Our Blog
NAR – Pending Home Sales on the Rise
The National Association of Realtors reported that its pending home sales index, a forward-looking indicator based on signed contracts, rose 6.1% to 110.1 in September, following a 6.4% increase in August. It was the eighth consecutive monthly increase and the highest...
Congress Extends First Time Home Buyer Credit
Legislators today voted to extend the $8,000.00 first time home buyer credit. Many say that the credit is responsible for the spike in the local real estate market while others criticize it as not being enough of an effort to stimulate the economy. The President is...
Proposal to Extend Tax Credit Under Consideration
The United States Senate leadership amended a proposition to substitute an expiring $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit, extending the credit to higher-income borrowers and to others who already own real estate, according to Bloomberg. The program would extend the...
Real Estate Professionals Fed Up with HVCC
I have been speaking recently with many of my real estate business partners about their valid frustration over the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) and how it unnecessarily jeopardizes transactions for homeowners and potential buyers. The Federal Law imposed to...
Home Sales Up for September
Existing home sales rose 9.4% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million units from 5.1 million units in August. The increase was largely due to the tax incentive for first-time homebuyers.
The "Good Funds" Statute
Enacted in 1994 "The Good Funds Statute" addressed the situation that first arose in the Abbey Financial case, where a lender failed to fund a loan which had already closed, the closing attorney was left in the difficult position of either having closed the loan and...
$8,000 Home Buyer Tax Credit at a Glance
The information on this page pertains to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The tax credit is for first-time home buyers only. For the tax credit program, the IRS defines a first-time home buyer as someone who has not owned a principal residence...
Department of Housing and Urban Development
For the first time in more than 30 years, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued long-anticipated mortgage reforms that will help consumers to shop for the lowest cost mortgage and avoid costly and potentially harmful loan offers. HUD will...
On Line Document Recording
Middlesex County, North District and South District, Registries of Deeds are accepting the electronic filing of documents. That means settlement and escrow agents may file real estate documents with the Registry of Deeds remotely by scanning the documents and...
Home Builders Remain Confident in January
Home builders maintained December’s confidence level according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Housing Market Index for January. The latest reading of 60 mirrored December’s reading, but was two points lower than expected. Readings of more than 50 indicate that more builders were confident about housing conditions than those who were not.