The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage stayed at its record low this week, offering an opportunity for home buyers to lock in the lowest rate in Freddie Mac’s records dating back 50 years. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.13% this week. The mortgage market has seen a resurgence in applications for home purchases in recent weeks. “The […]
by Senyors 
The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, said Monday that it will not require homeowners who take mortgage forbearance due to financial hardship from the COVID-19 pandemic to make up the missed payments in a lump sum. The FHFA made the announcement after news stories cautioned that homeowners […]
by Senyors 
The new-home market was showing a strong first quarter in 2020 until the pandemic hit. Sales of newly built single-family homes decreased 15.4% in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 627,000 units, according to data released Thursday from the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development. Sales were 9.5% lower […]
by Senyors 
Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac unveiled a payment deferral option for homeowners struggling to make their mortgage payments, regardless of whether the reason is related to COVID-19. Homeowners could be eligible to defer two months of their mortgage payments until the end of their mortgage, depending on their circumstance. The GSEs had intended […]
by Senyors 
More single-family and multifamily homes are coming onto the market soon as new-home construction posts its biggest gains in 13 years. Total housing starts rose nearly 17% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.61 million units, the U.S. Commerce Department reports. Broken out, starts for single-family homes rose 11.2% to a seasonally […]
by Senyors 
Older Americans may not realize that they can still qualify for a mortgage, even though the Equal Credit Opportunity Act forbids discrimination in the mortgage market on the basis of age. Yet, Mary Babinski, a senior loan officer with Motto Mortgage Champions in Trinity, Fla., told The Wall Street Journal that when a 97-year-old applicant […]
by Senyors 
Good news for home buyers: Bidding wars are at the lowest point in a decade. But that could be short-lived. In one closely watched industry index measuring bidding wars, just 10% of offers written by real estate professionals with the brokerage Redfin faced competition from other buyers in October, down from 39% a year earlier. […]
by Senyors 
There’s one less reason to dread replacing your roof: It’s one of the few home renovation projects that can actually pay for itself, according to real estate professionals. The finding, from the National Association of Realtors’ annual Remodeling Impact Report, pegs the median cost of installing new roofing at $7,500, while the “estimated cost recovered” […]
by Senyors 
Sales of newly built single-family homes dipped 12.8% in July, but homebuilders aren’t looking at the nosedive as bad news. So far this year, new-home sales are up 4.3% over last year, and builders say that’s progress. “Builder confidence continues to trend upward as lower interest rates provide for more favorable buying conditions,” says Greg […]
by Senyors 
Some lenders are turning to drones or a computer algorithm to appraise properties, and the practice may grow more common under a new federal proposal. Regulators want to allow the majority of U.S. homes valued under $400,000 to be exempt from current requirements for human-conducted appraisals. The proposal, which makes way for more appraisals to […]
by Senyors 
