Do you own a home which has negative equity and are wondering how this occurred? The answer is simple. Negative equity occurs when you purchase a home using a home loan and the home prices begin to decline due to economic slowdown. The home value now decreases below the value principally on mortgage. This condition is called negative equity. It can be calculated by taking the value of the home, less the balance on the remaining loan.

An important aspect in the performance of home loans in the third quarter of 2009 was the high resale of foreclosures. This came up to one fifth of the t... Read more

Real estate events have been quite closely watched in these fluctuating times and there has been considerable improvement on the market conditions that is favoring the buyer this quarter.

While searching for the right place to settle in, do make a thorough search on the Homes for sale section of real estate websites. Community information of the various counties in CA including Sacramento, Roseville, Elk grove, Placerville, Yuba city through the various community pictures provide the needed information on the events that take place there which are displayed in various dedicated websi... Read more

Let’s all hope this bill passes. It will continue to spur the economic and real estate recovery.

WASHINGTON — Buying a home is about to get cheaper for a whole new crop of homebuyers — $6,500 cheaper.

First-time homebuyers have been getting tax credits of up to $8,000 since January as part of the economic stimulus package. But with that program scheduled to expire at the end of November, the Senate voted 98-0 Wednesday to extend and expand the tax credit to include buyers who already own homes. The House is expected to vote on the bill Thursday. Buyers who have owned their c... Read more

Recession’s over, but it doesn’t feel that way in capital area

It looks like the longest U.S. recession since the 1930s is over.

So why doesn’t it feel that way?

After four quarters of shrinking, the nation’s economy – as measured by its gross domestic product – grew 3.5 percent in the third quarter, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

But the news did little to erase the gloom that has settled over Sacramento’s economic landscape like a thick tule fog.

Local businesses are keeping the umbrellas within arm&rsquo... Read more

Ask the Experts: Do your homework on reverse mortgages

Our three new "Ask the Experts" writers have been busily answering financial questions this month from online readers.

Here’s a sample of their advice on personal finance, wills/estates and investing.

To see more questions or to get advice from our other financial experts on taxes, banking and investment clubs, go to: www.sacbee.com/ask.


Pamela Christensen, Certified financial planner

I expect to retire in about four years and will have a small Sacramento County retirement. We also h... Read more

Home Front: Quarterly home sales worst yet for Sacramento area

Sacramento-area home builders just keep singing the blues.

July, August and September brought their worst quarter yet in this long housing crash: just 616 sales in El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties, the Folsom-based Gregory Group reports today.

Actually, nearly all the region’s sales were in Placer and Sacramento counties alone. The suburban cities of Placer County accounted for 44 percent of third-quarter sales of new homes in the region. Sacramento County’s outer... Read more

California bill would extend tax credit on new homes

A popular state tax credit of up to $10,000 that helped sell hundreds of new houses throughout the Sacramento region earlier this year appears to be coming back.

A plan to extend the state tax credit to another 4,285 buyers of new, unoccupied homes in California – possibly as many as 500 in the capital area – is expected to receive a vote in the Legislature by Friday’s end of the session.

The buyer tax credit began March 1 and unexpectedly sold out by July 2 as many first-time California buyers combined... Read more

August 10, 2009
Bad June swoon for Sacramento-area homebuilders

http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/real_estate/

Ouch! Homebuilders in Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer and Yolo counties reported their second worst sales month of 2009 in June, selling just 197 homes, condominiums and townhouses, the California Building Industry Association reported about an hour ago.

These things happen. But the regional sales tally was the lowest since January, when builders sold 163 homes, reported the CBIA, a trade group for state homebuilders.

It rather flies in the fac... Read more

"We’re in a slow, but definite recovery mode"

http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/real_estate/archives/2009/06/were-in-a-slow.html?mi_atom=Home%20Front


So says Alexis McGee, president of Fair Oaks-based Foreclosures.com, which tracks the nation’s foreclosure markets for real estate investors. Here’s McGee’s new national roundup:


SACRAMENTO, Calif. -While President Obama, Congress, and the American people debate financial regulatory reform, foreclosures continue to mount as embattled housing markets bump along the bottom. ... Read more

Home Front: Lenders’ phones silent as rates rise

By Jim Wasserman
jwasserman@sacbee.com

http://www.sacbee.com/business/story/1940229.html


Mortgage rates, rising quickly from near-historic lows earlier this year, are already having negative consequences in the capital region.

"All of a sudden the phones just stopped ringing," said Michael McGee, president of Rancho Cordova’s Winchester McGee Real Estate & Loans.

"At least right now, the refinance window has somewhat shut," added Brent Wilson, senior loan consultant at Sacrament... Read more

Home Front: European media want close-ups of capital-area housing crash

By Jim Wasserman
jwasserman@sacbee.com


http://www.sacbee.com/736/story/1883525.html

Europeans are making Sacramento a regular stop on media expeditions to the housing crisis that has been pounding their banks.

This year, Home Front has received inquiries from a Swiss newspaper, a German magazine, a Dutch television show and most recently a German public TV program about finding places that reveal California’s housing crash and the people who have endured it.

Kno... Read more

Bringing the Dream of Homeownership Within Reach
As part of its plan to stimulate the U.S. housing market and address the economic challenges facing our nation, Congress has passed legislation that grants a tax credit of up to $8,000 to first-time home buyers.
Here is more information about how the 2009 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit can help prospective home buyers become part of the American dream.

Who Qualifies?
First-time home buyers who purchase homes between January 1, 2009 and December 1, 2009.
To qualify as a “first-time home buyer” the purchaser or his/her s... Read more

http://www.inman.com/buyers-sellers/columnists/tara-nicholle-nelson/are-short-sales-ruining-home-values


Q: My neighbors bought a home for their mother, who has since passed away. They owed $125,000 on the mortgage. The bank allowed them to do a short sale for $56,000. The three daughters who bought the home for their mother have considerable assets. How can they be forgiven for this debt by the Internal Revenue Service if they are not distressed?

The people who are doing the short sales are ruining the values of our homes, yet we have always made our payments on ti... Read more