Mortgages
Mortgage modification program on track: Treasury (at MarketWatch)
A government loan refinancing program is on pace to offer help to three to four million homeowners over the next three years, the Treasury Department reports.
Mortgage applications rose 4.4% last week: MBA (at MarketWatch)
Mortgage applications filed last week rose a seasonally adjusted 4.4%, compared with the week before, as rates on fixed-rate mortgages dropped, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday.
Almost one-third of home loans are under water (at MarketWatch)
A slowing in the pace of home-price declines helped bring down the portion of home-loans with negative equity — the situation where borrowers owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth — according to data from First American CoreLogic.
Modify the mortgage — or walk away? (at MarketWatch)
Question: I am an older woman in her 50s making about $65,000 a year. In 2005, I paid $350,000 for a house that is now involved in a construction defect lawsuit with the builder.
Home sales inch up in second quarter (at MarketWatch)
Sales of existing homes rose a seasonally adjusted 3.8% in the second quarter, compared with the first quarter, the National Association of Realtors reported earlier this week. But sales volume was still 2.9% lower than the second quarter of 2008.
Homes in walkable neighborhoods sell for more (at MarketWatch)
Homes located within walking distance of amenities such as schools, parks and shopping arenâ??t only more convenient for their owners, often theyâ??re also worth more than homes in neighborhoods where driving is the rule, according to a new study released Tuesday.
US July existing home sales up 4th straight month (at MarketWatch)
Resales of U.S. single-family homes and condos rise 7.2% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.24 million, the highest level since August 2007, the National Association of Realtors reports.
New FICO model may boost some borrowers’ scores (at MarketWatch)
Even the most responsible borrowers slip up sometimes. Maybe a utility bill went unpaid after you moved and the missed payment went into collections. The latest version of the FICO credit score will grade those types of occasional mistakes less harshly than earlier versions of the scoring system did — and that may mean higher [...]
Citi makes progress on foreclosure prevention (at MarketWatch)
Citigroup says it helped 108,000 mortgage holders avoid foreclosure in the second quarter, a nearly 30% increase over the volume of borrowers it helped in the first quarter.
Pending home sales tick up in May (at MarketWatch)
Rising for the fourth consecutive month, pending sales of existing homes tick up in May, boosted by affordability and special incentives for first-time buyers, a real estate trade group reports.