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Home Refinancing Heats Up
Tweet Share on Facebook January 18, 2012 Comment (1)More Americans are refinancing their mortgages, according to a new report, an encouraging sign that government programs designed to help underwater homeowners could be taking off finally.
The Home Affordable Refinance Program was revamped in December, but has been a bit slow to help out the more than 6 million Americans who owe more on their homes than what they are worth.
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Sharp Drop in Foreclosures Last Year But More on the Way
Tweet Share on Facebook January 12, 2012 Comment (1)Home foreclosures were down quite a bit last year, but that positive piece of news could mask troubles further down the road for the housing market in 2012 according to a new report.
Although foreclosure filings fell 34 percent last year to their lowest level since 2007 according to RealtyTrac, experts expect to see an uptick in filings this year as foreclosure processes, delayed by legal issues, ramp up again.
More than 4 million Americans have already lost their homes to foreclosure since the beginning of the housing mess in 2007, and fresh stock filtering through the pipeline in 2012 could prolong the wait for a rebound in housing prices.
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Fed Taking Heat on Housing Policies
Tweet Share on Facebook January 10, 2012 Comment (2)The Federal Reserve got an earful from the Wall Street Journal Tuesday, after the publication called the central bank's recent white paper advocating for more government and taxpayer intervention in the housing market "extraordinary political intrusion."
The 26-page white paper the Fed delivered to Congress last week—without invitation, the Journal noted—seeks to provide a "framework for thinking about certain issues and tradeoffs that policy makers might consider" when it comes to the ailing housing market.
That framework included discussion on how to best deal with the glut of foreclosures on the U.S. housing market's hands and how to assist homeowners on the brink of default or foreclosure.
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Is Foreclosure Relief Finally on the Way?
Tweet Share on Facebook January 9, 2012 Comment (5)The staggering number of foreclosures on the market has been a big stumbling block for the housing market and has played a huge role in depressing home prices across the country.
But plans to contain the venom of foreclosures are in the works, according to CNBC's Diana Olick. The Obama administration together with government mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are on the verge of announcing a pilot program to bundle government-owned properties and sell them in bulk to investors as rentals.
The Federal Reserve recently floated the idea around in a white paper delivered to Congress last week, and the general notion of packaging distressed properties in lots to convert into rentals has been tossed around before.
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Unemployed Homeowners Get a Break From Freddie Mac
Tweet Share on Facebook January 6, 2012 Comment (3)Jobless homeowners could get a little break from the bill collectors come February, after Freddie Mac announced Friday it's giving mortgage servicers a longer leash when it comes to working with unemployed borrowers.
Unemployed borrowers could be eligible for up to a year of forbearance on their mortgages—welcome news for the 5.6 million long-term unemployed Americans who've struggled to find work in the slow economy.
"These expanded forbearance periods will provide families facing prolonged periods of unemployment with a greater measure of security by giving them more time to find new employment and resolve their delinquencies," Tracy Mooney, senior vice president of single-family servicing and REO at Freddie Mac, said in a release. "We believe this will put more families back on track to successful long-term homeownership."
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Will New Jobs Numbers Lead to Jump in Housing?
Tweet Share on Facebook January 6, 2012 CommentIt's all about jobs today and the news coming out of the Labor Department Friday isn't too shabby.
The economy added 200,000 jobs in December, dropping the unemployment rate to 8.5 percent from 8.7 percent in November. The economy may not yet be the lean, mean jobs-creating machine we're all hoping for, but today's report is still encouraging by many standards.
That being said, does the recent improvement in the jobs outlook help housing? Sort of, experts say.
It's true that a dropping unemployment rate tends to spur housing demand, as more people get jobs and can afford to rent and buy homes. But with more than 13 million Americans still without jobs, demand for housing will likely remain muted for the time being. That's especially true given that unemployment remains quite high among 25- to 34-year-olds, a prime age group for housing demand.
