All entries by this author

Mortgage rates fall to third straight record low

Jan 5th, 2009 | By Gregory Arzumanov | Category: Financial News

WASHINGTON - Jan. 5, 2009 - Rates on 30-year mortgages fell to a record low for the third straight week and borrowers took advantage of the drop, sending new applications soaring.
With the Federal Reserve on the verge of pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into the devastated U.S. housing market, mortgage rates have plunged to [...]



Modifying the mortgage giants

Dec 8th, 2008 | By Gregory Arzumanov | Category: Financial News

WASHINGTON – Dec. 8, 2008 – After the government announced last month that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would take new steps to modify tens of thousands of mortgages to make them more affordable, some executives expressed concerns that the moves could weaken their already struggling companies.
Fannie Mae’s chief executive, Herbert M. Allison Jr., acknowledged [...]



Foreclosure reprieve gives hope to families

Dec 2nd, 2008 | By Gregory Arzumanov | Category: Housing News, South Region

By Gregory Arzumanov
TAMPA, Fla. - Dec. 1, 2008 - Tiffany Edwards thought she was running out of time to persuade her lender to work out a new loan so her growing family could stay in their Tampa home.
She had been out of work for more than a year, and her husband’s income wasn’t enough to [...]



Mortgage rates dip for fourth straight week

Dec 2nd, 2008 | By Gregory Arzumanov | Category: Financial News

By Gregory Arzumanov
WASHINGTON - Dec. 1, 2008 - Rates on 30-year mortgages sank for a fourth straight week, falling below 6 percent for the first time since early October, and are heading lower due to the government’s massive new effort to aid the U.S. housing market.
Further drops are likely, analysts said, reflecting the market’s positive [...]



Wartime economy boosts real estate near bases

Nov 15th, 2008 | By Gregory Arzumanov | Category: Housing News

By   Gregory Arzumanov
Nov. 14, 2008 - Sometimes Tim Wells felt like the only man left on his street.
Thousands of soldiers were deployed out of Fort Campbell, Ky., just a few miles away, and homes in Wells’ subdivision were sitting empty. But a few months later the soldiers began to return and, one by [...]



Mortgage rates drop for second week

Nov 15th, 2008 | By Gregory Arzumanov | Category: Financial News

By  Gregory Arzumanov -
Nov. 14, 2008 - Mortgage rates dropped for a second straight week, reflecting the impact the weakening economy is having on financial markets.
Freddie Mac, the mortgage giant, reported Thursday that rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.14 percent this week, down from 6.20 percent last week. It marked a sharp decline [...]



Mortgage rates drop to average 6.2 percent

Nov 8th, 2008 | By Gregory Arzumanov | Category: Financial News

WASHINGTON (AP) – Nov. 7, 2008 – Mortgage rates dropped this week, providing a dose of welcome news to prospective homebuyers.
Freddie Mac, the mortgage giant, reported Thursday that rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.20 percent for the week ending Nov. 6. That was down sharply from 6.46 percent last week.
The retreat in mortgages rates [...]



Pending home sales down on tight credit and economic slowdown

Nov 8th, 2008 | By Gregory Arzumanov | Category: South Region

ORLANDO, Fla. – Nov. 7, 2008 – Pending home sales fell on the heels of a strong gain a month earlier as credit tightened and economic conditions deteriorated, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR).
The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in September, declined 4.6 percent to 89.2 from [...]



‘Underwater’ need not mean foreclosure

Nov 5th, 2008 | By Gregory Arzumanov | Category: Housing News, Northeast Region

NEW YORK - Nov. 5, 2008 - What does being “underwater” in your house really mean? Probably not that you’re drowning.
The number of underwater homeowners - those who owe more on their mortgages than their home is now worth - has been growing sharply since 2006 as real-estate prices have tumbled. By some estimates, between [...]



Americans want more government involvement in lending

Nov 4th, 2008 | By Gregory Arzumanov | Category: Housing News

WASHINGTON - Nov. 4, 2008 - With an unstable American economy and slowdowns in the housing market, most consumers are open to the federal government taking a more active role in overseeing mortgage and lending practices, according to the 2008 National Housing Pulse Survey, an annual survey released today by the National Association of Realtors®.
The [...]