Real Estate News Daily

People who have been wanting to purchase a house for the first time are getting wet feet due to disturbing news and trends that can be seen all over the internet. When house prices started falling, many jumped on the bandwagon and started buying only to end up loosing their investment early in the fight. Others who were cautious faired well for they got the time they needed to see the trend which showed the sharp drop in new house prices and the accompanying mortgage foreclosures that followed. This prompted more prospective home buyers to halt their plans whilst they waited for the rut the market was in to clam down. Those who were facing foreclosure are advised by many experts to take advantage of bailout options offered by lenders and other financial institutions rather than to loose everything all together.

Mortgage firms, lending investors and real estates brokers are falling victim to smart mobs who target people who are responsible for the foreclosure crisis that still continues to this day. Their method of attack is bold and sometimes surprising enough a homeowner can get wrongly accused. They use plastic sharks to show their disgust at these people especially those who lend money to homeowners or “loan Sharks” as they call them. They throw them all over the front yard or hang them in front of their offices which have caused some alarm for these people who have already fallen prey to the attack of these sharks (plastic).

Cases of arson are on the rise as more and more homeowners turn to it as a tool to destroy their long time investments gone badly. Houses which people used to own are being burned on the orders of their previous owners who could not handle the grief of loosing their homes. Many do not have any alternatives in terms of residence ending up in rental homes or apartments. Grief sets in and even anger which triggers them to make irrational decisions such as burning their previous homes so no one else can benefit from all their hard work which went down the drain.

As of November 28, 2007, US house prices have fallen yet again to ever lower level making it the lowest fall in 21 years. One of the biggest mortgage lenders in the US, Freddie Mack who had earlier announced that he was setting aside $1.2Billion for anticipated and forecast losses has upped the ante to the tune of $6Billion making this year the worst ever for the housing sales industry.
Mortgage lenders provide financing for people who buy houses with not so good a credit score. The problems just keep on coming to the market with fluctuating oil prices dampening spirits on a swift recover and a possible end to the housing crisis.

The Federal government has announced that projections show slower economic growth and expansion is to be expected this coming 2008. This belays earlier information released by the Fed that the economy was doing better and released higher projected rates. This gives rise to more speculation that Mortgage interest rates would recover better this coming year. People are now looking towards the stock exchange�s performance for whoever controls the Dow has a lot on influence on the said rates. Average mortgage rates for the whole spread still run into the 6% mark which is the highest for six months. Leaving many with dread as to how and when the markets would start recovery.

Freddie Mac has forged an agreement with three major mortgage lenders which would enable funding for large home loans or those that reach almost half a million dollars. Freddie and Fannie Mae are two of the government-backed lenders who have been doing damage control after billions of dollars of losses in the sub-prime lending financial crisis they have been forced to deal with. The deal seems to be forged with Mac and those big-time lenders with no news yet from the avenue of Mae whether they would be following suit. This paves the way for large homes that would otherwise have to be foreclosed allowing more funding to alleviate and even prevent it from happening. This is one more event in the long period of recovery that would be needed to amend the broken housing market which is hoped to start rebounding this 2009.

With a new government set to take office next year, measures to curb the uncontrolled influx of foreclosures that have been going on since last year are being formulated. From funding help to be provided by the state to tax discounts, they are only some of the possible aids the government might provide this coming year. Many who have lost their homes now rely heavily on state help and with the bailout funds that were released a few months back, nothing really changed and people still lost homes.
Tax cuts for homeowners are coming as well as cash checks to aid people get back their lives. But is it all going to make a difference? Time will tell for the housing market has yet to see a rebound in sales enough to call this crisis over. Just hope more help is made available to those who have managed to scrounge for funds necessary to cover mortgages before it is too late.

Image Source: www.rwsbroker.com

In the financial crisis of today, to use a popular maxim of Donald Rumsfeld’s invention, “there are known unknowns and unknown unknowns.” Some major unknowns have surfaced to become economic hurricanes reeking havoc on financial markets worldwide, such as the failure of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. But what unknown unknowns are still lurking under the surface, waiting to be discovered, buried in the media headlines, that could have an equally devastating effect on the economy and real estate markets across the country? One such potential dangerous unknown unknown that hasn’t received very much press attention recently is the current lack of financial stability in the municipal bond market.

Municipal bonds are sold by cities and municipalities across the nation to fund large real estate and infrastructure construction projects. They offer investors a tax free stream of income and offered by brokers around the nation as a low risk way to receive income without increasing the investor’s tax burden. Well, it turns out that the municipal bond markets now are starting to sound like a familiar story. Municipalities across the nation have taken advantage of low interest rates over the past two years to fund construction projects. However, about a one third of these funds were borrowed using a variable rate of interest. Now the municipalities are having trouble paying back their investors.

One of America’s leading economists who have predicted the events of today way before they were entering their critical levels, Robert Shiller releases his view and forecast of the current housing market crisis. The figures the Yale economist sees in Standard & Poors-Shiller home price index shows that the levels are so low they might even surpass levels of the great depression of the 1930′s. Many fail to accept his views as they try to maintain a positive outlook for the housing industry, but the figures don’t lie. He also says that the only way the government can avert a catastrophe is if the Federal bank releases billions in bail-out packages so the millions of Americans facing foreclosure can get to keep their homes. His analysis places the industry at a position where the figures have no where else to go but down further quelling hopes that the industry would be bouncing back soon.

As promised, the proposal for the federal government to offer loans to homeowners who are under threat of losing their homes is going to the house for deliberations and a subsequent ruling. The move is aimed to keep people in their homes as they continue to fail to make their mortgage payments. The loan would allow people to borrow as much as 20% of their mortgage which would give them time to regroup and also give the economy time to recover from the economic slowdown. The problem is that if the Federal government does not do anything now, they still end up losing in the long run. As people lose their jobs and also the ability to pay their mortgages they get thrown out of their houses, end up on the street with the state picking up their housing, medical care and the many other costs. The end product, strain on the Federal government again, sot hey are moving to take some steps to alleviate the increasing problems with defaults on mortgages that is running into the millions since the problem began last year.