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Dennis Norman Fannie Mae is offering 3.5 percent in closing cost assistance or an equivalaent amount in appliances for people purchasing a Fannie Mae-owned HomePath® property. Fannie Mae is trying to entice buyers to buy one of their HomePath® homes by offering to pay up to 3.5 percent in closing cost assistance or an equal amount [...]
Dennis Norman If you are one of the million-plus homebuyers that was fortunate enough to qualify for the Home Buyer tax credit, read on for information on how to claim your credit. Today the Internal Revenue Service released a new form that eligible homebuyers must need to use to claim the first-time homebuyer credit this tax season, [...] Dennis Norman In the past I think closing costs associated with the purchase of a home were pretty much a mystery to many, if not most, home buyers with many not even being sure what they were paying for. Most buyers simply went through the process, paying for closing fees, notary fees, title examination, title insurance, survey, flood letters, courier [...] According to NAR 51 percent of recent homebuyers are first-time buyers and 39 percent of recent home sales have relied on an FHA loan Dennis Norman The National Association of REALTORS just released a report showing that 51 percent of the homes sold recently have been to first-time home buyers and that 39 percent of all recent buyers have turned to an [...] Dennis Norman I have done several posts on the homebuyer tax credit and received and answered hundreds of questions about the tax credits on the various blogs I write for. There appears to be a lot of demand for the credits by homebuyers but also appears to be many questions. If you have questions about [...] First-Time Homebuyer Credit Extended to April 30, 2010; Some Current Homeowners Now Also Qualify WASHINGTON — A new law that went into effect Nov. 6 extends the first-time homebuyer credit five months and expands the eligibility requirements for purchasers. The Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 extends the deadline for [...] New Site Aimed at Helping More Hispanics Buy Homes FannieMae announced the company launched a Spanish version of its HomePath.com website designed to help more potential homeowners who speak Spanish purchase Fannie Mae-owned properties. The new website in Spanish mirrors the English version of HomePath.com featuring an interactive search tool of Fannie Mae-owned properties nationwide, details [...] Dennis Norman The best available tool for sustaining the still-fragile housing market is the $8,000 homebuyer tax credit, (expires November 30) and it is essential that Congress extend the credit into 2010, the National Association of Realtors® testified at a hearing of the U.S. House Small Business Committee yesterday. NAR Regional Vice President Joseph L. Canfora, a [...] Dennis Norman Today, testifying before The US House of Representatives Small Business Committee, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) told the committee that the current credit cycle and recession began in the U.S. housing market, and recovery will not be complete until the current oversupply of house on the market has dramatically decreased. The MBA then cited [...] Dennis Norman Results have just been released of a study conducted by Rosen Consulting Group as to the effectiveness of the 2009 first-time-homebuyer tax credit and the potential need for an extension of the credits. The Rosen Consulting Group was retained by Fix Housing First, a coalition that was originally working to convince Congress for a housing [...] Back in July I did a post about Freddie Macs “Smartbuy” sales promotion for owner-occupants buying Freddie Mac Homesteps(R) Homes. The special offer began July 17, 2009 and ends October 30, 2009 so there is less than a month to take advantage of it. Under this promotion people buying a Freddie Mac home for their personal residence will [...] Nearly one in five (18 percent) prospective first-time homebuyers said extending the $8,000 tax credit would be the primary influence on their decision to buy a home before the end of 2010, according to a Zillow survey. That would equate to 334,000 buyers from Dec. 1, 2009 to Nov. 30, 2010 – a likely time [...] Dennis Norman “I’m from the IRS and I’m here to help you.” Yeah, sure. Actually, in this case the IRS is trying to help. The IRS has a website and has even published a video on YouTube to help first-time buyers and potential buyers understand the first-time home buyer tax credit as well as how to claim [...] Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist, NAR The real estate market continues to show signs of life and continues to point to the possibility that we have hit bottom. Today the National Association of REALTORS(R) issued their Pending Home Sales Index Report for June which showed pending sales were up for the fifth consecutive month, the first [...] Freddie Mac just announced their“Smartbuy” sales promotion for owner-occupants buying Freddie Mac Homesteps(R) Homes. Under this promotion people buying a Freddie Mac home for their personal residence will receive at no cost: A comprehensive two-year HomeProtect(R) Home Warranty Dennis Norman By: Dennis Norman Realtor.Com and the National Association of REALTORS(R) released the results of it’s National Home Ownership Survey today. Employment concerns and the ability to make mortgage payments are the greatest barriers to home ownership today. This is particularly true for those people 25-49 years of age. Dennis Norman By: Dennis Norman This morning the U.S. Department of Commerce released a report showing the sale of New Homes in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 342,000. this represents a 0.6% drop from Aprils rate of 344,000 and is almost 33% down from a year ago. Three of the four regions in the [...] Dennis Norman By: Dennis Norman Today the National Association of REALTORS(R) released its existing home sales report for May showing an increase in sales for the 2nd month in a row. This is the first time we’ve seen two consecutive months of sales increases in almost 4 years. Sales for May were at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 4,770,000 homes which [...] Dennis Norman By: Dennis Norman According to a report issued by IHS Global Insight, house prices in the first quarter of 2009 declined in 199 of the 330 metro markets they monitor. At just over 60% of the metros this represents a huge decrease from 4th quarter 2008 when 312, or almost 95% of the metros, showed declining prices. For [...] By: Dennis Norman Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist, NAR Today the National Association of REALTORS(R) issued their Pending Home Sales Index Report for April which showed a significant increase of 6.7% on the index, over March. April makes the third month in a row the index has increased. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said “buyers are responding to very favorable [...] By: Dennis Norman Yesterday, Bankrate, Inc. issued their weekly mortgage interest rate report showing that mortgage rates jumped this week with 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaging 5.45%, up from 5.24% last week, with an average of 0.41% in discount and origination fees. The report shows 15-year fixed-rate mortgages were also higher this week at an average of 4.86%, up from 4.74% last [...] Dennis Norman By: Dennis Norman Yesterday the National Association of REALTORS(R) released its existing home sales report for April showing a slight increase in sales of 2.9% over March. Sales for April were at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 4,680,000 homes which is down 3.5% from last year, which means in year over year numbers things are improving because last months annual rate [...] Dennis Norman By: Dennis Norman In my post yesterday I was talking about Florida and whether or not now is the time to consider buying there now. To answer this question I turned to Bob Radigan with VIP Realty Group. Following is part one of my E-View TM with Bob: Q- Bob, please share with us your background and [...] Dennis Norman By: Dennis Norman I met the wonderful woman that was to be my wife in 1998 in St. Louis. Prior to moving back to St. Louis she had spent the prior decade living on the gulf coast of Florida and loved it but came back to St. Louis to be closer to family. We were [...] Dennis Norman By: Dennis Norman According to a new study by the Center for Housing Policy despite declining home prices, many of the jobs created through the federal stimulus package do not pay enough to afford a home. The study, Paycheck to Paycheck: Wages and the Cost of Housing in America, This new study compares housing costs in more [...] By: Dennis Norman Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist, NAR Yesterday the National Association of REALTORS(R) issued their Pending Home Sales Index Report for March which showed, for the second consecutive month, an increase. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said “This increase could be the leading edge of first-time buyers responding to very favorable affordability conditions and an $8,000 tax [...] Dennis Norman By: Dennis Norman Today the U.S. Census Bureau released it’s construction spending report for March, 2009 showing that spending on private, residential construction was at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of $258.4 billion. This is down 4.2% from February and down 34% from a year ago. In light of what is going on in the housing market [...] Dennis Norman By: Dennis Norman Today the National Association of REALTORS(R) released its existing home sales report for March showing a slight decline of 3% from February. This modest decrease following last months modest increase of 5.1% may show the market is starting to balance out. Sales for March were at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 4,570,000 homes which [...] Interest rates on 30 year fix-rate mortgages dropped this past week an average of 0.6 points to 4.82% according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey(R). Today the Federal Reserve Board, in it’s monthly Beige Book, said about Real Estate and Construction that “housing markets remained depressed overall, but there were some signs that conditions may be stabilizing.” |
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