Pricing Your Home in a Fall(en) Market

It's not new news. Real estate markets everywhere have fallen. If you're trying to sell your home, or even thinking about putting your house on the market, pricing the home to sell quickly can be the trickiest part of all.

Our Money Editor, Stacy Johnson, has some advice on pricing your home to sell. This short video runs 1:37…

Trying to sell your home this fall? Thinking of buying a home now? Tell us what you think about the current market. We'd love to hear your comments. Use the "Comment" link below to sound off…

New Home Sales Rise: A Welcomed Sign for Housing

The sale of newly constructed homes in the month of July rose 2.4%, according to a report issued recently by the United States Census Bureau. This follows another report issued by the National Association of Realtors indicating that July sales of previously owned homes hit a 5-month high.

Although reports such as these are welcome news for the housing markets, possibly indicating that pent up demand for housing is beginning to express itself, no one seems to be signaling a housing recovery at this point either, as the overlying issues of tight credit guidelines and a substantial inventory of unsold homes continue to plague many market areas.

2 Million Borrowers Avoid Foreclosure

Hope Now has helped more than 2 million at-risk borrowers stay in their homes during the past 13 months. Despite this progress, foreclosures continue to climb; 91,752 families lost their homes in July. That represents an increase of 14% from June and more than double the number of July 2007, when only 42,043 homes went to foreclosure.

But even now, after months of publicity, many borrowers still fail to respond to Hope Now's offers to help. Of the nearly 1.6 million letters that have gone out since November 1, 2007 to borrowers 60 days past due, more than 80% of borrowers still had not called their lenders a month after receiving the letters.

Hope Now's repayment plans simply give borrowers more time to pay lenders what they owe, either by extending the term of the loan or by raising monthly payments. They work best for borrowers who were thrown off the track by one-time events, such as an illness or temporary job loss. But by and large they're considered to be fairly ineffective at preventing foreclosures in the long run, since borrowers often cannot afford the original terms of their loans.

If you're in even the slightest bit of trouble financially where getting behind in your monthly mortgage is beginning to look like a reality for you, talk to your lender BEFORE it happens. Don't wait until you've missed a payment or two. Lenders don't want your home. They want you to stay in it and keep paying, so most will work with you if you just communicate to them that you need temporary help.

Questions or comments? We'd love to hear from you, and will be sure to answer your questions here if you have any. Use the "comment" link below to contact us, and remember, your email address will never be published on our blog to protect your privacy.

Retirement in Your 40s

In our last post on retirement, we looked at "Retirement in Your 50s".  When you're in your 40s, retirement's no longer a vague concept…it's a reality looming in your future. Money Talks editor Stacy Johnson explains in this short (1:29) video why "your kids DON'T come first anymore if you're at this age". 

In our next post on Retirement… we'll look at "Retirement in Your 30s". 

Any thoughts or comments? We'd love to hear from you. Just use the comment link below and tell us what you think.

Existing Home Sales Hit 5 Month High

The National Association of Realtors announced recently that Existing Home Sales, after falling to 10-year low in June, rebounded in July to a 5-month high. The report, which measures the month-over-month sale of previously owned homes, indicated sales of such homes increased 3.1 percent.

Bob Walters, Chief Economist for Quicken Loans, says “Declining home prices have created increased demand for housing, which could help stabilize the housing market. Securing financing in this restrictive credit environment remains a key challenge, however. Fortunately, FHA loans – with less stringent equity and credit requirements – have come into the forefront and are likely to play a leading role in helping the housing market recover.”

What do you think? Is the housing market recovering? Have we hit bottom? Are we "on the way back up"? Tell us what you think by clicking on the "comment" link below and sounding off. As always, your email address will never be published here to protect you from spam or other unwanted email.