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Home Sales Expected To Rise Exponentially in 2017-2018

The dearth of home sales over the past decade has seen a sharp reversal so far in 2017, and experts are predicting that the trend will continue at an even higher rate in 2018. The past six months have brought rising prices and bidding wars – and even home shortages in popular areas – but overall sales are already up 3.5 percent from this ... More

Real Estate Investment Firms Dive Into the Rent-To-Own Game

Most prospective buyers considering rent-to-own contracts imagine a traditional arrangement with an individual seller – a private homeowner selling their property through a rent-to-own agreement. However, in recent years, the market has seen a proliferation of institutions – real estate investment firms, typically – offering rent-to-own ... More

What Trump’s Executive Action On Mortgage Premiums Means for Consumers

On his first day in office, President Donald J. Trump blocked an Obama administration rule that would have lowered mortgage costs for millions of homebuyers. In fact, during the first hour he was in office, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) sent a mass communication to mortgage lenders, real estate agents and brokers to ... More

Mortgage Rates Continue To Rise Since Donald Trump’s Election

Long-term mortgage rates in the U.S. surged in the wake of Donald Trump’s election, and they continue to rise as the calendar year comes to a close. Experts say the interest rate hikes are likely due to bond investors’ beliefs in the president-elect’s stated plans to cut taxes and invest heavily in infrastructure spending on roads and ... More

Survey: Most Americans Will Avoid Using Credit For Holiday Purchases

Holiday spending can wreak havoc on the family budget, but a new survey by Bankrate shows that most Americans have planned ahead and saved up in order to avoid using credit for holiday gifts. According to Bankrate, 2016 holiday spending will average about $806.  Of surveyed consumers, 70 percent said they will be using cash or debit for ... More

Fannie Mae Will Begin Using ‘Trended Data’ to Analyze Consumers’ Credit History

On September 26, 2016, Fannie Mae began processing “trended data” in order to gain a deeper understanding of consumer credit history. While this practice has been commonplace among credit card companies for some time, it marks the first time this technique has been widely employed in the mortgage industry. Trended data provides a ... More

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac to Send Taxpayers $8.3 Billion This Quarter

The government-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said this week that they will send taxpayers $8.3 billion in second-quarter earnings, an increase of over 50%. The corporations that support the mortgage market have benefited from the growing housing market, and both announced this week that rising interest rates had ... More
california homebuyer overpaid paid too much for house

1 in 7 California Home Buyers Thinks They Overpaid

Poll results released by the California Association of Realtors earlier this week suggest that a slew of homeowners in the state may be suffering from a bit of buyer’s remorse. According to the findings, 85 percent of buyers believed that the home they bought was worth the price they paid, while 14 percent believed the price was too high ... More

Apartments and Condos Prevalent in Busiest Home-Building Markets

According to the Wall Street Journal, the busiest and fastest-growing large metro areas in the U.S are all starting to see an increase in the construction of apartments and condos, as opposed to detached, single-family homes. The latest data released by the Commerce Department last week shows that – in the 10 busiest U.S. markets for ... More

Americans Contributing More to 401(k) Plans Than Ever Before

According to a new report released by Fidelity on Thursday, Americans have begun contributing more than ever to their employer-sponsored retirement plans. For the first time in history, at the end of the second quarter of 2015, the average annual 401(k) savings rate surpassed the $10,000 mark, hitting $10,180. Still, total balances are ... More