Volatile rental market could make, break homeownership plans

Right now, home prices continue to fall, but rents are on the rise and if you don’t know when to change horses — or don’t have the option — you could find yourself in the middle of the stream.

by Broderick Perkins
© 2011 DeadlineNews.Com

Unauthorized use of this story is a copyright violation -- a federal crime

Deadline Newsroom - Volatile Rental Market Could Make, Break Homeownership Plans

The rent-vs-buy decision is more than a calculated comparison of financial costs.

It's also about timing.

Right now, home prices continue to fall, but rents are on the rise and if you don't know when to change horses -- or don't have the option -- you could find yourself in the middle of the stream.

The housing bust and subsequent economic downturn forced many homeowners to retreat to the rental market. For others, falling home prices prompted them to put off homeownership longer than expected.

Early into the bust, high rental vacancies made for cheaper rents and renting became an overnight sensation.

But that's changing just as quickly as skyrocketing home prices plummeted back down to earth.

Read full story: "Volatile Rental Market Could Make, Break Homeownership Plans"
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Broderick Perkins, an award-winning consumer journalist, parlayed 30 years of old-school journalism into a digital real estate news service, the San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group, including DeadlineNews.Com, a real estate news and consulting service and Web site, and the Deadline Newsroom, DeadlineNews.Com's news back shop.

Under the DeadlineNews Group umbrella:

Perkins was the first Examiner to cover three beats for the Examiner.com news service:
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• National Offbeat News Examiner

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Wall Street, not Fannie, Freddie to blame for housing, economic meltdown

Research from the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) "Wall Street, Not Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, Created & Led the Toxic Mortgage Market," says toxic subprime loans started the foreclosure crisis and the disaster spread to other mortgages approved without properly qualifying borrowers.

by Broderick Perkins
© 2011 DeadlineNews.Com

Unauthorized use of this story is a copyright violation -- a federal crime

Deadline Newsroom - A recent study puts much of the blame for the mortgage meltdown squarely at the feet of Wall Street, rather than the federal government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Research from the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) "Wall Street, Not Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, Created & Led the Toxic Mortgage Market," says toxic subprime loans started the foreclosure crisis and the disaster spread to other mortgages approved without properly qualifying borrowers.

"The facts show that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were followers, not leaders, in the events leading up to today's foreclosure epidemic," the report says.

"During the 2000s, subprime mortgage lending grew rapidly as Wall Street seized on the opportunity to invest in riskier, higher-interest mortgages. 'Securitization' ... made it possible for loosely-regulated lenders to make loans and then immediately sell them to private firms that created mortgage-backed securities."

CRL's report says:

• GSEs were prohibited from buying subprime mortgages because the loans were outside the prescribed GSE guidelines. Subprime mortgage-backed securities were created in the private sector by Wall Street firms.

• GSEs did purchase subprime mortgage-backed securities as investments, but not in a volume that matched Wall Street purchases.

• GSEs eventually guaranteed and created investments with "Alt-A" loans which went to relatively wealthier borrowers with higher credit scores. The loans did have risky features, such as limited documentation. These investments are primarily why the GSEs were placed into conservatorship. GSEs investments were generally less risky than Wall Street's, but the private market and the GSEs share responsibility for supporting the loans.

• Mortgage loans purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - including loans to lower-income borrowers - are performing better than those on the private market. As of June 2010, 13.35 percent of GSE loans to borrowers with credit scores under 660 were 90 or more days delinquent or in foreclosure, compared to 28 percent for subprime loans, according to Mortgage Bankers Association statistics.

• Affordable housing loans weren't the problem. GSEs' losses were generated by risky loans, primarily Alt-A loans that generally went to borrowers with higher incomes.

• GSEs' support of the Alt-A market, in a drive for profit and market share, actually weakened their performance on meeting affordable housing goals.

• The vast majority of subprime loans, 94 percent of them, were made by lenders who were not subject to the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The CRA covers banks and thrifts, which didn't make many subprime loans.

• Abusive loan terms were far more responsible for the foreclosure crisis than risky borrowers.

"Recent studies have shown that, comparing borrowers of similar risk characteristics, loans with sensible terms had significantly lower foreclosure rates than explosive subprime loans made by non-bank lenders," CRL's report says.

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Broderick Perkins, an award-winning consumer journalist, parlayed 30 years of old-school journalism into a digital real estate news service, the San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group, including DeadlineNews.Com, a real estate news and consulting service and Web site, and the Deadline Newsroom, DeadlineNews.Com's news back shop.

Under the DeadlineNews Group umbrella:

Perkins was the first Examiner to cover three beats for the Examiner.com news service:
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Housing recovery forecasts go 'Poof!'

Keep in mind, forecasts, predictions, and crystal ball gazing only consider stability, the beginning of recovery, the bottom of the market. Full-fledged recovery may be a decade away.   Story includes video embed from Robert Aldana, Intero Real Estate: "What are your options after a notice of default?"  

by Broderick Perkins
© 2010 DeadlineNews.Com

Unauthorized use of this story is a copyright violation -- a federal crime

Deadline Newsroom - Remember when Zillow predicted housing was due to begin recovery in the third quarter of 2010?

Later, 2011 became the year to bank on.

Fiserv, the National Association of Realtors and others all said the end would be near in 2011.

You know how those "end-ofs" go.

Earlier this month, in the face of the dreaded "double dip," Zillow revised its forecast, putting off recovery to 2012, at best.

See where this is going?

The latest bet is on 2014 -- or later.

Probably later.

A survey by Trulia and RealtyTrac reveals 54 percent of American adults believe 2014 will be the year the housing market begins to return to the gold standard.

Six months ago, a previous survey found that 42 percent of American adults said they thought the market would turn around by 2012 or had already turned around. Now, only 23 percent continue to think this will happen.

"Most Americans, as our latest survey revealed, over estimated how quickly the housing market would bounce back, but when it does, it will likely be a long and gradual process. Looking at the recent double dips in home prices, I expect the rest of 2011 to be volatile for real estate," said Pete Flint, co-founder and CEO, Trulia.

The housing market remains sluggish for a variety of reasons.

Mortgage relief programs from the government and the private sector just can't hack it under the thumb of tight lending rules. Unemployment remains high. The supply of distressed homes is going nowhere fast.



Rick Sharga, senior vice president of RealtyTrac said, "Demand remains weak, loans are increasingly difficult to qualify for, and the shadow inventory of several million distressed properties is weighing down the market. All of these things need to improve before housing can recover."

The survey also found 45 percent of American adults say the government is not doing enough to prevent foreclosures.

About one in three home \owners reported they have or know someone who has applied for or received a loan modification, stopped paying their mortgage, foreclosed, walked away or short sold their home.

"On the flip side, mortgage rates won't stay low forever and even if home prices continue to fall for a bit, now is still a good time to enter the housing market. In my eyes, we have another 18 months until we start to see signs of price stability in the housing market," Flint said.

Eighteen months, 24 months, three years?

Keep in mind, these forecasts, predictions, and crystal ball gazing only consider stability, the beginning of recovery, the bottom of the market.

Full-fledged recovery?

A grim study last year from Fiserv Case-Shiller says the housing crash won't correct to boom-time levels of 2006-20007 until 2025 in major metro areas of some of the nation's worst hit housing markets.

The good news? If you've got the cash or can land the financing it's the best time in decades to get a piece of the American Dream.

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Broderick Perkins, an award-winning consumer journalist, parlayed 30 years of old-school journalism into a digital real estate news service, the San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group, including DeadlineNews.Com, a real estate news and consulting service and Web site, and the Deadline Newsroom, DeadlineNews.Com's news back shop.

Under the DeadlineNews Group umbrella:

Perkins was the first Examiner to cover three beats for the Examiner.com news service:
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• National Consumer News Examiner
• National Offbeat News Examiner

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Realtor.com Raises the Mobile App Bar

Look at men's hands, not shoes

"It's ultra cool," says Robert "The-Internet-Is-My-Office" Aldana, a television- and radio-broadcasting Intero real estate agent from San Jose, CA who taps everything from mobile real estate apps to YouTube videos to keep his listings moving.

by Broderick Perkins
© 2010 DeadlineNews.Com

Unauthorized use of this story is a copyright violation -- a federal crime

Deadline Newsroom - Realtor.com's Mobile App for iPad is, hands down, mother-of-all-real-estate-apps.

It's not just the GPS assist that gets you there like real navigational GPS, the sigh candy that interrupts your normal blinking response, or the deep levels of customization that empower you to go beyond static browsing for housing.

"It's the immediacy. It's instant gratification. The investigative component has arrived to real estate mobile devices. Apps are consumers' passport to a new world of real estate. It's transforming real estate today like the Internet did 15 years ago," said Julie Reynolds, Move.com's social media guru. Move.com operates Realtor.com.

The Realtor.com Mobile App plugs into the world's most robust real estate search engine, Realtor.com, where 80 percent of all its nearly 3.5 million listings are updated every 15 minutes.

"It's ultra cool," says Robert "The-Internet-Is-My-Office" Aldana, a television- and radio-broadcasting Intero real estate agent from San Jose, CA who taps everything from mobile real estate apps to YouTube videos to keep his listings moving.

"This is going to make Redfin and Trulia cry. They have pretty decent apps, but (the app's) Scout and Draw really put this application above everybody else. But that's good for everybody. It will make them go back to the drawing board," says Aldana.

Get the full story here: "Realtor.com Raises the Mobile App Bar"

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© 2010 DeadlineNews.Com

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You are reading a sample of "News that really hits home!" now available from several beats and published in a growing number of locations.

Broderick Perkins, an award-winning consumer journalist, parlayed 30 years of old-school journalism into a digital real estate news service, the San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group, including DeadlineNews.Com, a real estate news and consulting service and Web site, and the Deadline Newsroom, DeadlineNews.Com's news back shop.

Under the DeadlineNews Group umbrella:

Perkins is managing editor of HomeAway.com's Gulf Coast Response Center.

Perkins was the first Examiner to cover three beats for the Examiner.com news service:
• National Real Estate Examiner
• National Consumer News Examiner
• National Offbeat News Examiner

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Is your real estate agent packing the latest technology?

Pres. Obama serves his detractors

Real estate professionals who want to stay in the game must be ever more comfortable with virtual spaces and have the digital kahunas necessary to meet the demands of the home buying and selling public, as well as "real estate enthusiasts" who exhibit a near transhumanist immersion in technology when it comes to real estate.

by Broderick Perkins
© 2010 DeadlineNews.Com

Unauthorized use of this story is a copyright violation -- a federal crime

Deadline Newsroom - Instead of real estate agent, you may need a technological Terminator these days.

If your real estate agent can't hack it in the virtual world, chances are he or she also can't pass muster in the brick and mortar world.

The two worlds are becoming ever more intertwined.

Social media dominates contemporary culture, mobile apps provide instant gratification and browsing for housing is replacing window shopping.

Real estate professionals who want to stay in the game must be ever more comfortable with virtual spaces and have the digital kahunas necessary to meet the demands of the home buying and selling public, as well as "real estate enthusiasts" who exhibit a near transhumanist immersion in technology when it comes to real estate.

To wit:

• There are 30 million virtual farms on the social networking game Farmville, but only 2 million real farms in the U.S.

Source: Move.com

• The 3.6 million Realtor.com mobile apps downloaded to date aren't only in the hands of home buyers, sellers and real estate agents, but also virtual looky-loos known as "real estate enthusiasts" who may not walk the walk, but want to talk the talk.

"I'm handing my iPad over to my clients as we drive along and having them see the listings. It's scary information overload," said Robert The-Internet-Is-My-Office Aldana, a television- and radio-broadcasting Intero real estate agent from San Jose, CA who taps everything from mobile real estate apps to YouTube videos to keep his listings moving.

• The Derwent Absolute Return Fund, using Twitter sentiment to predict the stock market, was set to launch April 1 with a firm $40 million in assets, but delayed its launch to sort through unexpectedly high interest from investors who added another $60 million to the stake.

Imagine that. Using tweets from Main Street to wager on Wall Street.

Is your agent in the game?

Check out how your real estate agent stacks up, technologically speaking, with Mashable.com's (a source of social and digital media, technology and web culture news) Mashable Infographics.

Largely using data from Postling.com (a web-based app that allows small businesses to both manage social media accounts and see what people are saying about them), but also from Realtor.com (the world's largest listings database), AgentGenius.com (a purveyor of realty tech news) and real estate agent blogosphere ActiveRain, Mashable.com came up with this insight.

• The vast majority, 84 percent of real estate professionals are using social media with Facebook (79 percent); Twitter (48 percent) and LinkedIn (29 percent), the top social networks deployed. Can you connect with your agent on any of these networks? How many networks will get you to your agent?

• The vast majority of homeowners (73 percent) say they are more likely to hire an agent offering video. Unfortunately only 12 percent of real estate agents have YouTube accounts. If you agent isn't on YouTube, ask "What's up with that?"

• The free Realtor.com App, downloaded 3.6 million times, is a game changer, especially now that it's on Apple's iPad.

Average time spent on the Realtor.com app is 16 minutes compared to 4 to 5 minutes on other realty apps.

Realtor.com app users look at 20,000 homes per hour.

A full 20 percent of the traffic for Realtor.com comes directly from it's mobile app, also available on iPhone, iPod Touch, Android and Windows Phone 7.

Does your agent have Realtor.com's mother-of-all-real-estate-apps? Do you? Realtor.com's operator, Move.com says it's not just for buyers and sellers, but also "real estate enthusiasts," fans of the buying and selling business.

• As the result of consumers' internet home search, 45 percent physically walked through a home, 29 percent located an agent, 21 percent drove by or viewed the home.

Compared to other small business, real estate companies are heavy on Facebook and email alerts from Tweets and wall posts, but weak on Twitter, WordPress and Flickr accounts.

"Judging by the adoption of instant email alerts on Postling (which, for real estate, is 2.5 times greater than that for other small businesses), managing social media by email is one of the preferred methods for real estate industry people who go virtual," Mashable reported.

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© 2010 DeadlineNews.Com

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You are reading a sample of "News that really hits home!" now available from several beats and published in a growing number of locations.

Broderick Perkins, an award-winning consumer journalist, parlayed 30 years of old-school journalism into a digital real estate news service, the San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group, including DeadlineNews.Com, a real estate news and consulting service and Web site, and the Deadline Newsroom, DeadlineNews.Com's news back shop.

Under the DeadlineNews Group umbrella:

Perkins is managing editor of HomeAway.com's Gulf Coast Response Center.

Perkins was the first Examiner to cover three beats for the Examiner.com news service:
• National Real Estate Examiner
• National Consumer News Examiner
• National Offbeat News Examiner

Other DeadlineNews Group Feeds are available from DeadlineNews.Com.

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Loving, loathing America's big cities

Apparently, one person's Big Apple, is another's Asphalt Jungle. New York City, above all others, is the city most people would prefer to call home, according to a Harris poll. New York City, above all others, is also the city most people would prefer not to call home.

by Broderick Perkins
© 2010 DeadlineNews.Com

Unauthorized use of this story is a copyright violation -- a federal crime

Deadline Newsroom - Apparently, one person's Big Apple, is another's Asphalt Jungle.

New York City, above all others, is the city most people would prefer to call home, according to a Harris poll.

New York City, above all others, is also the city most people would prefer not to call home, according to the poll undertaken to determine which cities most preferred as home towns.

Along with New York, the cities of Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston and Chicago all fall in the top tiers of both the "most favorite" and "least favorite" list of cities where those polled would and would not like to live.

So-whating the irony, the study reports, "As Americans show a wide range of opinions in the cities they prefer-many like warm weather, while others may prefer snow. What appeals to some Americans may seem miserable for others. Luckily, the United States has plenty of cities in varying sizes, climates, and styles to choose from."

Indeed.

This Harris Poll asked, "If you could live in or near any city in the country except the one you live in or nearest to now, which city would you choose?" and "Which city would you least like to live in?"

Among the top ten favored cities, San Diego was the second most popular, followed by Las Vegas, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Nashville, Atlanta, Denver and Boston.

Further down the most favored list were Orlando, Chicago, Miami, Honolulu, Portland and Raleigh-Durham, NC.

Among the top ten least favored cities, after New York came Detroit, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Miami, Washington, DC, San Francisco, Dallas Phoenix and New Orleans.

The Harris Poll has asked this question almost every year since 1997.

New York has been the most popular city in every year except in 1998 when there was not as much "I love New York" going on. That year, it placed second behind the Golden Gate City. Apparently, more people were singing "I Left My Heart in San Francisco."

While New York has consistently topped this list for the last 12 years, other cities positions have been quite volatile. This year several cities have improved their rankings including:

San Diego, moving up to #2 from #4 last year; Las Vegas, up to #3 from #8; Los Angeles, up from #15 to #6; and, Nashville and Atlanta, up from a tied for #7 from #12 and #13 last year.

Other cities have lost ground in the mix, slipping down the rankings.

San Francisco, down to #5 from a tie for #2 last year; Denver, down to #9 from a tie for #2; Boston down to #10 from #7; and, Chicago down to #12 from #6 last year.

Miami, Honolulu, Raleigh-Durham and Portland which rank numbers 13, 14 and tied for number 15 have all moved up from last year into the top 15. Washington DC, Dallas and Austin have all dropped out of the top 15 this year.

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Broderick Perkins, an award-winning consumer journalist, parlayed 30 years of old-school journalism into a digital real estate news service, the San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group, including DeadlineNews.Com, a real estate news and consulting service and Web site, and the Deadline Newsroom, DeadlineNews.Com's news back shop.

Under the DeadlineNews Group umbrella:

Perkins is managing editor of HomeAway.com's Gulf Coast Response Center.

Perkins was the first Examiner to cover three beats for the Examiner.com news service:
• National Real Estate Examiner
• National Consumer News Examiner
• National Offbeat News Examiner

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Most say it's a good time to buy, fewer see housing as a good investment

Peter Taffee, attorney
with firm restaurateurs
hired for BP claims

Most Americans believe the housing market has hit the bottom and that it's a good time to buy, but they are aware prospects for fast returns on a home as an investment are slim.

by Broderick Perkins
© 2010 DeadlineNews.Com


Unauthorized use of this story is a copyright violation -- a federal crime


Deadline Newsroom - Most Americans believe the housing market has hit the bottom and that it's a good time to buy, in part because many also think rents will rise faster than home prices.

Fannie Mae's latest nation housing survey found that 70 percent of Americans think it's a good time to buy a home, up from 64 percent in January.

By an overwhelming majority, 78 percent, also believe home prices will either hold steady or increase over the next year, compared to 85 percent believing the same thing about rental increases.

While Americans expect rents to rise by 3.6 percent on average, home prices are expected to turn up only by 0.9 percent, Fannie Mae found.

"Given the remaining level of shadow inventory, as well as the high number of adjustable rate resets still looming which could in turn lead to further defaults, it is difficult to see the supply of housing falling in an amount sufficient to move prices upwards in many parts of the country," said Nancy Osborne, chief operating officer of Erate.com, a Santa Clara, CA-based financial information publisher and interest rate tracker.

Also 67 percent believe housing is a safe investment, down three points since January and down 16 percentage points from a similar 2003 survey and the largest drop by far among all investment types tracked since then. Housing ranked second behind putting money into a savings or money market account (76 percent).

"Our survey shows that consumers see a mixed outlook for housing and homeownership," said Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae's vice president and chief economist.

"These findings indicate a return to a more balanced and realistic approach toward housing. While this will likely weigh on the housing recovery in the near-term, it should, over time, help to build a stronger and healthier market focused on sustainable homeownership," he added.

The Fannie Mae National Housing Survey polled homeowners and renters between June 2010 and July 2010 and compared the findings to similar surveys released earlier this year and 2003.

The survey also found:

• Mortgage borrowers (74 percent) and underwater borrowers (69 percent) are more likely to say owning a home is a safe investment than delinquent borrowers (57 percent) and renters (54 percent). However, this measure has fallen among all sub-groups since January, with delinquent borrowers and renters showing the largest declines, down eight and seven points, respectively.

• More than 70 percent of all respondents believe it will be harder for the next generation to buy a home, up three points from the beginning of the year.

• Fifty-four percent think it would be very difficult or somewhat difficult to get a home loan today, down six points since January.

• Thirty-three percent of all Americans said they would be more likely to rent rather than buy if they were going to move, up from 30 percent in January.

• Among renters, 60 percent said they would rent again if they were to move, up from 54 percent in January. However, 69 percent of renters think it makes more sense to buy a home than to rent.

• Mortgage borrowers (83 percent) and underwater borrowers (77 percent) remain bullish on housing and said they are more likely to buy in the future than rent — both groups increased two points from January.

"If you couple this (high inventories and rate resets) with the reality that it is far more difficult to obtain a mortgage as well as a job, when selling a home to someone who presumably needs financing to buy it, housing is still facing a conundrum." Osborne added.

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Broderick Perkins, an award-winning consumer journalist, parlayed 30 years of old-school journalism into a digital real estate news service, the San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group, including DeadlineNews.Com, a real estate news and consulting service and Web site, and the Deadline Newsroom, DeadlineNews.Com's news back shop.

Under the DeadlineNews Group umbrella:

Perkins is managing editor of HomeAway.com's Gulf Coast Response Center.

Perkins was the first Examiner to cover three beats for the Examiner.com news service:
• National Real Estate Examiner
• National Consumer News Examiner
• National Offbeat News Examiner

Other DeadlineNews Group Feeds are available from DeadlineNews.Com.

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Record low mortgage rates on a roll

Mortgage interest rates for 30-year, conforming, fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs), for the week ending August 12, averaged 4.44 percent -- the lowest it’s been since Freddie Mac's weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey began in 1971.

by Broderick Perkins
© 2010 DeadlineNews.Com


Unauthorized use of this story is a copyright violation -- a federal crime


Deadline Newsroom - Mortgage interest rates for 30-year, conforming, fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs), for the week ending August 12, averaged 4.44 percent, another low -- the lowest it’s been since Freddie Mac's weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey began in 1971.

The all-time low for average 30-year rates came with an average 0.7 point and was down from 4.49 percent last week. The rate averaged 5.29 percent a year ago.

The 15-year FRM this week also averaged a record low of 3.92 percent with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.95 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 4.68 percent, Freddie Mac reported. This week's rate is the lowest its been since 1991, when Freddie Mac started tracking the rate.

The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) also reached its lowest level since Freddie Mac began tracking it in 2005. It averaged 3.56 percent this week, with an average 0.7 point, down from last week's 3.63 percent average. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 4.75 percent.

Freddie Mac reported the 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 3.53 percent this week with an average 0.7 point, down from last week's 3.55 percent average. Last year at this time, the 1-year ARM averaged 4.72 percent.

"Interest rates for fixed mortgages and 5-year hybrid ARMs again broke record lows this week following reports of a sluggish job market, " said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist.

He added, "Low rates are helping to heal many battered local housing markets by increasing home-purchase activity. "


Crystal Chow is a DeadlineNews Group associate editor who contributed to this article.



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Broderick Perkins, an award-winning consumer journalist, parlayed 30 years of old-school journalism into a digital real estate news service, the San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group, including DeadlineNews.Com, a real estate news and consulting service and Web site, and the Deadline Newsroom, DeadlineNews.Com's news back shop.

Perkins was the first Examiner to cover three beats for the Examiner.com news service:
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Married real estate agents make both "most likely to fool around" lists

Say "no" to "add on" insurance

Real estate agents, however, show up on lists for both men and women who are most likely to cheat on their spouses. Must be those staged bedrooms in all those empty Open House events.

by Broderick Perkins
© 2010 DeadlineNews.Com


Unauthorized use of this story is a copyright violation -- a federal crime


Deadline Newsroom - Doctors, cops and lawyers top the most-likely-to-commit-adultery list for men. For women it's teachers, soccer moms and nurses.

Real estate agents, however, show up on lists for both men and women who are most likely to cheat on their spouses.

Must be those staged bedrooms in all those empty Open House events.

I'm just sayin'.

AshleyMadison.com, a dating site for married people who want some action outside the marriage, checked their nearly 2 million member base by profession and gender and found that among the top five professions, real estate agents showed up on the lists for both guys and dolls.

Married Men Most Likely To Be A Creep
• Physicians
• Police Officers
• Lawyers
• Real Estate Agents
• Engineers

Married Women Most Likely To Be A Skank
• Teachers
• Stay-at-home Moms
• Nurses
• Administrative Assistants
• Real Estate Agents

See what's happening here? Patrolling police officers visiting stay-at-home moms. Doctors and nurses hooking up. Lawyers representing administrative assistances in sexual harassment suits. Married real estate agents getting in on with anyone.

Noel Biderman, president and founder of AshleyMadison.com, notes there are several contributing factors to why people of these professions stray more often -- working in high stress environments for long hours.

Today's housing market can be quite stressful.



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Homebuyers have no regrets

Go offbeat. Click my head.

The Great Recession may have drained the equity from millions of homes, but when it comes to making what's often the greatest purchase of all, the vast majority of homeowners are resting easy.

by Broderick Perkins
© 2010 DeadlineNews.Com


Unauthorized use of this story is a copyright violation -- a federal crime


Deadline Newsroom - The Great Recession may have drained the equity from millions of homes, but when it comes to making what's often the greatest purchase of all, the vast majority of homeowners are resting easy.

An overwhelming 90 percent of homeowners say they don't regret buying their current home, according to a new study by Bankrate, Inc.

That's even in the face of stagnant - or sliding - home prices they've suffered and rock-bottom mortgage rates they may have missed out on.

Only 9 percent of respondents expressed second thoughts about taking the plunge. Why? Most often because they couldn't sell their home and move on, or because they were unable to afford the monthly mortgage payment.

"It's surprising and reassuring to hear 90 percent of homeowners say they don't regret the purchase of their current homes," says Greg McBride, CFA, senior financial analyst for Bankrate.com.

"And all the nasty headlines in the past two years have really moved the needle in terms of mortgage awareness, with a significant drop in the percentage of borrowers who don't know what type of mortgage they have," McBride said.

Only 8 percent of Americans don't know what type of mortgage loan they have. That's a lot lower than the 26 percent of respondents in a Bankrate study done two years ago who said they were in the dark about their mortgage type.

Being bullish on homeownership isn't necessarily new. A recent Fannie Mae report revealed 70 percent of consumers see a home as one of the safest investments to make and 64 percent think now is a good time to buy.

"The key to any real estate survey conducted in today’s market would be to factor in the state where the survey's respondents reside. In many parts of the country, particularly in the Central states, they did not experience a real estate boom like the West and East coasts and therefore are not faced with the fall out of a dramatic real estate bust today," said Nancy Osborne, chief operating officer of Erate.com, a Santa Clara, CA-based financial information publisher and interest rate tracker.

She added, "Feelings about homeownership should have changed very little in those states where home prices and equity have remained relatively stable."

Other results in the Bankrate poll of 1,001 randomly selected adults, conducted last month by Princeton Survey Research Associates International, include:

• Fixed-rate mortgages are gaining in popularity. Seventy-nine percent of respondents said they had this type of mortgage on their home.

• Wealthier Americans -- those making more than $75,000 -- overwhelmingly preferred fixed-rate mortgages. Almost 90 percent of those who were asked, said they used a fixed-rate mortgage.

Crystal Chow is a DeadlineNews Group associate editor who contributed to this article.

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Perkins was the first Examiner to cover three beats for the Examiner.com news service:
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Homebuyer tax credit extension for contracted homebuyers only

Steer clear of auto title loans

Sorry. The extension to September 30, 2010, on filing for the homebuyer tax credit, is available only to those who had already contracted to buy a home by the end of April. Some 18,000 homeowners in California would have missed out on the tax credit without the extension.

by Broderick Perkins
© 2010 DeadlineNews.Com


Unauthorized use of this story is a copyright violation -- a federal crime


Deadline Newsroom - The extension on filing for the homebuyer tax credit is available only to those who had already contracted to buy a home by the end of April.

On July 2, President Obama signed the "Homebuyer Assistance and Improvement Act of 2010" to extend the closing deadline for the already extended and expanded federal home buyer tax credit.

The new closing deadline is Sept. 30, 2010.

The old closing deadline was June 30, 2010.

The extension applies only to homebuyers who had sales contracts in place as of April 30, 2010, but had not yet closed.

Military personnel still have until April 30, 2011 to contract a home sale and June 30, 2011 to close the deal. Those dates for the military are unchanged by the new legislation.

The extension addressed concerns that many homebuyers might otherwise have been unable to meet the original June 30 closing deadline.

The National Association of Realtors estimated nearly 18,000 homeowners in California would have missed out on the tax credit without the extension.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) says special filing and documentation requirements apply to homebuyers claiming the tax credit, which can be a tax refund when a taxpayer's tax credits exceed taxes due.

Those claiming the credit must attach to their tax return a copy of the pages from the signed contract showing all parties' names and signatures if required by local law, the property address, the purchase price, and the date of the contract.

As well as completing "Form 5405, First-Time Homebuyer Credit and Repayment of the Credit", all eligible homebuyers must also include with their return one of the following documents:

• A copy of the settlement statement showing all parties' names and signatures if required by local law, property address, sales price, and date of purchase. The "HUD-1 Settlement Statement" fulfills this requirement.

• For mobile home purchasers who are unable to get a settlement statement, a copy of the executed retail sales contract showing all parties' names and signatures, property address, purchase price and date of purchase.

• For a newly constructed home where a settlement statement is not available, a copy of the certificate of occupancy showing the owner's name, property address and date of the certificate.

In addition to providing a tax benefit to first-time homebuyers and purchasers who haven't owned homes in recent years, the tax credit is also available to move-up buyers who qualify.

To qualify, eligible taxpayers must show that they lived in their old homes for a five-consecutive-year period during the eight-year period ending on the purchase date of the new home.

Required documentation covering the five-consecutive-year period for move up buyers includes:

"IRS Form 1098, Mortgage Interest Statement" or substitute mortgage interest statements and property tax records or homeowners insurance records, according to the IRS.

There are several options for claiming the tax credit for a 2010 purchase.

• 1. If you have not filed your 2009 return, claim the tax credit on "Form 1040 U. S. Individual Income Tax Return."

Late filers can't file electronically, but you can still use IRS Free File to prepare your return. The returns must be printed out and sent to the IRS, along with all required documentation. The IRS also suggests that you choose direct deposit to speed any refund.

• 2. If you've already filed your 2009 return, you can claim the tax credit on an amended return using "Form 1040X Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return."

• 3. Whether or not you've filed a 2009 return, you can wait until next year to claim the tax credit on your 2010 Form 1040.

• More details on claiming the credit can be found in the Instructions to Form 5405, as well as on the "First-Time Homebuyer Credit" page on IRS.gov.

• Also talk to a tax professional about your specific situation.

• The Deadline Newsroom offers extensive coverage of the federal homebuyer tax credit, here.

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Another record low mortgage rate

Mortgage interest rates for 30-year, conforming, fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs), for the week ending July 8, averaged 4.57 percent, the latest all time low in Freddie Mac's 39-year rate survey.

by Broderick Perkins
© 2010 DeadlineNews.Com


Unauthorized use of this story is a copyright violation -- a federal crime


Deadline Newsroom - Mortgage interest rates for 30-year, conforming, fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs), for the week ending July 8, averaged 4.57 percent, according to Freddie Mac's weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

That's an all time low in Freddie Mac's 39-year rate survey.

The July 8 average 30-year rate came with an average 0.7 point and was down just a tick from 4.58 percent last week. The rate averaged 5.20 percent a year ago.

"As long as deflation continues to override inflation as the predominant concern of the Fed and the demand for U.S. Treasuries is sustained by a flight to quality as a number of economies around the globe self-destruct, interest rates in the U.S. could remain low for the foreseeable future," said Nancy Osborne, chief operating officer of Erate.com, a Santa Clara, CA-based financial information publisher and interest rate tracker.

The 15-year FRM, this week, averaged 4.07 percent with an average 0.7 point, up from last week when it averaged 4.04 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 4.69 percent, Freddie Mac reported.

The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.75 percent this week, with an average 0.7 point, the lowest its been since 2005 and down from last week's 3.79 percent average. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 4.82 percent.

Freddie Mac reported the 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 3.75 percent this week with an average 0.7 point, down from last week's 3.80 percent average. Last year, at this time, the 1-year ARM averaged 4.82 percent.

"With mortgage rates falling to historic lows, refinance activity has been strong over the past three months," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist.

"The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the effective mortgage rate of all loans outstanding was just below six percent in the first quarter of 2010, the lowest since the series began in 1977. Since the start of the second quarter, two out of three mortgage applications on average were for refinancing, according the Mortgage Bankers Association," Nothaft added.

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Perkins was the first Examiner to cover three beats for the Examiner.com news service:
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New mortgage rate record lows

Consumers change habitsl

Mortgage interest rates for 30-year, conforming, fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs) for the week ending July 1 averaged 4.58 percent, according to Freddie Mac's weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

by Broderick Perkins
© 2010 DeadlineNews.Com


Unauthorized use of this story is a copyright violation -- a federal crime

Deadline Newsroom - Like last week, all but one mortgage rate tracked weekly by Freddie Mac hit an all time record low this week.

Mortgage interest rates for 30-year, conforming, fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs) for the week ending July 1 averaged 4.58 percent, according to Freddie Mac's weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

The July 1 average 30-year rate came with an average 0.7 point and was down from 4.69 percent last week and 5.32 percent a year ago.

The 15-year FRM, this week, averaged 4.04 percent with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it averaged 4.13 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 4.77 percent, Freddie Mac reported.

The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.79 percent this week, with an average 0.7 point, down from last week's 3.84 percent average. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 4.88 percent.

Freddie Mac reported the 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 3.80 percent this week with an average 0.7 point, up from last week's 3.77 percent average. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 4.94 percent.

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Perkins was the first Examiner to cover three beats for the Examiner.com news service:
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Most mortgage rates dip to new record lows

Mortgage interest rates for 30-year, conforming, fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs) for the week ending June 24 averaged 4.69 percent, just off the last record 4.71 percent set December 3, 2009. The new record low is the lowest the rate has been since April 1971.

by Broderick Perkins
© 2010 DeadlineNews.Com


Unauthorized use of this story is a copyright violation -- a federal crime


Deadline Newsroom - All but one mortgage rate tracked weekly by Freddie Mac hit all time record lows this week, on the heels of the Federal Reserve keeping benchmark, short term interest rates unchanged.

Mortgage interest rates for 30-year, conforming, fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs) for the week ending June 24 averaged 4.69 percent, just off the last record 4.71 percent set December 3, 2009. The new record low is the lowest the rate has been since April 1971 when Freddie Mac first began its weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

The June 24 average 30-year rate came with an average 0.7 point and was down from 4.75 percent last week and 5.42 percent a year ago.

The 15-year FRM, this week, averaged 4.13 percent with an average 0.6 point, the lowest the 15-year FRM has been since Freddie Mac began tracking the rate in September 1991. The new record was also down from last week when it averaged 4.20 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 4.87 percent, Freddie Mac reported.

The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.84 percent this week, with an average 0.7 point, down from last week's 3.89 percent average. This is the lowest the 5-year ARM has been since Freddie Mac started tracking it in January 2005. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 4.99 percent.

The new low interest rate records came after continued reports of sluggish home sales and after the Federal Reserve proclaimed it would hold short-term interest rates near zero longer, for "an extended period," a policy it's held since 2008.

Citing high unemployment, sluggish domestic economic growth and financial turmoil overseas, the Fed's policy should help keep mortgage interest rates low, perhaps breaking new records in the months ahead.

Freddie Mac reported the 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 3.77 percent this week with an average 0.7 point, down from last week's 3.82 percent average. The 1-year ARM has not been lower since the week ending May 6, 2004, which it averaged 3.76 percent. The record low for the 1-year ARM, 3.36 percent came during the week of March 25, 2004. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 5.93 percent.

"Mortgage rates for all but traditional 1-year ARMs hit all-time record lows this week in our survey while activity in housing market slowed in May following the expiration of the homebuyer tax credit," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist.

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Broderick Perkins, an award-winning consumer journalist, parlayed 30 years of old-school journalism into a digital real estate news service, the San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group, including DeadlineNews.Com, a real estate news and consulting service and Web site, and the Deadline Newsroom, DeadlineNews.Com's news back shop.

Perkins was the first Examiner to cover three beats for the Examiner.com news service:
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