Tag Archives: Home

Zillow: Home Price Declines Slow

August 27, 2011   Alexander Stewart   No comments

U.S. home values in June showed their smallest rate of decline since the start of the housing recession, according to new figures from the real estate analytical firm Zillow.

The 0.08 percent decline from May to June was greeted as an encouraging development, continuing a trend of steadily shrinking monthly declines throughout 2011. However, the news was tempered by the observation that the housing market continues to be weighed down by a massive backlog of foreclosures, which will need to be cleared out before a true recovery in home values can begin.   On an annual basis, prices were down 6.2 percent from June 2010, also a small improvement over last month’s figures.   Read the full post

  Tags: Home, Home Price

Is It a Smart Time to Buy a Home?

September 23, 2010   Alexander Stewart   No comments

The nation’s housing sector is going through a rough patch – bad news for current homeowners but a potential opportunity for people looking to stop renting or relocate.Since the homebuyer tax credit expired in April, the housing market has been floundering. Sales of new and existing homes slumped after the credit expired – and with so many people out of work or fearing for their job security, demand for homes is proving soft.But there are opportunities to be had for motivated buyers.According to real-estate listings site Trulia.com, 26 percent of homes had their prices reduced in August. In some markets, price cuts were even more common: In Minneapolis, for example, 43 percent of houses on the market had their prices slashed.And mortgage rates are near all-time lows.

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  Tags: Home

The Challenge of Adding Home Equity in 2010

May 15, 2010   Daniel Murphy   No comments

As the real estate market gets back into full swing this spring, many homeowners – both those trying to sell a home and those buying and wanting to improve the properties they are moving into – will be looking for ways to boost home equity. One of the fastest ways to accomplish this is to pay down mortgage balances, but these days most consumers are having trouble just paying their bills and they cannot afford to apply extra funds to pay down mortgage principal. Another way to raise equity is to lower the cost of a mortgage through a refinance, but doing a refinance can be costly unless you can get a substantially lower rate. The Read the full post

  Tags: Home, Home Equity