Home Values in 2017: Are We Facing A Real Estate Bubble?

Are Rising Home Values Creating A Real Estate Bubble?

Is America heading for a new real estate bubble? It's hard to imagine, given the increasing home values in recent years. Housing markets are obviously making a strong recovery since the mortgage meltdown of a decade ago. But then again....

What Goes Up...

There's no doubt that the housing sector has been going full tilt for some time. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that February existing home values were up 7.7 percent over the previous year. In fact, February was "the 60th consecutive month of year-over-year gains."

Not only are prices up, so are sales. During the past year existing home sales for February were 5.4 percent higher.

The story is much the same with…

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USDA Property Eligibility: You Don’t Have To Live In “The Sticks”

Check Your Address for USDA Property Eligibility

Zero down payment mortgage loans are always enticing. Even if you have the cash for a down payment, you may prefer to keep it on hand for emergencies, future renovations or to invest. USDA loans offer 100 percent financing for USDA-eligible homes.

USDA loans, formally known as the USDA Rural Development Guaranteed Housing Loan Program, are federally-insured loans. The program helps low-to-moderate-income borrowers and increases homeownership in underdeveloped areas.

The surprising thing about the USDA loan program is that the definition of “rural” is loose. You don’t need to buy a farm or live alone on a mountaintop to qualify for this loan program.

USDA loans are popular with qualified…

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Housing Recovery Has Been Slight and Erratic

For all the talk of post-recession recovery, rising prices, and a brisk sellers’ market, barely a third of homes in the U.S. have values surpassing their pre-crash peaks. But even that recovery is far from even, according to a report released by Trulia Wednesday morning.

Trulia’s chief economist, Ralph McLaughlin, wrote that only 34.2 percent of homes nationally have seen their values surpass 2006 numbers. But that percentage belies wildly uneven pockets of recovery. Of large U.S. metros, some, such as Denver, San Francisco, Honolulu, and Dallas, have seen more than 90 percent of homes recover fully and surpass 2006 peaks. But then there are metros like Las Vegas and Tucson,  where fewer than 3 percent of homes have passed pre-recession numbers.

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Fed Nixes Interest Rate Hike in May Meeting

After a two-day meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee has opted to keep the federal funds interest rate as-is—a surprise to many, given the widely held assumption that not one, but two more rate hikes were on the agenda for 2017.

According to the Federal Reserve, the improving labor market, moderate job gains, a lower unemployment rate, and steady inflation all factored into the Committee’s decision.

A statement from the Federal Reserve said: “In view of realized and expected labor market conditions and inflation, the Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 3/4 to 1 percent. The stance of monetary policy remains accommodative, thereby supporting some further strengthening in labor market conditions and a…

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Ways To Cut Household Expenses And Save Money Each Month

Follow these budgeting tips, from couponing to changing your cellular plan, to cut household expenses without completely disrupting your daily life.

The key to saving money is knowing where to trim your budget.

Paying bills is never fun, but it’s even less exciting when monthly expenses leave you eating noodles for the last few days before every payday. But you don’t necessarily have to sacrifice the lifestyle you want to live in an apartment or home you love. In fact, eliminating unnecessary household expenses is easier than you think.

Whether you’re living those big-city dreams in a studio apartment in San Francisco, CA, or moving into a single family home in Austin, TX, read on to find out how to eliminate or reduce monthly…

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Delinquency Rates, Foreclosures Dip to Historic Lows

The national delinquency rate has hit its lowest point in 11 years, according to the First Look report issued by Black Knight Financial Services on Friday. The rate dropped 14 percent from February to March and 11 percent over the year, hitting 3.62 percent.

The First Look report, which offers a quick glance at month-end mortgage performance stats across the nation, also showed that total non-current inventory—that is, all inventory under foreclosure or 30 or more days delinquent—also hit a historic low, dipping under 2.3 million for the first time in 11 years. Overall inventory of loans in active foreclosure dropped below 450,000, the first time it’s done so in a decade.

Prepay speeds jumped 20 percent for the month. Though prepayments are…

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