With Congress reaching agreement on a $789 billion stimulus package for Americans and the President expected to sign it into law, the clock may be ticking for this year’s home buyers and homeowners.

The package contains two benefits related to housing.

The first provision is fairly well-known. It gives first-time home buyers [...]

His speech was much anticipated, but it was what Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner didn’t say Tuesday that helped home affordability.

Mostly it was because of “safe-haven” buying on Wall Street.

Safe-haven buying is when investors move cash to the safest investments possible for fear of losing their money elsewhere.

This existence of the pattern [...]

Friday, Fannie Mae rolled-back one of its least popular mortgage guidelines updates of the last 12 months.

Effective March 1, 2009, real estate investors can once again own and finance up to 10 individual properties. The restriction reversal does come with new minimum requirements, however.

Homeowners buying a 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th [...]

As Americans move from net spenders to net savers, it seems that we’re all looking for ways to save some extra cash. As part of its ongoing “Save-a-Buck” series, NBC’s The Today Show offers some pointers.

Among the tips, there’s a split between common sense items and I-never-thought-of-that [...]

Employment figures released this morning show that the economy has now shed 3.6 million jobs since December 2007, included close to half that in the last 3 months alone. The Unemployment Rate is now 7.6%.

But jobs aren’t fading in every housing market equally.

As reported by Ajilon Professional Staffing, there [...]

Comparing July’s conforming mortgage rates to today’s average rates, there’s a 1.5 percent difference in favor of homeowners.

Rate drops like that make big differences in a household budget. Look at these before-and-after payments, based on rates from the chart:

$150,000 mortgage ($144 savings/month)

July 2008: $958 monthly February 2009: $814 monthly

$250,000 mortgage [...]

A real estate trade group reported Tuesday that Pending Home Sales ticked higher in December 2008. A “pending home sale” is a home under contract to sell, but not yet closed.

The group positions Pending Home Sales report as a predictor of future activity, suggesting that home sales will [...]

If the unfreezing of credit is paramount to an economic rebound, the first signs of a thaw may be here.

Monday, the Federal Reserve released its quarterly survey of 84 member banks. In it, the Fed says that fewer than half of its responding banks tightened “prime” mortgage guidelines over the last [...]

In an organized garage, every car has its space.

Unfortunately, getting a car into that space isn’t always so easy. At some point, most homeowners have pulled their car too far forward into the garage, nicking the car’s paint and finish.

The Flashing Garage Parking Signal aims to solve the parking dilemma. [...]