NYT: Markets Plunge, Then Stage a Rebound
For more: http://s.nyt.com/u/XtaY

Obama administration okays $3,000 in moving expenses for distressed homeowners selling on a short sale.

Mortgage rates sure to jump in coming months. Lock yours in now if planning to buy.

Lenders loosen reins on jumbo mortgages in NY region

It may be too early to announce a thaw of the mortgage market, but The New York Times reports some early signs have emerged, at least in one important category: jumbo loans.

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Above water?

A new article today in the Washington Post says that 24% of homeowners with a mortgage are underwater.

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Where will it all end?

Where do I start? The stock market is belly up. The finance industry is sucking the American taxpayer dry with nice handouts billions at a time. Regular folks like the rest of us are losing our jobs, our homes and our incentives to keep trying. What happened?

It was less than two years ago when everything seemed fairly rosy. The Dow was humming along at over 13,000, financial institutions (as far as we knew) were safe and most of us were paying our house payments on time and life was grand. Then along came a new phrase that we all had to learn and eventually hate: sub-prime mortgages. Did they really cause all of this mess we're in today? It's hard to imagine but from what I can tell that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Some folks who barely had enough income to buy gas for their cars thought how way-cool it would be to own their very own home. After all, isn't that what all the experts said we should do? It's the American Dream. Buy your very own house and you'll live happily ever after. One little thing they forgot to point out: "Oh yeah, you need to have a real job and be able to make house payments for 30 years." That's the part that no one was telling these folks. Not even the very people who were handing them the money. The lenders were even helping borrowers to lie on their mortgage applications just to meet quota for the month. Everyone was doing it, so why shouldn't they? Why, indeed?

Now we get to beg, borrow or steal our way out. I'm sorry folks but I don't believe throwing more money at it will make it go away. History has taught us that what we sow, we must reap. Too bad our government hasn't yet learned that lesson.

Roger Taylor
Let me help you with your foreclosure problem. Click here.

Reality, not Realty

Well, the Feds and the mortgage companies are once again fighting about how best to fix the home lending mess the country's in. The Federal Reserve is developing a plan that would restrict lending practices to customers that can realistically afford to re-pay a mortgage loan. The banks are saying this would discourage them from lending to creditworthy borrowers.

I say let's use some commonsense here. Who really wins when a bank knowingly makes a bad loan that goes into default? It's easy to say the bank wins but do they really? After a bank incurs the expense to process a foreclosure they rarely make any money at all on the back end. Sure they get the original fees to make the loan in the first place but this money pales in comparison to the thousands of dollars they may lose on a short sale.

I think it's time for the American borrower to take stock of his or her financial situation. Sure the iconic American dream is to own a house, but at what expense? To lose it two, three or five years later to foreclosure? Some folks just aren't ready to own the house of their dreams quite yet. Some never will be. Through slick magazine ads and flashy television commercials we're all led to believe that anyone can get -- hey, you even deserve -- anything you want. Take that next vacation to the Bahamas, buy that new car or get the house of your dreams. Just sign here.

It's high time some of us accept the fact that we will never be financially responsible enough to afford a home, no matter what the banks, or the Fed, say. It's not shameful to rent your home. Getting a loan that you can't afford is.

Home sales dip again

As one of our former presidents was fond of saying: "Well, here we go again." Reports that home prices and numbers of home sales are falling will come as no surprise to those still hanging on and trying to figure out where their next mortgage payment is coming from. These are tough times for everyone but they're particularly tough on those who have staked their lives on the American Dream.

The news today shows that sales of new homes fell 1.8 percent in February. That's another blow to a fragile market that experienced a 1.6 percent decline in January. How much further can this go? Well, there is an end in sight according to a report released this week from the National Association of Realtors. They've predicted a continued slide for the next month or two, then a leveling off by summer. They believe home sales and prices will actually start to rise again in the third quarter. While that's small comfort to those about to get the ugly foreclosure papers in the mail from their banks, it does provide a small glimmer of hope that the nation's economy may be turning around. That means we may actually avoid the much-feared, ugly monster called a recession.

While the economy may be turning around, inflation is still dealing nasty surprises all over the family budget. Gas is hovering at all-time highs which makes everything else that must be trucked in from somewhere else more expensive. Bread, eggs, milk, fresh produce, etc. are all taking a bite out of already tight circumstances.

All I can say is that we must hang in there and fight the good fight. We must continue to make better decisions about money and try to avoid the most expensive loans. If you find yourself in a bad predictament due to an ARM about to re-adjust or bills that just won't go away, please contact us and we'll try to help. We can buy your house, all cash, very quickly. Visit our Web site, for more details.

Selling your Louisville house

Check here often for tips, tricks and techniques on how to easily sell your house in Louisville, KY. We'll cover topics about what makes a house sell quickly and how you can do it too, how to make your house stand out from the crowd and what to expect from fussy buyers in a sluggish economy.

If you want to sell immediately go to Acme Housing Company and get our FREE Special Report on how to sell your house in less than five days.