Written by Lilian Rydge on January 25, 2012.
The state of the property market can be assessed by keeping a close eye on the number of properties being marketed for Auction. When you spot more and more of the For Sale street signs emblazened with “Auction” you can safely bet that the property market is heating up.
This view is certainly articulated in the article today titled “Auckland house auctions hit high“. Based on sales data supplied by the Real Estate Institute (REINZ) the number of properties sold in November across the country as Auctions was the highest ever at more than 25%. Looking specifically at the Auckland market Barfoot & Thompson November reported that around 40% of it’s current listings are being for sale by auction.
These reported statistics got me interested as we have in the past reported on the number of listings coming onto the market and specifically on the market across our comprehensive database. Back in A
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Written by David Batchelor on January 21, 2012.
More that a year has passed since HUD announced that it would investigate 22 lenders. The issue? Layering, the addition of requirements on top of FHA standards.
The investigations, said HUD, are in response to 22 complaints the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) filed with HUD alleging that the loan activities of the mortgage originators showed that their home lending practices deny FHA- insured loans to African Americans and Latinos with credit scores as high as 640. Federal Housing Administration (FHA) guidelines allow mortgages to borrowers with credit scores above 580, provided the borrowers have down payments equaling 3.5 percent of the loan amount, or above 500, provided the borrowers have down payments equaling 10 percent of the loan amount.
In the usual case lenders can set whatever terms they want to underwrite a loan.
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Written by admin on January 18, 2012.
You are about to move to Houston but you are entirely foreign to that area. That is why you are in a state of puzzlement at the moment. There are many things you want to do but find yourself a little clueless as to what to expect. At this moment in time, you feel a little confused and apprehensive and nothing seems to be going right. If this situation mirrors the exact place where you find yourself in at the moment, you should think about hiring Houston moving companies to help and aid you in your endeavour.
It is perfectly all right to raise the white flag and admit that you need help. The first step would be to acknowledge the fact that you want to look for Houston moving companies. So, it is imperative for you to learn about Houston moving companies. It would also be a very good idea to seek information from realtors or brokers who might have contacts with these moving companies. Read full article…
Written by David Batchelor on January 17, 2012.
Before the Internet and smartphones came into being, all we had to assist us in house hunting was newspapers, estate agents and word-of-mouth. But now that we have all these wonders of technology, what’s our excuse to insist on pen and paper as best tools for house-hunting?
According to the new survey by real estate portal realestateVIEW.com.au nearly 50% of house hunters still use pen and paper to organize and manage their house-hunting process, and 10% admitted they look at newspapers, walk around suburbs and rely on real estate agents’ help.
Over 2000 people were asked nation-wide to participate in the survey, and the results look quite shocking to me. I seriously doubt that 50% of respondents weren’t busy and therefore could afford to waste time on inefficient house-hunting. The r
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Written by Piper Birks on January 14, 2012.
The Bank of Canada announced this morning that interest rates will remain unchanged for the 11th consecutive time over the past 15 months. The last time the BOC made a change to the overnight lending rate was in September 2010 with a moderate increase of 0.25 per cent.
The overnight rate currently sits at 1 per cent. The Bank Rate is 1.25 per cent and the deposit rate is 0.75 per cent.
The news is really no news at all, given that nearly all industry professionals and top economists were anticipating no change. But what should be of interest to consumers is the justification behind the decision. Heres why the Bank of Canada is keeping interest rates where they are.
- The outlook for the global economy is getting worse.
- The recession in Europe is expected to be deeper and last longer than originally anticipated.
- The BOC was coy in suggesting they had faith Europe could get a handle on the situation: although this assumption is clearly subject to downside risks.
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