American Financial Resources Blog
Mortgage News, Real Estate Market Updates, & Home Financing Information.
Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index, released Tuesday, January 25, 2011, fell 1 percent in November from October.
This 20-city index reveals that home prices are falling in every city surveyed except San Diego. The Los Angles Times reports that home prices in eight cities have hit their lowest point since their peak in 2006 and 2007: Atlanta, Charlotte NC, Las Vegas, Miami, Portland OR, Seatle, Tampa FL, and Detroit. [Read more...]
If you are like millions of American citizens who have been impacted by the recent real estate downturn and economic recession, you may have kicked around the idea of moving to another area of the country with a lower cost of living and better prospects for employment. MSN Real Estate in conjunction with Bert Sperling of Sperlings Best Places recently published an article and slideshow on MNS Real Estate where they evaluated the 100 largest metropolitan areas to produce a list of 10 of the nation’s most livable areas. They considered these communities “livable” as unemployment was relatively low, commute times were not too bad, and there were enough cultural and recreational outlets to keep one’s calendar busy. They also chose places that had stable if not improving economies, lower crime rates, healthy populations, and lower rates for suicide and divorce.
Here are the towns that made their list:
Last week’s Freddie Mac mortgage survey showed 30 year fixed home loan rates and 15 yr fixed interest rates moving in opposite directions. According to the survey, 30 year rates averaged 4.74% (.8 pt) which was up from 4.71% from the previous week. 15 year fixed rates slid from to 4.08% down to 4.05% (.8 pt). 5 year Treasury Indexed hybrid ARMs average 3.69% (.7 pt) which was .03% lower than the previous week’s survey results. Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s VP and Chief Economist noted that, mortgage rates were little changed during the holiday week amid reports that inflation remains tame. Both the December core producer price index and consumer price index matched the market consensus. Compared to December 2009, core consumer prices rose at a 0.8 percent rate, the smallest yearly increase since records began in 1958.” [Read more...]
Are you dreaming about purchasing a new home? Maybe you are ready for a larger home to accomodate your growing family, would like to downsize to have a little less house to maintain and a little less mortgage to pay each month. Have you have decided it’s time to relocate, but are nervous about putting your plan into action because it involves selling your current home? With all the doom and gloom you hear about the current housing market it is understandable to be wary, but houses are selling all the time, and not just deeply discounted foreclosures and short sales.
Some things to consider before you sell your property
Though real estate is selling every day, it is currently a strong buyers market, meaning you might have to work a little harder to catch the attention of home shoppers. Here are a few things to think about when putting your home on the market: [Read more...]
