Source: CNN/Money - They thought losing their home was bad enough. Now, years later, collectors are coming after them for thousands of dollars in back debt. Ben McLarin lived near Jacksonville, Fla., until he lost his job and got divorced in 2007. His wife kept the house, but then couldn't keep up the payments, spurring [...]
Source: Sacramento Bee - Low mortgage rates are on the holiday menu for home buyers, with lenders surveyed by Freddie Mac offering 30-year fixed-rate home loans this week at an average of 3.97 percent, down from 3.99 percent a week ago. The average 30-year rate, which started 2014 at 4.5 percent, has been below 4 [...]
Source: San Jose Mercury News - California housing affordability remained in check in the third quarter of 2014 due to lower interest rates and smaller home price gains, according to the California Association of Realtors. Affordability even improved in some high-cost counties in the San Francisco Bay region during the July-September period of this year. [...]
Source: Sacramento Business Journal - New research by RealtyTrac Inc. on foreclosures in the Sacramento housing market suggests by early 2015, the rate of underwater buyers losing their homes to the bank will be about what it was before housing bust began. Right now, about 1,000 homes are at some stage of foreclosure every month [...]
Source: San Jose Mercury News - Despite two years of double-digit increases that have home prices approaching previous peaks, there's still plenty of demand for single-family houses, condos and townhouses in the nine-county Bay Area, according to the latest snapshot of the region's booming real estate market. A total of 7,141 sales of all types [...]
Source: Money-CNN - During the housing bust, many homeowners were cut off from a popular source of funds: their homes. But as home prices recover, more people have been able to tap their home's equity to pay for renovations, consolidate debts or help pay for other big ticket items. Home equity lines of credit were [...]
Source: Money-CNN - Buying a home? You still have to compete against the big money bringing all-cash. But it's getting a little easier. All-cash deals made up 38% of all home sales in the second quarter, according to RealtyTrac, down from 42% in the prior quarter. One reason is that big institutional buyers, those buying [...]
Source: Sacramento Bee - The earthquake that jolted the Napa Valley last weekend upended more than wine barrels and mobile homes. It also was an unsettling reminder of how few Californians – homeowners and businesses alike – carry earthquake insurance. In large part because of cost, complacency and the “it’ll-never-happen-to me” syndrome, Californians are more [...]
Source: San Jose Mercury News - All of a sudden, high-end homes are in demand, and many of the buyers are coming from Silicon Valley. "The upper end is going crazy," said Stephen Pereira of Bailey Properties, an agent since 1982. "More tech people are coming over ... they know what they're looking for." In [...]
Source: Inman News - The number of homes on the market surged by 8.65 percent from May to June, but still remained slightly below levels seen a year ago, realtor.com reports. Home sales likely crested sometime in July, but the market should hold strong into August and September, realtor.com Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke told Inman [...]