Following a round of recent fair housing complaints and mortgage discrimination charges, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) has opened its own front to protect credit consumers from discrimination.
Spring Affordability Puts Bounce in Buyers’ Steps
May 18, 2012 by
As interest rates hover around record low levels and home prices bounce along the bottom, incomes are also cooperating to make housing more affordable than ever, not that it makes much difference when lenders remain so tight-fisted with their mortgage money
The Responsible Homeowners Refinancing Act of 2012 Pushes for HARP 3.0
May 11, 2012 by
It’s not the HARP 3.0 rumored to be in the pipeline, but the Responsible Homeowners Refinancing Act of 2012 would boost HARP 2.0 and provide additional refinance relief for households struggling to make the mortgage payment.
Foreclosures Make Kids Sick, Slow Learners, and Increase Dropouts
May 4, 2012 by
Studies have documented a correlation between foreclosures and everything from nausea, fevers and abdominal pain to hypertension, depression, chest pain and diabetes – in adults. Children, however, have been the unseen victims of a lost home – until now…
Banks Fail to Sell Distressed Homes, Get landlord Job Instead
April 27, 2012 by
Banks can rent out foreclosed homes as part of an orderly strategy to unload properties, provided the properties are safe and rented under local rules and regulations as well as federal fair housing law. Good luck with that.
Renters? Cover your assets.
Timeshare Market Heating up with Sales, Reselling Scams
April 20, 2012 by
Timeshares’ tiny $5 billion slice of the real estate pie is poised to grow even bigger with its increasing sales and timeshare rats are scurrying out of the woodwork to take a bite.
Mobile Devices Become Standard for Housing Consumers
April 10, 2012 by
Home shopping is no longer confined to desktops or laptops and real estate agents who don’t get the mobile movement will be thumb-typed right out of business. Instead, today’s unwired home shoppers are using mobile devices to do everything from browsing for housing via GPS to streaming videos of homes for sale.
Investors Hosting Housing Recovery Party
April 6, 2012 by
Investors, hand picking individual properties, working in groups, buying in bulk and smacking down all-cash deals like they won the Mega Millions Lottery, snatched up properties last year at an astounding pace, 64.5 percent greater in 2011 than 2010, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
What “Affordability”?
March 30, 2012 by
If you’ve been scratching your head over claims that housing is “more affordable than ever,” you aren’t alone and, given the most up-to-date report on home prices, more scratchers could be joining you.
73 Percent of Consumers: What’s a HAMP? Who’s a HARP?
March 23, 2012 by
It doesn’t matter that the Obama Administration recently enhanced leading government programs to bail out more underwater homeowners and save others from foreclosure. Most consumers don’t even know these programs exist.
