There are a number of reasons that home sales should be seeing a prolonged downturn, such as extremely strict lending standards (although very low interest rates), a spike in contract failures and unemployment rates that continue to be higher than ideal. However, despite all that, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports that home sales actually saw an uptick again in October. Read More +
For the first time in a while, new reports released regarding the economy show almost all good news. According to data that came out today, claims for unemployment benefits dropped to the lowest level in seven months in October. In that same month, new housing construction permits jumped to the highest level since March of 2010. Read More +
A couple weeks ago, the federal Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) announced a forthcoming change to their rules that would offer refinancing options to many paid-current homeowners who owed more on their mortgage than their house is worth. If some recently released data is any indication, those rule-changes may be especially helpful in the Portland metro area. Read More +
While recent modifications to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) hope to help prevent some foreclosures, another federal organization is offering recourse for victims of wrongful foreclosures. Read More +
