The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced this week that it is suspending an initiative to update the credit score model used by government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That initiative would have potentially helped to provide millions of creditworthy Americans who have been unable to be scored with a credit score and a path toward homeownership.The FHFA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac have been evaluating the impact of a new
Online retail giant Overstock.com is entering the real estate business. The company announced this week that it will begin to manage properties for landlords of single-family rental properties and multifamily housing developments through its newly acquired property management site called Houserie.“For nearly 20 years, Overstock has connected customers with premium home goods, helping them build their dream homes; now, we look forward to expan
Ongoing inventory shortages helped to push the median sale price for existing homes to another all-time high in June, the National Association of REALTORS® reports. The median price for all housing types was $276,900, surpassing a previous record set in May. Home prices have surged 5.2 percent since a year ago.The mix of low inventory and high home prices may have had an influence on existing-home sales in June, which fell for the third consecut
Sellers are cashing in on yet another record high for sale prices, with the median annual return on home sales reaching 8 percent nationally over the last 12 months, according to realtor.com®. But some cities are seeing annual returns stretch as high as 14 percent, researchers found in an analysis of the 100 largest U.S. metros. “Owning can be a great way to build up overall net worth,” says realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale. “I
Nearly three in 10 mortgage borrowers either don’t know the rate they’re paying on their loan or decline to disclose it, according to a new survey by Bankrate. Consumers who don’t keep track of their mortgage rate may be making an expensive mistake, financial experts caution. “Most homeowners should know what their rate is,” says Martin Choy, operations manager at Westwood Mortgage in Seattle. “If they have an adjustable-rate mortgage
Many homeowners have limits on their home insurance policies that are too low to cover the full cost of repairing or rebuilding in case of a natural disaster—and the problem is particularly alarming in areas at risk of hurricanes and flooding, The Wall Street Journal reports.Catastrophic damage left in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria last year revealed a widespread lack of full insurance coverage for many homeowners in Texas, F
Congress has until July 31 to extend the National Flood Insurance Program, which provides policies in 22,000 communities nationwide, and this week brought a last-minute flurry of activity as the deadline approaches.Reps. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.) and Steve Scalise (R-La.) introduced a bill to extend the NFIP through Nov. 30. Reps. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) also introduced a four-month extension bill, which included eight bipar
Mortgage rates dropped slightly this week, but overall, they were mostly flat, offering some temporary relief to borrowers.Mixed economic data this week prompted mortgage rates to remain in mostly a holding pattern, says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Manufacturing output and consumer spending showed improvements, but construction activity was a disappointment,” Khater says. “This meant there was no driving force to move mort
A federal appeals court in Texas has ruled that the leadership structure of the Federal Housing Finance Agency—the caretakers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—is unconstitutional. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Texas agreed with shareholders that the FHFA was “unconstitutionally insulated from executive control” with its single-director structure. The director cannot be removed by the president except for cause. If the co
New York, Connecticut, Maryland, and New Jersey lawmakers are suing the federal government over a tax reform bill that put a cap of $10,000 on certain state and local tax deductions, including property taxes. Several states—such as these four—have state and local taxes that can far exceed $10,000.The states claim that the cap on certain local and state deductions (commonly referred to as SALT deductions) is unconstitutional. They’re asking
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