Home Ownership Rate in the U.S. Holding Steady
By the end of the 4th quarter of 2006 the home ownership rate in the U.S. was reported by the Census Bureau at 69.9% Read More

Pointers for First-Time Home Buyers
Potential first time home buyers are currently being offered a variety of positive market conditions: reduced homes prices, great interest rates, along with a large inventory of available homes. Buying your first home is a major life event and can be an intimidating experience for those who lack the proper knowledge before entering into this complicated transaction. What follows are some helpful tips to assist with making your first transaction run smoothly. Read More

NAR Foresees Increase in Home Prices in 2008
The NAR (National Association of Realtors) stated that along with an improving economy, home prices should see a gain of 3.4% next year. This would be double the pace of this year. Read More

Vacant House inventory is growing
Data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that the number of vacant homes nationwide has jumped over 30% in the third quarter of 2006, over the figures from the previous year. Read More

Buying a Vacation Home with Friends can Spell Trouble
Clear-cut rules are recommended to avert difficult situation that could arise when groups of friends decide to make a group purchase on vacation properties such as a condo, lake house or a ski cabin. Read More

5 Important Points to Consider Prior to Dropping Asking Price
If a home has been on the real estate market a long time and had been passed up for other properties, price is often the major factor. Read More

FBI Reports on the Most Prevalent Mortgage Scam
According to FBI reports, it has been found that mortgage fraud showed a continued increase in 2006. This is in spite of recent increased attention to detail from both the financial industry and law enforcement. At the beginning of this month alone, the FBI had 938 ongoing investigations of mortgage fraud. This is up 120 cases over the 818 as of the end of the third quarter last year. Read More

Home Consumers and CEOs alike are More Optimistic
A monthly index that monitors American' home consumer confidence levels reports that consumers' economic outlook rose dramatically in the past month. Additionally, consumers are saying that they feel that January and February look like good months to make real estate investments. Read More

Some Home Builders Still Feel the Market is Sliding
U.S. home builders continue to reduce the prices of current inventory to boost sales. This action adds fuel to the overall concern that the market has not fully reversed from its previous decline. Read More

Major Cities see a slower Condominium Market
Some major cities that have recently had very active condo markets are currently experiencing a slow down.

According to area real estate professionals and developers, high inventory levels have caused once booming prices that have previously flattened-out are now actually falling. Read More

The Return of Home Seller Financing is seen
The topic of home seller financing is becoming more of a topic of discussion during possible transactions of real estate. Sellers are becoming more willing to work with buyers that are unable to meet the regular requirements of a typical mortgage lender. Property owners are becoming more apt to the negotiation of the terms of their contracts in order to close the deal. Read More

2007 begins With Housing Consumer Confidence
The New Year is being greeted with the highest level of consumer confidence in months. This could mean good news for the housing market. Read More

NAR Reports: Gradual Increase in Home Sales Through 2008
After sales figure of existing homes hit bottom in the 4th quarter of last year, they are now projected to slowly increase throughout 2007 and into 2008. New Home sales are expected to see a turn around by the summer of this year. These are the most recent predictions published by the NAR (National Association of Realtors.) Read More

United States Homeless Population Tallied
The National Alliance to End Homelessness, which serves as an advocacy group, released a report January 11 that found that 744,000 people in this country were either living in shelters or homeless in 2005. Read More

Rate Cuts Are Not Likely to Occur
The Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Donald Kohn has clearly stated that it is unlikely that the Board will cut rates based simply on a few months of falling energy costs. Read More

Vacant Homes Mean Lower Home Prices
With the approach of spring, housing industry experts expect the real estate market will experience some improvements.

There is one snag that exists that could be a large factor in keeping prices down. There is a large amount of vacant homes available on the market for rent or sale. Read More

Recent Decision on Rates due to Fed's Concerns over Housing
The most recent meeting of the Federal Reserve board was held in December. According to the minutes from that meeting, it appears that concerns over the recent slump in the housing market may be a major factor in the reasons why the short-term interest rate remained unchanged. Read More

Bill that Would Keep Banks out of Real Estate
The new 110th Congress was hailed by the President of the NAR (National Association of Realtors) for their swift movement on a proposed bill that is intended to keep the real estate industry competitive. Read More

Applications for New Mortgages Increase In Spite of Holidays and Rates
In spite of the Holiday season and rising mortgage rates, prospective home buyers were busy filing loan applications last week. Read More

New Mortgage Scam Uncovered
A newly discovered scam referred to as "shotgunning" involves thieves who apply for multiple loans simultaneously. When they receive the funds from the loans, they promptly flee the country. Scams have amounted to the millions of dollars. Read More

December Sees a Rise in Consumer Confidence
With December behind us, reports show that consumer confidence was at its highest rating in the previous 8 months. This boost could be a signal of a positive turnaround in the recent housing slump. Read More

Hot and Cold Spots in the Real Estate Market
Even though new home construction rebounded in November, the numbers are still beneath the boom that was seen over much of the past 10 years. November's numbers came in as the 2nd lowest figures in the past 5 years - only behind the October, 2006 figures. Read More