Champaign County Real Estate News Blog

 it seems like the big bail-outs are reserved for folks in D.C. you aren't alone. Experts have recently noticed that Washington is handing out bonus dollars for bankrupt executives while people on Main Street are getting laid off in record numbers. Meanwhile the federal government is hiring even ...

I have 3 or 4 qualified buyers who won't get off the fence despite low prices and lower mortgage rates. No matter how good the deal I bring them they still shy away and say they're going to wait. This seems to be the sentiment nationwide as confirmed by a survey by Realtor.com, read below:   Acco...

According to analysts, home prices may fall in the near-term and rise only in 2012. "We expect prices to drop for another year and then stabilize before starting to rise with incomes," says Standard & Poor's Chief Economist David Wyss. The S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, which tr...

The retail industry has been in turmoil with chains such as Mervyn's, Steve & Barry's, Goody's and Gottschalk's filing for bankruptcy in the recent past. Now Eddie Bauer, a chain with 371 stores, joins the list by filing for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware. The company has been struggling to re...

Have you been making timely payments to your homeowner association? If no, you may lose your home. There are more than 59 million people living in over 300,000 association-governed communities nationwide. Homeowner associations typically have the foreclosure clause in the purchase agreement signe...

The Obama administration introduced an $8000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers in February in order to stimulate the housing market. Some believe the government should do more and offer incentives to all homebuyers. Johnny Isakson, a Republican Senator, has submitted a proposal to offer all bu...

Foreclosure filings fell 6% in May from April, according to RealtyTrac, a provider of foreclosure data. "A total of 321,480 properties received a default or auction notice or were repossessed in May, up 18% from a year earlier," said RealtyTrac in a statement. The 18% rise is the smallest annual ...

Unsold homes cost builders money, and hence builders are looking at ways of selling homes as quickly as possible by offering incentives. "Builders used up all their construction loan money, and they're sitting on properties. So they can't build any more houses because they've got to sell these fi...

ccording to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate jumped to an average 5.32% this week, from 4.91% last week. While refinancing activity has been hit by the rising rate, home purchases continue to rise. It looks as though home buyers are jumping in now, in case the rates rise further. Dian...

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), its Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 16.2% to 658.7 from 786.0 a week earlier. Refinancing in mortgages decreased to 62.4% of total applications from 69.3% the previous week. Analysts are concerne...