The short-sale process is expected to get shorter starting June 15. New guidelines issued under the Federal Housing Finance Agency will require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to give home buyers of short sales notice of their final decision within 60 days. The new guidelines also will require the mortgage giants to respond to initial short-sale requests within 30 days of receiving an offer from a potential buyer.
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Prices of for-sale homes are on the rise in several metro areas. According to Realtor.com, which tracks 146 metro markets, the following areas have seen their median list prices increase the most from March to April:
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Home ownership is getting more emotional than it used to be. A new survey by Coldwell Banker Real Estate finds that Americans are increasingly saying that the real value of home ownership is emotional, not financial. That marks a stark contrast from Americans’ perspectives on home ownership during the housing boom, in which they mostly viewed it as a financial venture.
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A gunman held several real estate professionals hostage at Prudential Executive Group Real Estate office in Valparaiso, Ind., on Friday in a stand-off police, before the gunman ended up shooting and killing himself, police said.
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Americans are more positive about the direction of the economy, as consumer confidence reached its highest level since October 2007, according to a Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index on consumer sentiment.
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REALTORS® build communities in part by dedicating their time and resources to improving the lives of their neighbors as well as others across the country.
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About one-third of American home owners have no mortgage, according to The New York Times. How many got to that enviable position by overpaying on their mortgage? Impossible to know, but that’s one money-saving option home owners can consider to build wealth more quickly.
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