News

2010

September

12

• Resale fees only developers could love. Rebecca and Trent Dupaix of Eagle Mountain, Utah, spent a year searching for their dream home. The couple, who have five children, considered 15 to 20 houses before finding “the one.” They were thrilled when they closed

06

• Some say, let the housing market crash. The unexpectedly deep plunge in home sales this summer is likely to force the Obama administration to choose between future homeowners and current ones, a predicament officials had been eager to avoid. Over the last 18

05

• Home buyers and sellers are out of sync. Jack Donnelly put off selling his Capitol Hill rowhouse for three years until he thought he saw glimmers of life in the housing market this past spring. At $950,000, he said, the red brick Victorian is

04

• How debt can destroy a budding relationship. Nobody likes unpleasant surprises, but when Allison Brooke Eastman’s fiancé found out four months ago just how high her student loan debt was, he had a particularly strong reaction: he broke off the engagement

• National lending program is worth a look. If you fit the profile - typically buyers with little cash on hand or small-scale investors looking for a deal on a foreclosed house - a little-publicized national lending program could be just what you

02

• Communities get first shot at foreclosed homes. Major mortgage lenders will now give state and local governments the right to buy foreclosed properties before they go on the market, giving them "a leg up" on speculators who have often thwarted local redevelopment

August

31

• Time to refinance? Rates hit record lows. For anyone under the age of 57, mortgage rates are at the lowest point ever in their lifetime. This fact isn't lost on a growing number of homeowners who have started a new wave of refinancings.

• Thinking of raiding your 401(k)? Don't. It's no secret that millions of Americans haven't saved enough to finance a comfortable retirement. Now comes even more worrisome news: Thousands of workers are raiding their retirement-savings plans to pay their bills. In the

• Survey: Mortgage closing costs 37% higher. A new federal rule this year requiring mortgage lenders to give borrowers reliable estimates of closing costs appears to be working — whether it's also costing borrowers more money is uncertain. A recent survey by Bankrate

30

• Banks help more homeowners than Obama. Remember how everyone complained that banks weren't doing enough to help troubled borrowers? Well ... Banks have realized that foreclosing on home after home after home may not be in anyone's best interest -- least of

26

• Quest for the perfect credit score. A major league pitcher dreams of throwing a perfect game. High schoolers eyeing the Ivy League study furiously in hopes of earning 2400 on the SAT. Meanwhile, Chris Peplinski is pursuing his own brand of flawlessness:

• Equity in your home doesn't translate to net worth. I have my own spin to put on the news that sales of existing homes plunged 27 percent in July: Stop thinking of your home as your cash cow. In the past few decades, borrowers have

24

• The customer always comes last. The credit card industry is working hard to subvert the Credit Card Act of 2009, which banned many of the industry’s most predatory practices. The Federal Reserve Board, which oversees and coddles this industry, needs

21

• US mortgage relief effort falling short. The Obama administration’s mortgage relief program, originally intended to shield three million households from foreclosure, now looks as if it will permanently help as few as one-sixth of that number. While millions say they

• Consumers clamoring for a leader in Warren. So it turns out that the Elizabeth Warren rap video that went “viral” this week is actually a made-in-Hollywood production. You know the video, don’t you? The one in which a struggling comedian named

• Ban on private transfer fees could cost homeowners. A federal agency is moving to prohibit controversial "private transfer fees" on all mortgages funded by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But its proposed ban might extend to transfer fees routinely collected by community associations

18

• U.S. role at heart of housing debate. Top Obama administration officials opened a conference on the future of housing by making clear Tuesday they are considering a limited range of options that would reduce but not eliminate the government's role as a

17

• Fed adopts rules meant to protect homebuyers. The Federal Reserve on Monday moved to end a controversial lending practice that had helped propel the housing boom to unsustainable heights and then accelerated its collapse. The Fed announced that it was adopting new

16

• Second credit report not required for mortgages. Mortgage giant Fannie Mae said Friday that lenders who sell mortgages to the company are not required to run a second credit report before a borrower closes a home loan application. The government-controlled company earlier

• Shorter-term mortgages gain favor for refinancing. More homeowners are refinancing into shorter-term loans, saving a bundle by taking advantage of the lowest mortgage rates in decades. Nearly a third of borrowers refinancing fixed 30-year loans in April through June picked loans