Topic: Real Estate Sales
Top galleries, list articles, quizzes
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How to sell a house? Five reasons to auction it.
In locales across the United States, home auctions are taking place with increasing frequency. Real estate companies are opening auction divisions; agents are attending auction school to learn how to sell a house in a new way. In its first six weeks of operation, our auction portal received more than 1,000 visits from across the US and 29 nations. Two-thirds of the visitors who completed our survey had not yet listed their home with a real estate agent, meaning they were thinking of auction as their first option. These homeowners aren't in foreclosure; they're simply looking into this alternative sales method to find out if auction is right for them. Here are five benefits of auctioning your home:
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10 best cities to buy short sale homes
Foreclosures are tough: Homeowners lose their houses and ruin their credit, while banks get stuck with vacant, deteriorating real estate for months before selling it at a considerable loss. Increasingly, banks are finding another way: the short sale. Instead of waiting to foreclose, a bank preemptively sells a home at a deep discount and closes out the underwater mortgage, even if the house sells for less than the value of the mortgage. The result: Homeowners shed their mortgage debt, and banks unload properties more quickly and inexpensively. Here are the Top 10 metropolitan areas with the biggest average discounts on these pre-foreclosure homes, according to online foreclosure marketplace RealtyTrac. Can you guess which city is No. 1?
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A hard landing for China? Six top economists weigh in.
China's economy grew 8.9 percent last quarter, the slowest pace in 2.5 years, and on Monday Premier Wen Jiabao cut the nation's growth target for 2012 to 7.5 percent, an eight-year low. Worries of a Chinese hard landing, defined as a sharp and sudden deceleration in growth, have gained momentum. However, China has been proactive in its efforts to prevent a hard landing. It has fine-tuned its policies to curb inflation, boost domestic consumption, and prevent a housing bubble. The Chinese government intervened heavily from 1989 to 1991 to cool its economy, causing real growth in gross domestic product to plunge to 4.1 percent in 1989, from 11.3 percent the previous year. It stepped in again in 1993. And some argue that this time around it's no different, and that the government knows exactly what it is doing. So we asked six top China analysts whether they saw a hard or soft landing scenario and what we should keep an eye on.
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Top 10 cities where house prices are rising
House prices continue to fall nationwide, but here and there they’ve begun to turn up as Americans return to the housing market. Which 10 metropolitan areas have seen the biggest increase in the past year? The winners, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), include a state capital, a furniture-making center, and a resort that was once America’s foreclosure capital. Can you guess who they are?
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What can be done to create jobs? Six leading ideas.
The job market has shown some very welcome signs of improvement lately, but it still has a long way to go before approaching something Americans would call normal. Here’s a look at some of the proposed solutions out there.
All Content
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Mortgage rates fall to new records
Mortgage rates for 30-year loan now stand at 3.78 percent. Fixed mortgage rates for 15-year loans are unchanged at 3.04 percent, a record low.
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Paper Economy
Existing home sales on the rise
Single family home sales also improved rising 3.0 percent from March and 9.9 percent above the level seen in April 2011 while the median selling price increased 10.4 percent above the level seen in April 2011.
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Paper Economy
Pending home sales rise 4.1 percent in March
Pending home sales improved notably in March with the seasonally adjusted national index climbing 4.1% since February and increasing 12.8% above the level seen in March 2011.
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How to sell a house? Five reasons to auction it.
In locales across the United States, home auctions are taking place with increasing frequency. Real estate companies are opening auction divisions; agents are attending auction school to learn how to sell a house in a new way. In its first six weeks of operation, our auction portal received more than 1,000 visits from across the US and 29 nations. Two-thirds of the visitors who completed our survey had not yet listed their home with a real estate agent, meaning they were thinking of auction as their first option. These homeowners aren't in foreclosure; they're simply looking into this alternative sales method to find out if auction is right for them. Here are five benefits of auctioning your home:
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Paper Economy
New construction weak in March
Single family housing permits declined a notable 3.5 percent from February to 462,000 single family units, but increased 17.6 percent above the level seen in March 2011.
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Mortgage rates fall: 15-year loan hits record low
Mortgage rates for a fixed 30-year loan drop to 3.88, just shy of record. Fifteen-year fixed mortgage rates fall to record low 3.11 percent.
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30-year mortgage rate under 4 percent
30-year mortgage rates fall slightly to an average 3.98 percent, near record low of 3.87 percent that 30-year mortgages hit in February.
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Tax VOX
Myth buster: There is no health care tax on most home sales
It is the unfounded rumor that never dies: You will have to pay a 3.8 percent federal health care tax on the sale of your house. For all but a handful of taxpayers, this is not true.
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Paper Economy
Pending home sales slightly down in February, but up since 2011
Pending home sales declined a bit with the seasonally adjusted national index, falling 0.5 percent since January while increasing 9.2 percent above the level seen in February 2011.
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Paper Economy
New home sales down in February
New residential home sales dropped 1.57 percent since January but rose 11.4 percent above the level seen in February of last year.
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Paper Economy
Existing home sales down in February
Single family home sales declined 1.0 percent from January but rose 9.4 percent above the level seen in February 2011.
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The New Economy
Existing home sales: Foreigners are buying. What's their impact?
Although existing home sales dipped last month, foreign buyers are snapping up US homes. In some markets, they may be putting an end to the downturn in existing home sales.
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Paper Economy
Housing permits jump, but housing starts plummet
Single family housing permits increased a whopping 4.9 percent from last month to 472,000 single family units, but single family housing starts plunged 9.86 percent to 457,000 units.
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10 best cities to buy short sale homes
Foreclosures are tough: Homeowners lose their houses and ruin their credit, while banks get stuck with vacant, deteriorating real estate for months before selling it at a considerable loss. Increasingly, banks are finding another way: the short sale. Instead of waiting to foreclose, a bank preemptively sells a home at a deep discount and closes out the underwater mortgage, even if the house sells for less than the value of the mortgage. The result: Homeowners shed their mortgage debt, and banks unload properties more quickly and inexpensively. Here are the Top 10 metropolitan areas with the biggest average discounts on these pre-foreclosure homes, according to online foreclosure marketplace RealtyTrac. Can you guess which city is No. 1?
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Mortgage rates dip again. 15-year loan hits new low.
Mortgage rates for 30-year fixed loan falls to 3.88 percent; 15-year fixed mortgage rates now average 3.13 percent.
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A hard landing for China? Six top economists weigh in.
China's economy grew 8.9 percent last quarter, the slowest pace in 2.5 years, and on Monday Premier Wen Jiabao cut the nation's growth target for 2012 to 7.5 percent, an eight-year low. Worries of a Chinese hard landing, defined as a sharp and sudden deceleration in growth, have gained momentum. However, China has been proactive in its efforts to prevent a hard landing. It has fine-tuned its policies to curb inflation, boost domestic consumption, and prevent a housing bubble. The Chinese government intervened heavily from 1989 to 1991 to cool its economy, causing real growth in gross domestic product to plunge to 4.1 percent in 1989, from 11.3 percent the previous year. It stepped in again in 1993. And some argue that this time around it's no different, and that the government knows exactly what it is doing. So we asked six top China analysts whether they saw a hard or soft landing scenario and what we should keep an eye on.
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30-year mortgage rate falls to 3.9 percent
30-year mortgage rate falls again to near-record lows. Fixed 30-year mortgage rates have stayed below 4 percent for 13 weeks in a row.
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Top 10 cities where house prices are rising
House prices continue to fall nationwide, but here and there they’ve begun to turn up as Americans return to the housing market. Which 10 metropolitan areas have seen the biggest increase in the past year? The winners, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), include a state capital, a furniture-making center, and a resort that was once America’s foreclosure capital. Can you guess who they are?
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Paper Economy
Pending home sales on the rise
Pending home sales have improved, with the national index climbing 2 percent since December while increasing 8 percent above the level seen in January 2011. Is this a sign of stabilization in the housing market?
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30-year mortgage rate rises, still under 4 percent
30-year mortgage rate averages 3.95 percent. It marks the 12th consecutive week the 30-year mortgage rate stayed below 4 percent.
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Paper Economy
New home sales drop but show signs of recovery
The US Census Department's monthly New Residential Home Sales Report for January showed a monthly decline, with sales dropping 0.97 percent since December but rising 3.55 percent above the level seen in January 2011.
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The Daily Reckoning
Why the young are forced to pay the old's debts
Instead of families paying for their children’s education, they force the children to borrow the money from the government. Then, paying it back, the money is recycled to old people — through Social Security, Medicare, and so forth. How long will they put up with it?
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Paper Economy
Existing home sales climb
Single family home sales increased 3.8 percent from December and rose 2.3 percent above the level seen in January 2011.
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Housing market showing signs of turnaround
Last year was so dismal, home sales almost certainly have to go up in 2012. If home prices stabilize later this year, as many analysts expect, the housing market will be set for a turnaround.
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Paper Economy
Housing market mixed; still fragile
Single family housing permitsincreased 0.9 percent from last month to 445,000 single family units, but single family housing starts declined 1.0 percent to 508,000 units.
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