Home, Mortgage and Personal Finance News Archive

• Fighting Foreclosure: One Family's Story
  ConsumerAffairs.com (July 5, 2008)
  Learn how fighting back enabled one family to keep its home.
• 5 Ways to Improve Your Credit
  Yahoo Finance (July 3, 2008)
  Blotches on your credit report cost you. But, don't despair. It's never too late to become credit worthy -- just get started, and remember that it won't happen overnight. Here are five steps for improving your credit rating.
• U.S. Mortgage Rates Ease: Freddie Mac
  MarketWatch (July 3, 2008)
  Mortgage rates reversed direction and fell this week, in part due to expectations that inflation will moderate later this year, Freddie Mac's chief economist said on Thursday.
• Housing Market Seen Getting Worse
  Reuters (July 3, 2008)
  An even gloomier scenario may be in store for an already ailing U.S. housing market if the overall economy slips into a recession, according to UBS Securities analysts.
• The Home-Staging Cheat Sheet
  U.S. News & World Report (July 3, 2008)
  Discover six easy ways to make your property more appealing to buyers.
• More Banks Are Helping Hurting Homeowners
  The San Francisco Chronicle (July 3, 2008)
  Banks in California and nationally are slowly helping more struggling owners stay in their homes, according to several reports released Wednesday, although the mounting toll of defaults, foreclosures and "under water" homes continues to raise serious concerns.
• Mortgage Application Volume Rises Off 2008 Low
  BusinessWeek (July 2, 2008)
  Mortgage application volume rose 3.6% during the week ended June 27, according to the trade group Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly application survey. Refinance volume increased 4.7% during the week, while purchase volume increased 2.8%.
• Home Equity Credit Line Delinquencies at New High
  CNBC (July 2, 2008)
  Late payments on U.S. home equity lines of credit rose to a 21-year high in the first quarter of 2008 due to continued stress in the housing market and general weakness in the economy, the American Bankers Association said Wednesday.
• Housing Bust Hurts Once-Immune Cities
  ABC News (July 2, 2008)
  New York City, Charlotte, Seattle and Portland, Ore., had bucked the trend and seen increasing home prices, while the rest of the country suffered. But a recent report showed that even homes in those cities are starting to lose value.
• Rent-to-Own Homes?
  WTAM.com (July 2, 2008)
  Some consumers are turning to alternative methods to buy and sell homes. But experts warn of pitfalls.
• Vulture Real Estate Investors Swoop In
  CNN Money (July 2, 2008)
  Let the bargain hunting begin. Prices may still be falling, but they're low enough for some investors to buy, sell, and pocket a tidy profit.
• Resets Peaking on Subprime Loans
  The Washington Post (July 1, 2008)
  The number of homeowners facing an increase in their subprime adjustable-rate mortgage payments will peak this summer, testing the efforts of lenders and others to keep those people out of foreclosure and stabilize the housing market.
• Credit Crisis Seen Extending into 2009
  Reuters (July 1, 2008)
  Analysts at Morgan Stanley said the credit crisis fallout would extend into 2009, and that mortgage asset overhangs will drive additional write-downs as brokers struggle to de-risk their balance sheets.
• Homeowners Fall Further Behind on Mortgage Payments
  Bloomberg (June 30, 2008)
  Newly delinquent homeowners outnumbered those who caught up on overdue payments for a 26th straight month in May, according to a trade group that tracks loans to people who put down less than 20 percent.
• Mortgage Ruling Could Shock US Banking Industry
  CNBC (June 30, 2008)
  A lawsuit filed by a Wisconsin couple against their mortgage lender could have major implications for banks should a U.S. appeals court agree that borrowers can cancel their loans en masse when their lenders violate a federal lending disclosure law.

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