Many homebuyers face a tough decision: To live in the city or commute from the suburbs. In some city centers, the cost of living is actually not as high as the outlying metro area, while in other cities homeowners will find more purchasing power in the metro area.SmartAsset, a personal financing resource, broke down the costs of commutes near major hubs to find the areas where it pays off the most to commute. The survey compared metro areas acros
The recent drop in interest rates appears to be short-lived. Mortgage rates inched higher last week, prompting loan demand to soften.Total mortgage application volume, which includes home purchases and refinancings, dropped 1.5 percent last week compared to the previous week on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday. Applications are now 15.4 percent lower than a year ago.Refinance volume, which tends to
Fewer homeowners are falling behind on their mortgage payments. Only 4.3 percent of mortgages in March were in some stage of delinquency (30 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure), according to the Loan Performance Insights Report, released Tuesday by CoreLogic. The March foreclosure inventory rate—which reflects the share of mortgages in some stage of the foreclosure process—was 0.6 percent, which is the lowest rate of that m
According to a new study, more than half of Americans who have or plan to purchase a home admit they’re concerned about the ability to afford a home in the current market. The study is based on a survey of 1,000 consumers and was released by national online lender Laurel Road. One of the biggest barriers to affordability, respondents said, is the down payment.Nearly half—or 46 percent—of Americans say they are unfamiliar with alternative d
Federal authorities announced Monday that an investigation resulted in 74 arrests of people in the U.S. and overseas who allegedly took part in schemes to intercept wire transfers from businesses and individuals, including in real estate transactions. Federal authorities seized nearly $2.4 million and recovered about $14 million in fraudulent wire transfers.The arrests were made as part of a six-month investigation, dubbed Operation Wire Wire, th
Texas real estate pro Ben Caballero is making headlines again by topping his previous sales record in 2016 with a new world record of $1.9 billion in home sales in 2017, according to an announcement on Monday.Caballero sold 4,799 homes last year, which totaled $1.906 billion. Caballero is a real estate professional with HomesUSA.com in Addison, Texas. In 2016, his $1.444 billion in sales among 3,556 homes landed him the title as real estate’s
Though homeowners are seeing their equity grow—properties with negative equity fell 3 percent in the first quarter of this year—2.5 million homes nationwide still are considered underwater, according to CoreLogic’s Home Equity Report. Negative equity refers to borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth and can occur because of a decline in a home’s value or an increase in mortgage debt.But rising home prices are
Younger people are not replacing older generations of golf enthusiasts, prompting many golf courses and clubs to shut down—and making room for new construction. The number of regular golfers dropped from 30 million to 20.9 million between 2002 and 2016, according to Pellucid Corp., a golf industry trade group. Now, because of golf facility closures, hundreds of thousands of acres of land nationwide is available for redevelopment, The Atlantic
For the second consecutive month, Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index reached an all-time survey high in May. But as home prices rise, consumer attitudes about buying and selling a home are diverging even more.The net share of survey respondents who say now is a good to sell rose to 46 percent and is now up 14 percentage points year over year. Meanwhile, the net share who say now is a good time to buy fell to 28 percent and has shown lit
Chinese buyers purchased an estimated $100 billion in property globally in 2016, a rate so high that some areas of the world want to slow down the purchasing power of foreign investors to prevent real estate bubbles from forming, according to Chinese real estate website Juwai.com. In 2010, Chinese buyers bought only $5 billion worth of property. Swelling prices for residential and commercial real estate in Western cities such as Toronto and Vanco
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