Blog – Page 652 of 782

04 Mar 2015

What Factors Determine Your Home’s Resale Value? Let’s Take a Look

Home Seller Tips

There are several factors that will help you determine the value of your home when you want to sell it. Location, condition, layout, upgrades, and events relating to your home are all important when selling your home. It's All About Location Anyone in real estate will tell you location, location, location is the first thing to consider when buying real estate. If your home is on a busy street, it’s going to be harder to sell unless someone is looking for that exact location. If a buyer is looking to have a business inside the home, then having more exposure…

03 Mar 2015

By Mark Feder

Buying a Second Home? Assessing Your Finances to Ensure You Can Afford a Second Mortgage

Home Mortgage Tips

The decision to buy a second home may be made for a number of reasons. For example, you may have a destination where you and your family love to spend free time in, and you may be ready to settle into your own space in this location. You may considering the tax benefits associated with a second home, and you may even have plans to live in the home as your primary residence after you retire. While there may be numerous benefits associated with the purchase of your second home, you may be concerned about how affordable it will be…

02 Mar 2015

By Mark Feder

What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week – March 2, 2015

Market Outlook

Last week provided several housing-related reports including New Home Sales, Pending Home Sales and Existing Home Sales reports. Case-Shiller and FHFA also released data on home prices. The details: Sales of Pre-Owned Homes Hit Nine-Month Low According to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), Sales of pre-owned homes dropped to a seasonally-adjusted annual reading 4.82 million sales in January as compared to an estimated reading of 4.95 million sales and December's reading of 5.07 million existing homes sold. This was a month-to-month decline of 4.90 percent, and represented the lowest reading for existing home sales in nine months. Lawrence Yun,…

27 Feb 2015

By Mark Feder

FHFA House Price Index Rises for 14th Consecutive Quarter

Market Outlook

According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), U.S. home prices rose by 1.40 percent for the fourth quarter of 2014 and were up by 0.80 percent month-to-month from November. The seasonally adjusted FHFA House Price Index measures purchase transactions for homes connected with mortgages owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. FHFA also reported that home prices rose 4.9 percent year-over –year from the fourth quarter of 2013 to the fourth quarter of 2014. FHFA Chief Economist Andrew Leventis described the report for the last quarter of 2014 as "relatively strong" and also cited low inventories of available homes…