MLS Real Estate & Listings Blog

Sales of vacation properties fell 30.6 percent in 2007 compared to the prior year, with investment-property purchases down 18.1 percent, according to an Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey report released by the National Association of Realtors.

Total sales of new and resale homes used as primary residences, by comparison, dropped 10 percent from 2006 to 2007, survey results revealed.  more…

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New single-family home sales dropped to the lowest rate in February since 1995, and sales were down about 29.8 percent from the February 2007 rate, the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported today.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of new single-family home sales was 590,000 in February — this rate is a projection of a monthly sales total over a 12-month period, adjusted to account for seasonal fluctuations in sales activity.  more…

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Re: ‘Judge throws out ban on down-payment assistance‘ (March 5)

Dear Editor:

It blows my mind how a scam like the FHA down-payment-assistance programs could be allowed to continue. All you have to do is look at the levels of default on these loans to know that those loans raise the cost of FHA loans for everyone else. It’s a shame, but at this point FHA could easily and justifiably make changes now that will make the programs very hard to utilize.  more…

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The National Association of Realtors expects the median price of U.S. resale homes to drop 1.2 percent this year, following a 1.4 percent decline in 2007, with sales of resale homes slipping for the third consecutive year.

The forecast report released today also anticipates a 31.1 percent drop in single-family housing starts, a 6.1 percent decline in new-home prices, a rise in housing affordability and a dip in consumer confidence this year compared to 2007.  more…

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Falling interest rates help push mortgage application volume up 3 percent last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today.

According to MBA, the index that tracks refinancings led the increase with a 4.5 percent gain (seasonally adjusted) from the week before, followed by a 1.4 percent rise in the purchase-loan index.

As a result, the refinance share of applications grew to 52.4 percent last week from 52 percent the week before. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity rose from 15 percent to 17.3 percent.  more…

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Federal regulators have not adequately explained their decision to reverse a policy allowing seller-funded down-payment assistance on FHA-backed loans — or provided sufficient responses to suggestions on ways to mend, rather than end, the practice — a federal judge has ruled.  more…

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Re: ‘FHA appraisers are not home inspectors‘ (March 4)

Dear Editor:

Barry Stone addresses the concerns of a certified FHA appraiser as to the scope of what is required of the appraiser in doing an FHA-ordered appraisal.

He suggests that the public may be misled when seeing an appraiser doing his or her job in thinking that it is the same as a home inspection.  more…

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Redfin Corp., a real estate company that offers deep rebates to buyers and flat-fee services for sellers, today announced tools that allow its seller clients to view neighborhood property statistics and compare Web traffic for their home to that of other area homes for sale.  more…

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