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Posted
Dec 19 2008, 03:41 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
A story at USA Today -- "Mortgage rates at 37-year low: Average 5.19% for 30 years" -- disrupted our partner blogger J.D. Roth's vacation reverie. All of a sudden, J.D., who's not an impulsive guy, is thinking about refinancing his home. He checked Bankrate.com and found a low rate of 5.085%, which would reduce J.D.'s payments to $1,111 and save him $275 a month. But wait. It could get even better, he wrote in a post at Get Rich Slowly.
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Posted
Oct 16 2008, 07:24 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
As people wait for the federal government's various bailouts and rescues to trickle down and stabilize the economy, they got more bad news: The cost of financing or refinancing a home purchase has gotten more expensive.
The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage jumped to 6.74% (6.4% for a 15-year), the biggest weekly increase in 21 years, according to Bankrate.com's survey of lenders. Last week's Bankrate benchmark was 6.2%.
According to Bankrate, the new rate means the monthly payment on a $200,000 mortgage would be $1,295.87, about $70 more than it would be for a buyer who locked in a rate last week.
So we're right where we were eight weeks ago. Why is this happening? Weren't we supposed to see help for the housing market?
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Posted
Jan 08 2009, 07:18 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Mark Huffman at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com.
Congressional Democrats have wasted no time in advancing legislation to change bankruptcy rules with the aim of reducing home foreclosures. Under the proposal, judges could order lenders to forgive some mortgage debt.
The measure would change the law to give homeowners filing for bankruptcy the opportunity to restructure their loans so that they can save their homes from foreclosure. The bill would empower bankruptcy judges to modify mortgage terms to help homeowners stay in their homes.
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Posted
Feb 19 2008, 02:33 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
It's a sign of the times that Web sites have sprouted up telling people how to walk away from homes they can no longer afford or -- in some cases -- are no longer willing to pay for. While some sites trumpet offers to buy homes from stressed-out owners, another one sells a foreclosure kit. California-based YouWalkAway.com says its kit will enable you to stay in your home "for up to eight months or more without having to pay anything to your lender!" It also says: "With our money-back guarantee, you get it all for only $995." The list of services provided is stuff you can do on your own if you're so inclined. And the steps won't eliminate the damage foreclosure does to your credit score. Writes blogger Sam Glover at Caveat Emptor, "Foreclosure ain't pretty, folks, no matter what this Web site would like you to think." All of this raises questions in our mind: In the wake of the mortgage crisis, is foreclosure becoming a more acceptable option? Should it?
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Posted
Oct 01 2008, 06:32 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
The federal government's new $300 billion Hope for Homeowners program opened for business today with the intent of staving off foreclosure for 400,000 homeowners in trouble. But we just have to wonder how effective it will be.
Here's a clue, from an Associated Press report: "Lenders, rather than borrowers, will decide whether to participate in the program, which requires them to take a loss on the initial loan."
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Posted
Apr 02 2008, 04:24 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
We'll give you the happy ending first: A funny noise in his pickup was the reality check -- he calls it a "gift from heaven" -- that kept blogger "JB" of Get Rich Or Die Trying from buying a house he couldn't afford. The rationalizations he had used up to that point -- spend the emergency fund, the wedding fund and the tax rebate, and stop contributing to the 401(k) -- to make him think he should buy it may seem sickeningly familiar to many struggling to hang on to their homes or facing foreclosure. It also started when JB and his fiancee found the house of their dreams.
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Posted
Feb 28 2008, 12:59 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
If your lifestyle is dependent on a home-equity line of credit, your spending may be in for a sudden adjustment. Lenders are lowering or cutting off access to HELOCs, particularly in areas where property values are declining. Blogger Mighty Bargain Hunter has an opinion about that. "Since trying to borrow your way to prosperity doesn't work," MBH writes, "I'm very glad to see this happening."
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Posted
Jul 08 2009, 12:13 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
A new study indicates that 26% of homeowners who quit paying the mortgage can afford to pay but no longer want to because they owe more than the house is worth.
The economists who did the study call this a "strategic" default. Time magazine reports:
"They can still afford to pay but they decide not to," says Paola Sapienza, a finance professor at Northwestern University and one of the paper's authors. "It's very easy to do this in the U.S."
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Posted
Jun 15 2009, 11:12 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
The rules have changed for the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit contained in the federal government's massive economic stimulus plan.
Qualifying homebuyers can now use the anticipated credit to secure a loan to help pay closing costs and enhance their down payment, then pay it off after they file their 2009 (or amended 2008) tax return. How handy is that? In fact, in some states, people can leverage the tax credit to buy a home without using one dime of their own money for a down payment.
Wow. That seems great. Rather than having to save for a house, you can use this bailout from the government to close the deal even before the tax credit is deposited in your checking account. The rule changes "should really help stimulate home sales!" "FFB" at Free From Broke predicted.
But haven't we learned that buying a home without saving first is a bad idea?
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Posted
Jan 02 2009, 05:05 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.
Several readers have written to me with various comments, suggestions and questions related to the small-house movement. Given that it's a great way to save money -- as I'll discuss below -- I thought it'd be worthwhile to investigate the movement in detail.
What is the small-house movement? From the Web site of the Small House Society:
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