Part 1: Help! Im stuck in an unsellable home

Selling a home can be awfully tough these days. And some
properties are particularly tricky to unload. Consider the
residence located near a railroad track or power plant, the
outdated house with 1970s decor, or the infamous condo where a
death or murder may have taken place. As bad of some of these
scenarios sound, real estate

2012 begins with low mortgage rates

Despite a slight increase from the week prior, mortgage rates
kicked off the new year near historic lows. According to HSH.coms
latest Weekly Mortgage Rate Radar report, rates and points offered
by lenders for the two most popular types of mortgages the
conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and the conforming 5/1
adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) both rose slightly during

Two new mortgage options give unemployed a big break

Would no mortgage payments for a year help if you were
unemployed? You bet. And now the government has two such programs,
including one announced just last week. While the FHA has had a
concrete forbearance program in place for some time, last Friday
Freddie Mac announced that servicers nowmust assist borrowers
who are suffering financial

4 signs that housing is off to a good start in 2012

Out with the old, in with the new. The start of a new year
always seems to bring along aspirations of improvement. Whether
thats losing weight or refinancing your mortgage, new years
resolutions are often short lived and quickly forgotten. While your
new and improved diet may not be lasting as long as you had
hoped,

The MI tax deduction is on the chopping block

Unless Congress changes the tax rules this year, mortgage
insurance could become both more expensive and less desirable,
something that would hurt the housing market nationwide. Under
current tax rules, the cost for mortgage insurance whether it is
through the FHA or through the private sector is deductible to
homeowners. For instance, if you pay $1,500 in mortgage

2011: The year of record-low mortgage rates

Amidst other notable items crashing markets and tremendous
natural disasters among them 2011 might also become known as the
year of record-low mortgage rates. Not since the early 1950s
perhaps beyond have mortgage rates plumbed these depths. We begin
2012 with fixed interest rates almost a full percentage point below
where we began 2011, at levels which not only promote

No. 1: 5 cities poised for a housing pop

HSH.coms most popular article of 2011 is, 5 cities poised for
a housing pop. Publish date: June 14, 2011 Written by: Robert
McGarvey Excerpt: Read the big, heavily publicized housing market
reports and the only conclusion is that doom and gloom are the dual
engines driving U.S. real estate. Double-digit dips are the norm in
the recent Zillow Home

The flips must go on

The FHA has declared that the flips must go on. The mortgage
insurer recently announced that it would extend a reprieve of its
anti-flipping law through 2012. The exception to their
anti-flipping law was originally enacted in 2010 and set to expire
this month. The rule states that the FHA will not insure loans that
are

Mortgage rates start 2012 at 60-year lows

Out with the old year, in with the new. After several months
of improving economic reports, optimism appears to be growing for
the moment that the new year will bring steadily improving economic
growth. There will no doubt be challenges both expected and
unexpected as 2012 progresses, and probably, some beneficial
surprises as well. Will the

Heres how to get the best rate on your jumbo refinance

If you buy apparel from big and tall clothing stores, youre
used to paying more and having less to choose from. Regular guys,
on the other hand, benefit from a wider selection of products and
more competition between retailers. Jumbo mortgage refinancing is
the same way a jumbo loan is harder to find and more