A new survey conducted by Fannie Mae revealed that the number of Americans who believe it’s a good time to buy a home and the number of Americans who believe it’s a good time to sell a home are evening out. This could indicate a better balance between supply and demand.
In the month from June to July, those favoring selling dropped from 70 to 67 percent, while those favoring buying jumped from 40 to 43 percent.
Image via flickr/james.thompson
Rhode Island homebuyers are the luckiest in the nation when it comes to mortgage interest rates. Anyone looking to buy a house in the nation’s smallest state can an expect an interest rate of about 3.4 percent, which is .35 percent lower than the national average.
Nebraska, on the other hand, has the highest average at 4.1 percent.
Image via flickr/401k limits
Two men from California and one from New York were charged in connection with an alleged $18.5 million mortgage modification fraud scheme.
U.S. officials believe this may be the largest charge of its kind.
The three men allegedly falsely led more than 8,000 homeowners in all 50 states to believe that they were pre-approved for lower mortgage rates via a company called Home Affordable Modification Program.
Image via flickr/.v1ctor Casale.
Bill and Hillary Clinton are renting a home in the Hamptons for three weeks this summer for $100,000.
The home is located in Amagansett and is owned by private art collector Andre Nasser and his wife Lois.
This year’s rental is actually a downgrade from last year, when the former first couple paid $200,000 to stay in a home in Sagaponack.
Image via Twitter/HillaryClinton
Reuters reports that Wells Fargo, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, has eased up on its requirements on some high-end mortgages. The new lax rules affect only the fixed-rate “jumbo” mortgages that Wells Fargo acquires from other banks.
In late July, Wells Fargo lowered its minimum credit score requirement for these loans from 720 to 700.
The hope is that these new, more relaxed rules with help combat the nation-wide drop in mortgage volumes.
Image via Pixaby/193584
Although the number of houses for sale was expected to surge this summer, the prediction has not materialized. As a result, the current supply of homes is low and their selling prices are high.
According to a report released by CareLogic on Tuesday, many homeowners are ” staying put and waiting for better economic times and higher prices in the future.”
Image via flickr/flimin
Austin, Texas, was voted the top U.S. city for millennial homebuyers by CNN.
Austin is home to the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival and boasts a median home price of $226,000. The city’s 4.2 percent job growth ensures lots of jobs with high incomes.
No wonder 110 new people are moving to Austin every day.
Image via flickr/eschipul
Since the start of the housing crisis, more and more young adults continue to live at home with their parents, citing financial reasons.
Between 1990 and 2006, the number of young adults living at home averaged 27 percent. In 2013, that number spiked to 31 percent.
Economists at CoreLogic call this group the “Renter Generation.”
Image via Wikimedia Commons/SanibLemar
The two-building complex that is home to Twitter Inc.’s New York City headquarters was sold to publicly traded landlord New York REIT, Inc., on Thursday for $335 million.
The price works out to about $1,188 per square foot.
The property contains one 12-story building and an adjacent six-story, mixed-use building. In all, the complex has 282,000 square feet of rentable office space.
Image via flickr/rexboggs5
Freddie Mac officially declared this week that the refinancing boom is over.
They called the official end “when the share of mortgages originated for refinancing fell below 50 percent for the first time since the third quarter of 2008,” according to Mortgage News Daily.
The boom marked the longest stretch of refinancing in the 24 years since the company began keeping track.
Image via flickr/lendingmemo