The new HOME ADVANTAGE mortgage rehab program, financed by the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) and administered by ShoreBank, was created in partnership with Congressman Danny K. Davis, SANKOFA, a non-profit community group based on Chicago’s West Side, and the Community Ventures Investment Corp. (CVIC) development company. HOME ADVANTAGE is the first and only available […]

Another interesting piece from AP arguing that rising interest rates are actually good for some…I must have missed out
“Feeling the pinch from the Federal Reserve’s yearlong campaign to raise interest rates? Chances are you have a home equity line of credit or owe money on your credit cards.
But for other borrowers, it’s been a mixed […]

The Housing and Urban Development Department is relaunching its effort to reform outdated rules under which mortgages are issued and home transactions are closed.
Saying that the home-buying process is “too complicated, confusing and costly,” HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson said Monday that his agency will start working from the ground up to craft “modern rules that […]

This is an interesting prediction repeated through the AP Wire:
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan sees signs of “froth” in some local housing markets, but says overall the nation doesn’t appear to be in a housing bubble that could potentially burst.
Such a sanguine prediction might do little to calm the nerves of anyone who remembers when […]

The refinance share of all mortgage activity hit 46.4 percent, the highest since April 2004. A week ago, 42.9 percent of mortgages were the refinancing of old mortgages, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association in Washington.
The average interest rate for 30-year fixed rate mortgages was 5.62 percent, up ever-so-slightly from 5.55 percent a week earlier, […]

Wages in the Pensacola Bay Area are growing at a snail’s pace compared with skyrocketing housing costs in a trend that’s eating up an ever larger share of homeowners’ income.

The Pensacola Journal reports that local Realtors and credit counselors say it’s becoming increasingly difficult for their clients to make ends meet, in part fueling an […]

The Washington Post reports that the Bush administration’s plan to eliminate many of the federal rules requiring public-housing authorities to serve extremely low-income people has caused widespread concern among housing advocates who say the change could prove ruinous for the nation’s poorest families with nowhere else to turn. The proposal would allow local housing authorities […]

Got to fell sorry for this lady, nothing like rising damp and deadly mold to ruin your day:
“Number 6 Magill Ave., the first house on a short dead-end residential street that is quite easy for a passing motorist to miss, is clearly unoccupied. Shrouded in blue tarps hanging limply in the heat, the home is […]

Reuters reports that California has a housing bubble, but it may not pop with a bang, UCLA researchers said in a quarterly economic forecast.
“There is no reason that a house should be worth 40 percent more today than it was two years ago,” UCLA Anderson Forecast economist Christopher Thornberg wrote in a report. “This is […]

Rates on 30-year mortgages resumed their decline this week, falling for the 10th time in the past 12 weeks.
Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday its weekly survey showed that rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.57 percent, down from 5.63 percent last week. It was the second-lowest level recorded this year.
The decline in mortgage rates […]