Recently in Real Estate Category

The Housing Market

| No Comments | No TrackBacks
It was recently announced that new home sales have fallen to 17 year lows. It certainly feels that way to me. I bought my house in 2003. I have always paid my mortgage bonds on time, and even made significant improvements to the house, including garage door openers, new carpet and new countertops. Despite that, I can barely sell it for what I owe on the mortgage. I recently got a job offer in another state, and will be forced to move to accept it. I listed my house on the market about a month ago, but there has been almost no interest. As of today, I cut the price in hopes of breaking even. I certainly hope things turn around, but I don't think they will anytime soon. I'm not sure what the bailout of financial markets means to us little guys, but I do know that I can't take much more of this housing market recession.

What the Bailout could mean to your Mortgage

| No Comments | No TrackBacks
Even though Congress shot down the bailout plan yesterday, it is still widely accepted that they will pass some sort of legislation soon. That being said, Americans still need to be aware of what a bailout plan could mean for them and their current credit accounts, specifically their mortgages.

Since the housing bubble burst homeowners have been bombarded with news of increased foreclosures and decreased home values, although many people are still looking for a quick property sale to raise funds. Professionals all over the media spectrum have been trumpeting the need to re-vamp your current mortgage, to get out of the high interest variable rate loans their in and get a lower flat rate loan. Unfortunately since several folks are now backwards in their mortgages, owing more than the house is worth, that has become a virtual impossibility. Enter the federal governments bailout plan. The bailout, at this point, will still not directly deal with the average homeowners mortgage concerns. It will help credit begin to flow more smoothly between banks and businesses, which will eventually trickle down to the homeowner, but that may take months to years. That is of course if and when Congress passes a bill. The eventual effect on a mortgage could play out like this. Once credit begins to flow again, banks will be eager to start loaning.

Only the folks with the highest credit score, and large down payment of at least 20%, will be able to get new mortgages. These people will be in a buyers market for homes, with several possible purchases coming from the foreclosure pool. As these homes slowly begin to sell, property values will stabilize and begin to creep upward. This will begin to re balance the backwards mortgages that several Americans now have. It is at this point that refinancing of current mortgages will begin. It is going to be a long process. There will be nothing easy about what Congress pushes through. Hopefully though, if people will begin to educate themselves on the possibilities now, they can decide how to better allocate their funds to get a workable mortgage as soon as possible

About this Archive

This page is an archive of recent entries in the Real Estate category.

Debt is the previous category.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.