Congress grills banks for their loan modification practices
According to this article from Reuters, banks are still hesitant to carry through with loan modifications.
Walking away from a home, may cost you more than you think
According to this article, published on AOL's real estate section, if a homeowner simply "walks away" from a mortgage, Fannie Mae is raising the stakes. Here is a short quote from the article:
Here's the breakdown for eligibility depending on how you got out of your last mortgage:
Deed-in-Lieu of Foreclosure> -- reduced from four years to two years if you can put down 20 percent on your house, four years if you can only put down 10 percent.
Preforeclosure Sale -- remains at two years if you can put down 20 percent, four years if you can only put down 10%.
Short Sale -- will be the same as pre-foreclosure sale. Currently there are no set rules for short sale.
Strategic Default (Walk Away) -- seven years.
Seattle real estate prices jump, but market still soft
The month of May showed a mixed bag of real estate sales statistics for the Seattle area, with an increase in pricing, but softening of inventory. Apparently, the small bounce in pricing is related directly to the impact of the tax credited offered by the federal government. Now that it has expired (or is expiring as the last sales close), it will be interesting to see the impact.
Interesting article on how to purchase a foreclosure or short sale home
http://blog.seattlepi.com/intelligentinvestor/archives/212001.asp
The above link provides an exhaustive outline of what someone interested in purchasing a foreclosure/short sale home should consider.
Housing market continues to struggle
This article in Business Week outlines the ongoing (and troubling) picture of the US housing market:
