Despite falling interest rates, some consumers are still hesitant to buy a home.

For the second week in a row, mortgages to purchase properties fell despite interest rates falling. According to a survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association, mortgage interest rates fell from 4.90 percent to 4.83 percent for a 30-year fixed-rate purchase loan with a 20 percent down payment …Full Story

Despite sliding interest rates, few home buyers are coming out to play. (Photo: iStockphoto)

Although interest rates have dropped to a five-week low, there has been a potentially unsettling surprise in the numbers.

The Mortgage Bankers Association weekly survey said the average interest rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate loan with a 20 percent down payment was 4.90 percent for the week ending Nov. 6 …Full Story

Spring 2010 may bring a perfect storm of falling demand, inflated home prices, rising interest rates and disappearing capital. (Photo: iStockphoto)

Although there are some glimmers of hope that a real estate turnabout is just around the corner, it seems just as likely that the coming spring could bring a storm of epic proportions …Full Story

The Federal Reserve may increase interest rates. (Susan Walsh/Associated Press)

Sometimes news with the biggest potential impact finds little interest. So, it wouldn’t be surprising that most of America took little, if any, notice that the U.S. Government has wrapped up its seven-month orgy of bond buying that totaled $3 billion.

So what does that have to do with mortgage interest rates? …Full Story

Two Los Angeles homeowners may get jail time for their fury over a failed home-loan modification. (Photo: iStockphoto)

It's been awhile since I've hung out in the real estate crime beat, but here we are again. I ran across this story recently about a couple in Los Angeles arrested on charges that they tortured two purported loan modification agents that they suspected of ripping them off. According to Reuters, Daniel Weston and Mary Ann Parmelee owned a house together that was in foreclosure. They had tried to get a loan modification, had been frustrated with the lack of results, and wanted their money back …Full Story

Many new-home buyers are using government mortgages with low down payments. (Photo: iStockphoto)

I got an interesting press release from my colleague, Lisa Marquis Jackson, who now works at John Burns Real Estate Consulting, a nationally recognized housing consultant. The company just released a survey of home builders about their buyers’ sources of financing. According to the survey, nearly 60 percent of current new home buyers relied on low down-payment mortgages from the government, including the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the Veterans Administration and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which guarantees loans through its Rural Development program.  …Full Story

For those looking to rehab a newly purchased home or remodel an old one, 203(k) loans can provide some cash. (Photo: iStockphoto)

With the large number of distressed properties on the market right now, and a prediction that more foreclosures are coming, it makes sense that home buyers are taking a close look at these properties. They're great bargains, but some of them need major work. I highlighted this in a recent blog post about calculating the cost of buying a foreclosure …Full Story

Homeowners with good credit are opting to give away the keys. (Photo: iStockphoto)

A couple of weeks ago, I interviewed Ron Jasgur, a Michigan-based real estate investor, for a piece I was writing about streamlining foreclosures and short sales. One of his comments about the massive number of bank-owned properties stuck with me: "Nobody’s modeling took into account that someone would wake up one morning and decide not to pay their mortgage." …Full Story

Consumers really don't have much time to make the deadline for the first-time homebuyer credit. (Photo: iStockphoto)

Looking to buy a home before the federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers deadline? If you are, that means that because the closing process on a home can take up to two months, you only have about a month to find a home and sign a contract, says Coldwell Banker Real Estate. (To qualify for the up to $8,000 credit, home buyers have to complete a purchase on a home before Dec. 1.) …Full Story

When choosing a loan, you want a lender who doesn't have extra fees hidden up his sleeves. (Photo: iStockphoto)

Earlier this week, I wrote about upfrontmortgagebrokers.com, a website for the Upfront Mortgage Association. The website allows consumers to search by state for mortgage brokers who have agreed to give advance notice of their fees, size and source of their compensation in writing to consumers to make working with a mortgage broker more transparent …Full Story