Americans Spend More Time Researching a Car Purchase than Their Home Loan, According to Recent Zillow.com® Survey. Despite the fact a home is one of the largest and most expensive purchases most Americans will ever make, those adults who have obtained or refinanced a home loan in the past 5 years typically spent only 5 hours researching a home loan, according to a recent survey(1) of 2,897 adults conducted by Harris Interactive® on behalf of leading real estate website Zillow.com. In fact, more time is typically spent researching a car purchase (8 hours) or major home improvements, such as a kitchen remodel (10 hours), and equal time is spent planning a single vacation (5 hours)(2). When calculated as time spent per dollar invested, this means Americans typically spend almost 80 times more time researching their vacation (.159 min./dollar) than a home loan (.002 min./dollar).

Home shoppers who need basic home buying information might turn to the National Consumers League’s newly launched Mortgage Town, a free Web site that explains the benefits and risks of homeownership and the ins and outs of loan options, inspections, and closings.

The site also offers homeowners facing foreclosure a way to figure out the identity of their mortgage company.

"MortgageTown is a user-friendly and reliable resource for consumers to become better versed in the process of getting a mortgage and what pitfalls to avoid as they head down that road,” said Sally Greenberg, executive director of the National Consumers League.

The financial woes that began with subprime borrowers and their lenders already have hurt the broader economy by depressing housing prices, squeezing credit and pummeling consumer confidence. According to Investment News, Housing sector may soon bottom out but prices are expected to stay low for a few years ( Janet Morrissey, April 7, 2008 )

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Schiller home price index, which tracks single-family-home sales in 20 major markets, shows that prices fell 11% on average in January, marking the biggest drop in the index's 20-year history.

The index indicated that 16 of the 20 metropolitan areas surveyed saw record year-over-year price declines. Miami and Las Vegas had the biggest price setbacks, each falling 19.3%

Research done by NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (NAR) shows that existing single-family home sales essentially stabilized in January, dipping 0.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted selling pace of 4.89 million units from an upwardly revised pace of 4.91 million units (Adjusted from the figure published in the March 2008) in December. At the same time, NAR’s pending home sales index, which is forward looking, shows sales stabilizing. The January index reading is 85.9, unchanged from December.

NAR also reports that for the second month in a row, real estate practitioners are bringing a bullish outlook to their view of market conditions in the months ahead. Buyer traffic will be up, they believe, while seller traffic will be down, which would help ease inventory buildup. Practitioner confidence was surveyed in February.

Results are based on 560 responses to 3,000 surveys sent to large and small real estate offices. The survey asks practitioners to indicate whether conditions are strong (100 points), moderate (50), or weak (0). Responses are averaged to derive results.

According to USA Today (Sue Kirchhoff and Kevin McCoy 04/03/2008) the Senate last week announced that it had reached a bipartisan compromise on a plan to aid families facing foreclosure. The lawmakers have been at a stalemate, unable to reach agreement on key provisions that have already been approved by the House.

The Senate didn’t approve a provision that would allow bankruptcy judges to reduce mortgage debt.

The compromise includes:

Foreclosure aid. A $4 billion package to aid communities hard hit by foreclosures and mortgage delinquencies. Local governments could use the funds to buy and rehabilitate foreclosed homes at a discount.

Government-backed mortgages. Increased loan limits for FHA- guaranteed mortgages.

Financial counseling. About $100 million in new funding for housing counseling for troubled families.

Tax credit. A $7,000 tax credit, over two years, for buyers of foreclosed homes or properties on which foreclosure action has been filed.

Business tax relief. Authority for home builders and other firms that are losing money to reclaim taxes paid up to four years ago vs. two years now.

The Mortgage Bankers Association applauded the plan, saying it would "keep at-risk borrowers in their homes."

Source: beautifulcity.us