With new Treasury Department rules designed to expedite short sales set to take effect April 5, relief can’t come soon enough for some area buyers, sellers and real estate agents who have waded through a long and arduous process to get short sales approved by the bank.
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Treasury hopes new rules send short sales to the rescue of underwater mortgages
When Mike Walker and his wife, Kathy, found an affordable house in Landover Hills back in 1979, they were looking for an upgrade from their apartment in nearby Bladensburg. The house was advertised as a “fixer-upper,” Mike Walker recalled, and cost $39,500.
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Landover Hills: location, affordability still draw first-time buyers
As daylight saving time begins this weekend, it’s a reminder that spring is just around the corner. So we have an assortment of questions that spans the winter-spring boundary.
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Green Scene: Pruning tips, groundhog repellent and other gardening advice
I tried to buy a house. I applied for a loan, and the bank processed it as a Federal Housing Administration loan instead of a conventional loan. The house I was buying failed the FHA inspection, and I did not buy it.
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Expenses incurred buying a house can be a risk
Mortgage interest rates declined for a second consecutive week as the number of home loan applications rose.
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Mortgage interest rates down for second week as home loan applications rise
Fairfax County aspires to greatly increase the amount of affordable housing at Tysons Corner for workers who now must commute there from afar, consuming time and fossil fuel while contributing to traffic congestion. But this newspaper reported recently that achieving Tysons’s affordable housing…
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Affordable housing needs some public funding
DEAR TIM: I stopped by a friend’s house the other day as she was painting the wood steps leading to her basement. She was using a stencil, and it looked fantastic. What’s the best paint for steps? How do you keep the steps from getting scuffed? — Pam W., Green Bay, Wis.
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How to paint and protect steps
Q: We have owned our house for many years, and the lender has always escrowed money to pay our real estate taxes and insurance. This year, we received a notice from the lender that our monthly mortgage payment will increase by over $400 because there is an escrow shortage. Can we cancel the escrow…
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Lender blames escrow shortage for $400 increase in monthly mortgage payment
With the Obama administration and private lenders actively considering mortgage principal-reduction programs to help financially distressed homeowners, the Internal Revenue Service has issued a new advisory to taxpayers who receive — or seek to receive — such assistance. The IRS gets involved in…
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Some tax issues to consider on mortgage write-downs
It’s getting competitive out there in the Washington area housing market, according to real estate brokers and buyers. And February market statistics just reported from Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, the local multiple listing service, back up their reports.
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Washington area housing market is getting competitive again, buyers and brokers report
BOUNDARIES: Route 450 to the north, Parkwood Street to the south, 72nd Avenue and the Bellemeadsubdivision to the east and the Radiant Valley subdivision to the west.
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Landover Hills
What sellers can expect from participating lenders starting in April:
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Guidelines for new short-sale rules
Our house, which was built in 1998, has three upstairs bedrooms. The door to one bedroom doesn’t fully close in the winter, but it works fine in the summer. The door to a second bedroom doesn’t close well in the summer, but it works fine in the winter. The third door works fine year-round. What is…
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Unlocking mysterious door problem; reducing metal corrosion
The housing market is facing swelling ranks of homeowners who are seriously delinquent but have yet to lose their homes, and this is threatening a new wave of foreclosures that could hit just as the real estate market has begun to stabilize.
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New round of foreclosures threatens housing market
A lack of progress on a redevelopment project at the old Filene’s building in downtown Boston has Mayor Thomas Menino angry.
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Menino angry with developer at Filene’s building
