-
Tumbling Asking Prices: Boston
Tweet Share on Facebook February 6, 2009 CommentIn cooperation with our partners over at Trulia, here's a look at some Boston properties whose owners have been forced to reduce their asking prices:
[Check out New York City, Chicago, Washington, and Los Angeles]
-
The $15,000 Home Buying Tax Credit: 6 Things to Know
Tweet Share on Facebook February 6, 2009 Comment (436)A number of readers have written in asking for details about the home buyer tax credit amendment that was recently added to the Senate version of the economic stimulus package. The provision, introduced by Sen. Johnny Isakson, a Republican from Georgia, would provide a tax credit of as much as $15,000--or 10 percent of the home's price tag, whichever is less--to anyone buying a primary residence during a one-year period beginning on the date of enactment. After reading through your questions, here's a list of six things to know about the amendment.
1. I recently bought a home and qualified for the $7,500 new home buyer tax credit. Should this provision become law, would I qualify for it well? The short answer is no, says Rob Dietz, an economist for the National Association of Home Builders. "The effective date of the…amendment is the date of enactment," Dietz says. "So if you've already completed a purchase, you would not be qualified for the new program."
-
McMansions' Most Objectionable Feature: Height
Tweet Share on Facebook February 6, 2009 Comment (1)What do people dislike most about McMansions? Apparently it's their height:
From Reuters:
It's not the columns or the sweeping driveways that irk neighbors about the huge modern McMansion next door -- it's the height, according to a U.S. study.
A study by Ohio State University found people particularly disliked the super-sized, modern houses known as McMansions that were sprouting up in U.S. suburbs as they were often more than two times as tall as surrounding homes.
-
Squatter Alert
Tweet Share on Facebook February 6, 2009 Comment (1) -
Ex-Mayor of Foreclosure Capital in Housing Trouble
Tweet Share on Facebook February 5, 2009 CommentLooks like the former mayor of Stockton, Calif.--which had the nation's highest foreclosure rate in 2008--is facing some housing headaches of his own.
From the Former Mayor Ed Chavez, who left office in December for a home he had built in Indio, has put his Cavendish Square condominium on the market in a short sale, another in one of the nation's cities hit hardest by the foreclosure crisis.
-
Mortgage Rates Increase to 5.25%
Tweet Share on Facebook February 5, 2009 CommentMortgage rates ticked modestly higher in Freddie Mac's most recent survey, Bloomberg reported:
"The average U.S. rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage rose this week, thwarting Federal Reserve efforts to cut borrowing costs, on investor concern the government will increase spending.
The fixed rate rose to 5.25 percent from 5.10 percent last week, Freddie Mac said in a report today…
-
Senate Adds $15,000 Home-Buying Tax Credit to Stimulus Bill
Tweet Share on Facebook February 5, 2009 Comment (132)The Senate on Wednesday approved an amendment to the economic stimulus package that would provide a tax credit of as much as $15,000 to anyone buying a primary residence during a one-year period. The measure, introduced by Sen. Johnny Isakson, a Republican from Georgia, would reportedly add $19 billion to the already-massive stimulus package.
Here's the release from Isakson's office:
The U.S. Senate today unanimously approved an amendment by U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., to stimulate the nation’s declining housing market by offering a $15,000 tax credit to individuals who purchase a home in the next year.
-
20 Celebrity Foreclosures
Tweet Share on Facebook February 5, 2009 Comment (2)For those keeping track of the celebrity foreclosure epidemic, The Business Sheet has put together a helpful slideshow.
-
Homeownership Rate Returns to 2001 Levels
Tweet Share on Facebook February 4, 2009 Comment (23)The Census Bureau reported yesterday that the national homeownership rate for the fourth quarter fell to 67.5 percent, a level last hit in the first quarter of 2001. "In other words, the much-touted homeownership gains of the entire previous Bush regime are now history. Gone," says Paul Jackson of Housing Wire. "It's amply clear now that the gains of the past eight years were illusory and temporary, created through unsustainable lending practices."
-
Mortgage Rates, Refinancing Applications Rise
Tweet Share on Facebook February 4, 2009 Comment (5)Even as 30-year, fixed mortgage rates increased slightly--to 5.28 percent--refinancing applications increased last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday:
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending January 30, 2009. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 795.4, an increase of 8.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 732.1 one week earlier…
