Several homebuyers have begun to ask their lenders whether or not they can use their $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit as the down payment for their newly-purchased home. According to the Mortgage Grapevine, several borrowers have been told that this process is legit. We don’t know who is telling borrowers they can do this, but some mortgage professionals are warning borrowers that this practice may be considered tax fraud.

The following is from contributor lighthouse1 on the Mortgage Grapevine: Read the rest of this entry »

The housing statistics during the first quarter of 2009 have so far provided some “Signs of Life” for some of the states that ushered the country into the housing crisis. We’ve already reported improved sales in California, yet now sales are beginning to improve in Florida and Las Vegas as well:

Some of the very regions that led the U.S. housing market into the abyss are beginning to show signs of life. Sales on the Gulf Coast of Florida, California’s Inland Empire near Los Angeles, and the Las Vegas metropolitan area surged by more than 80% in February vs. the same month last year.

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Last week we wrote about home sales improving across California. This week, according to statistics released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the trend is spreading nationally. Existing home sales rose 5.1% in February, spurring the strongest increase since July 2003.

Despite the overall number of sales remaining “relatively soft,” the housing market is steadily showing significant signs of improvement — a trend which experts say is being driven by first-time home buyers shopping for deals and taking advantage of the government’s latest housing incentives: Read the rest of this entry »