National Real Estate Blog

The Obama Administration is taking steps to protect our future from similar financial disasters, such as the one we are experiencing today, by placing tighter restrictions on national mortgage lending practices. These changes in real estate practices will require lenders to offer 'simple term& [Read More]

A battle was fought; and a battle was lost!  The state of Florida lost the fight for venue in regards to the Chinese Drywall cases that are mounting across the nation.  To date, 18 states have reported issues with Chinese drywall, most of them are located here in Florida.  To some, i [Read More]

To be eligible for this $8000 credit, you cannot have owned a home for 3 years. The credit may be used in 2008 or 2009 tax returns. The tax credit also depends on your income. If you buy a home this year, and your 2008 income was less than your 2009 income, it would make sence to file for this cred [Read More]

There are many great real estate deals out there today! One such deal is a short sale. A short sale takes place when the bank agrees to discount the loan balance for a seller that is underwater on their mortgage, which is to say they owe more than the home is worth. On a national average, 14% of ho [Read More]

The National Association of Realtors reported that pending sales contracts have risen for the last three months, representing a 6.7% gain which is the highest jump since October 2001. Of course, a lot of it is first time buyers who are very smart and taking advantage of the $8,000 tax credit. They [Read More]

The largest monthly rise on purchases of previously occupied homes in over seven years occurred in April of this year! This could be a sure sign that the real estate sales are on the road to getting back to normal, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The index of sales contrac [Read More]

From our Hernando County Association of Realtors in Brooksville Florida: Friday, HUD announced that first time home buyers can now use the $8,000 tax credit as a bridge loan at closing toward their closing costs or to add to their down payment. This has been a huge push by the National Association [Read More]

The new FHA down payment assistance plan that was announced by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on May 12, 2009, had a few rules that needed to be finalized.  As of today, HUD has released more details in regards to the plan.  The biggest change to the plan is h [Read More]

On Thursday, May 21, 2009, Senators and federal regulators met in an effort to resolve issues in regards to Chinese drywall. Nearly 50,000 homes in Florida are possibly affected by the drywall that was purchased from China during a time when building materials were in short supply. Between the Hous [Read More]

While the sale of single family homes is on the rise and the market is beginning to make a come back, the condominium market has been slammed by the suffering real estate market pretty hard.   Corus Bankshares, Inc., a lender based out of Chicago and one of the biggest lenders to high-en [Read More]