Buying a home with the intention of reselling it at a profit in the near future made a lot of sense in 2005, when home values …
foreclosures
Why This May Be the Ideal Time to Buy Real Estate
Well, it’s only taken half a decade, but the moribund real estate market is finally starting to show signs of life. If you were thinking about making a move on a piece of property, right now is possibly the best time. You can …
Want to Buy a Foreclosure? Here’s What You Need to Know
Foreclosures are up in 26 of the 50 largest metro areas in the country, according to a quarterly report released by foreclosure site RealtyTrac.com. At the top of the list is Pittsburgh, where foreclosures are up 49% from the …
Foreclosures Are at a 4-Year Low, But That’s Not Necessarily Good News
Foreclosure filings fell in March to their lowest level in four years, according to real estate data provider Realty Trac. For the first time since July 2007, the nationwide number of filings fell under 200,000 — a 4% drop from …
Your Burning Tax Season FAQs, Answered
Tax preparers toil in obscurity for most of the year, trying to keep track of the ever-changing kaleidoscope that is our federal tax code. But when crunch time comes for taxpayers to get their returns filed to the Internal …
Housing Bail-Out Arrives for One Group of Americans: Soldiers and Vets
Call it a war on foreclosure wrongs. The $25 billion foreclosure abuse settlement announced last month between a group of state governments and the largest mortgage banks in the country is meant to help homeowners everywhere who …
Plotting the Future of Fannie and Freddie
One of the many cans being kicked down Washington’s boulevards these days is the government conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In 2008, at the height of the financial crisis, Congress and the Bush administration …
Is the $25 Billion Foreclosure Settlement a Stealth Bank Bailout?
Who Qualifies for the $26 Billion Foreclosure Settlement?
It took over a year for lawmakers and state AGs to agree to the terms of the $26 billion foreclosure settlement announced this week, and it could take up to another three years for eligible homeowners to see a share of that …
White House Announces $25 Billion Mortgage Settlement
This post was updated at 1:25pm
It’s been a long slog, but government officials and representatives from major U.S. banks have come to terms on a settlement that would put an end to federal and state investigations into …
How ‘Shadow Inventory’ Is Killing the Housing Market
Recently, there have been lots of positive signs coming out of the real estate market. Foreclosure rates are down, housing starts are up, and homes have appreciated in value in some markets for the first time since 2006. Even so, …
Should Cities Have to Patronize Small, Local Banks?
Many Americans expressed their dissatisfaction with escalating bank fees by eschewing megabanks in favor of smaller institutions or credit unions. Should cities do the same thing? Last week, the city council in Berkeley, Calif., …