While the economic data out this week couldn’t easily be characterized as “great”, the collective tenor of the available reports was arguably the most solid in some time, lending at least a little hope that we will not slide into recession as we close 2011.

This pulled some money out of hiding, and the stock market had a little better time of it for at least the time being. To the extent that things aren’t getting economically worse at the moment suggests that mortgage rates might stabilize at bit. After a small upward blip two weeks ago, mortgage rates sported a small downward blip last week (ending October 7). Read the rest of this entry »

First-time homebuyers are extremely important to this country’s housing market. The participation of this buying demographic is essential for housing to function properly.

However, just like many other potential buyers in the current marketplace, the influence of first-timers has been diminished. Read the rest of this entry »

When you read the results of the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance Monthly Survey of Real Estate Market Conditions, it’s easier to understand why September’s Pending Home Sales Index recorded its first decline since June.

For the first time in the Campbell/IMF survey’s history, cash became the number one source of financing for homebuyers. Recently, the FHA has been the predominant source of funding for buyers: Read the rest of this entry »

Update1: As we wrote yesterday, “This week could really give us a sense of homebuyer demand: both existing and new home sales reports are due to be released by week’s end.”

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), existing homes sales rose 6.8% last month, a direct result of the homebuyer tax credit’s pending expiration (emphasis added):

Buyers responding to the homebuyer tax credit and favorable affordability conditions boosted existing-home sales in March, marking the beginning of an expected spring surge, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

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Here is the last chapter in this saga. Unfortunately for the couple who wrote this first-hand experience, their latest snag in the home-buying process remains unresolved, leaving their fifth offer to remain in limbo.

This latest twist that has prevented the couple from closing on their home is a scenario called “post-foreclosure bankruptcy”: Read the rest of this entry »

Earlier today we posted a story from the Real Estate Wonk (Jamie Smith Hopkins of the Baltimore Sun) of one couple and their unsuccessful attempts at buying a home in today’s unique real estate market. The couple, Peter and Karen, saw all types of properties, everything from foreclosures, to short sales, even “regular” sales. After three months of searching and almost 80 homes in their file, not one of the couple’s offers had been accepted.

Even after the couple had finally had an offer accepted, and after the inspector gave the home a passing grade, more and more factors — again, brought on by the home-buying era in which we are now in — came into play, stalling the buying process even more: Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve consistently noted that perhaps the largest hurdle facing borrowers in this current real estate market is securing financing. Mortgage rates have been historically low for almost a year now, real estate prices are nearing a bottom (if they haven’t reached one already), and incentives like tax credits have been extended and expanded to lure potential buyers to the market. However, credit conditions remain extremely tight. With all that being said, one could speculate that as soon as you secure financing, the home-buying process should be smooth sailing, right? Well, not for one couple.

Our friend Jamie Smith Hopkins at the Baltimore Sun is running an interesting series in her blog, “The Real Estate Wonk,” on first-hand experiences from the home front. “Dispatches from the home-buying front” details the experiences of one couple from the Maryland area who are in the market to purchase a home in today’s unique marketplace.

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Today’s housing market is a buyer’s market. Falling home prices, historically-low interest rates, foreclosed properties, and financial incentives have all lured potential homebuyers to the forefront in search of a once-in-a-lifetime deal.

Sellers, on the other hand, have gotten the short end of the stick. Falling home prices and dirt-cheap foreclosures have taken the profits right out from under them.

Read the rest of this entry »

Due to rising mortgage rates and an under performing market, special interest groups have begun to exhort lawmakers to expand one of the year’s more appealing home-buying incentives. The National Association of Home Builders along with the Business Roundtable, “an association of chief executives,” have prompted lawmakers to increase the first-time homebuyer tax credit by $7,000 and expand the offer to all homebuyers. The group would also like to see the tax credit’s December 1 deadline pushed back.

Housing professionals argue that creating more of an incentive for “trade-up” buyers, or non-first-time homebuyers, would create significantly more demand in the marketplace: Read the rest of this entry »

“Supply and demand” is perhaps the most generic, even cliche, law of economics. Yet, the seemingly-oversimplified phrase is the functional foundation of the housing market. The healthy dichotomy of seller and buyer is what greases the housing market. Unfortunately there are several monkey wrenches jamming the system.

When the housing market self destructed in 2006, supply surged and demand was vanquished. There are at least 10 separate factors to monitor which will dictate when the housing market can reinvent itself.

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