foreclosures last month, with California filings hitting a 50-month low, as few…………………continues on Los Angeles Times
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Potomac Divide Shows Foreclosures Through Courts Slow Home-Price Recovery
Article from Bloomberg:

The Maryland and Virginia suburbs of Washington are a lot alike, with similar populations of workers from the U.S. capital, incomes above the national average and unemployment rates below the norm.

Their housing markets are going in opposite directions.

Home prices rose 0.8 percent in Virginia last year while across the Potomac River in Maryland they fell 3.6 percent, according to data provider CoreLogic Inc. The reason is that Maryland, like 23 other states including New York and Florida, requires court approval to foreclose on delinquent homeowners, a lengthy process that has slowed comebacks across the country, said Thomas Lawler, a housing consultant and former chief economist for mortgage financier Fannie Mae. (FNMA)

“States that have dealt with foreclosures in an expeditious way, whether or not it’s good from a social perspective, appear to be recovering,” Lawler said in a telephone interview from his office in Leesburg, continues on Bloomberg
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