When you compare the cost of owning a home to renting, you’ll find that buying may soon make more sense, Paul Diggle, a housing economist at Capital Economics, told MSNBC.com.
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The Pacific West Association of REALTORS®, based in Anaheim, Calif., issued a warning to its members in the Orange County area to be on alert after a real estate agent and a potential home buyer were robbed at gunpoint by two men during an open house.
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Cash buyers are sending home values down much lower than they otherwise would be, suggests a new survey by Campbell Inside Mortgage Finance, which polled more than 2,500 real estate agents nationwide.
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Foreclosures are getting faster at JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. The two big banks trimmed their foreclosure timelines by as much as 100 days in the third quarter of 2011, helping to work through major backlogs of foreclosed loans, according to a Moody’s Investors Service report. But while foreclosure sales are getting speedier, the report warns that there’s still a long way to go in working through large inventories of REOs that are continuing to slam the nation’s banks.
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Two skyscrapers under construction at Ground Zero in New York City — the reconstruction site from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — are being put on hold until more tenants can be found to fill up the office buildings.
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Moody’s Investors Service reports that delinquencies on loans underpinning U.S. commercial mortgage-backed securities conduit and fusion deals rose to 9.32 percent last month, a jump of 5 basis points. December also marked the 12th consecutive month that the rate has surpassed the 9 percent threshold.
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Free Info Helps Clients Combat Rising Insurance Costs
The tornadoes, floods, fires, and hurricanes of 2011 are driving up homeowner insurance rates, according to National Public Radio. In fact, rates could jump as much as 10 percent this year.
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