MLS Real Estate & Listings Blog

High-value homes tend to decline in value at a steeper rate than lesser-value homes in a declining market, according to an analysis by real estate valuation and marketing company Zillow.

The analysis is based on a review of the company’s estimates of home values over time — the company refers to these estimates as Zestimates. The company broke homes into five categories of home values, each representing 20 percent of the market, to analyze differences in the performance of each market segment.  more…

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Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson announced today he will step down next month in the face of investigations involving allegations of favoritism and calls from Democrats for his resignation.

Jackson’s resignation, effective April 18, leaves open the possibility that HUD will be led by an interim chief in the final months of a lame-duck administration, even as the department implements a major expansion of FHA loan programs and pushes for an overhaul of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, or RESPA.  more…

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Radian Guaranty Inc. is the latest private mortgage insurer to tighten underwriting standards, with a moratorium on loans with down payments of less than 3 percent kicking in March 31, and a ban on stated-income and stated-asset loans scheduled to begin April 30.

Like competitors including PMI and MGIC, Radian has also adopted more stringent standards in declining markets where prices are falling.  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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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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