April 2012

More Americans are Renting Single Family Homes than Apartments, Recent Study Shows

Buying a Home, Foreclosures, Mortgages, Real Estate, Selling a Home / By

A recent report from Corelogic, debunks the notion that more Americans rent apartments than single family homes. Sam Khater of Corelogic reports that the single family rental market represents 52% of the total residential rental market. Khater said that “the single-family rental market is a large, deep $3 trillion market that accounts for 21 million …

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Demand for Green Homes has Grown Significantly Since 2008

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Despite the housing downturn that started in 2008, the demand for green homes has grown significantly, this according to the green home building study produced by McGraw-Hill Construction in collaboration with the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Waste Management. Harvey M. Bernstein, VP of Industry Insights and Alliances of McGraw-Hill Construction, in a …

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FHFA Issues New Guidelines to Speed Up Short Sales

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Last Tuesday, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) issued new guidelines that would speed up the short sale process. The new short sale guidelines were directed to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two mortgage servicers that FHFA regulates. Under the new FHFA guidelines, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are required to do the following: • Review …

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$26 Billion Settlement To Speed Up & Increase Foreclosure Activities, Experts Say

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Experts say that the recently approved $26 billion foreclosure settlement will pave the way to the eventual increase in new foreclosure activities. Even as the number of U.S. foreclosure filings in the 1st quarter of 2012 has been the lowest since the 4th quarter of 2007, this does not mean that foreclosures are easing up, …

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Fed Sanctions Foreclosure to Rental Approach

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As some banks are venturing into rental activities as part of their disposition  strategies, the Federal Reserve issues its policy statement regarding this matter. The Fed’s policy statement says that the “Federal Reserve’s regulations and policies permit the rental of residential other real estate owned (OREO) properties to third-party tenants as part of an orderly …

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