Compare loan vs. home equity
With interest rates on the rise, consumers looking to tap into their home equity want to make sure they are getting the best possible deal for their money.
With home-equity rates looking attractive, consumers should consider whether they are better off tapping into a loan rather than refinancing the mortgage to get their cash out.
You can do the comparison by setting your Web browser to www.lendingtree.com/smartborrower/Calculators.aspx
Via : www.azstarnet.com
Home loan crisis infects 'burbs
The bulk of foreclosed properties on the market are in the cities — but suburbia may be catching up.
Take East Bridgewater, a middle-class town where the median house price is $335,000.
This suburb of Brockton had the biggest increase of foreclosure filings — a whopping 233 percent hike — between May 2006 and May of this year among communities in Massachusetts that had 50 or more filings in that period.
The numbers are tracked by Framingham-based ForeclosuresMass.com.
Walpole, a suburban town with some upscale neighborhoods, saw its foreclosure filings rise by 152 percent during the same period.
Some say foreclosure numbers can be misleading as homeowners may address their financial situation before the house is actually foreclosed upon.
But filing numbers can be an indicator of foreclosure trends, in this case that the crisis is reaching into suburban areas.
“With the price of gas, the cost of living being up, we are seeing people who have larger mortgages,” said Sherry Palmer of Four Points Realty in West Bridgewater. And, once they get behind in payments, the foreclosure process kicks in.
Suburbs in other parts of the country also are joining the foreclosure ranks.
In Montgomery County, Va., for example, the foreclosure rate has tripled in a year. In nearby Fairfax County, it has quadrupled, according to The Washington Post.
Maryland has seen a similar trend. Foreclosures rates there have been rising sharply, especially in the suburbs, as many buyers who had stretched to purchase homes have found themselves unable to keep up with payments, the Baltimore Sun reported.
In another non-urban indicator in Massachusetts, Foreclosures.com also found that Barnstable County, which includes 15 coastal communities on Cape Cod, saw a 79 percent increase in foreclosure filings.
Locally, there have been 18 actual foreclosures in East Bridgewater in the past 18 months, East Bridgewater Assessor Cheryl Pooler said. Eleven of those foreclosures were recorded in 2006, seven in the first six months of 2007.
The latest statewide figures show 1,589 notices of foreclosure auctions in May, a 143 percent increase from a year ago.
“Foreclosures are more and more prevalent in the area,” Palmer said.
The surge in foreclosures has been traced to “sub-prime” mortgage loans made to people who stretched their finances too far to purchase homes in an inflated real estate market.
Sometimes unscrupulous lenders loosened credit rules for home buyers with bad credit, who made no down payment or who didn't earn enough money to qualify for traditional loans. The lenders then charged them higher interest rates, which made the loans more expensive and the payments harder to make as other living rose, such as food and fuel.
May statistics indicate that foreclosure activity will continue to rise in Massachusetts, according to Timothy Warren Jr., CEO of the Boston-based Warren Group.
“There are fewer options available to people,” Warren said. “In the past, maybe they had enough equity in their house to refinance.”
Pooler, the East Bridgewater assessor, said she is not surprised that many homeowners find themselves facing foreclosure, though they can recover before losing their homes.
Many find ways to reverse the process, while others who may have been marginal buyers to begin with, cannot.
“There's more bank-owned property for sale,” said Palmer, the West Bridgewater Realtor. “The percentage is becoming greater and greater.”
By ; Elaine Allegrini, ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
Via : www.enterprisenews.com
With home-equity rates looking attractive, consumers should consider whether they are better off tapping into a loan rather than refinancing the mortgage to get their cash out.
You can do the comparison by setting your Web browser to www.lendingtree.com/smartborrower/Calculators.aspx
Via : www.azstarnet.com
Home loan crisis infects 'burbs
The bulk of foreclosed properties on the market are in the cities — but suburbia may be catching up.
Take East Bridgewater, a middle-class town where the median house price is $335,000.
This suburb of Brockton had the biggest increase of foreclosure filings — a whopping 233 percent hike — between May 2006 and May of this year among communities in Massachusetts that had 50 or more filings in that period.
The numbers are tracked by Framingham-based ForeclosuresMass.com.
Walpole, a suburban town with some upscale neighborhoods, saw its foreclosure filings rise by 152 percent during the same period.
Some say foreclosure numbers can be misleading as homeowners may address their financial situation before the house is actually foreclosed upon.
But filing numbers can be an indicator of foreclosure trends, in this case that the crisis is reaching into suburban areas.
“With the price of gas, the cost of living being up, we are seeing people who have larger mortgages,” said Sherry Palmer of Four Points Realty in West Bridgewater. And, once they get behind in payments, the foreclosure process kicks in.
Suburbs in other parts of the country also are joining the foreclosure ranks.
In Montgomery County, Va., for example, the foreclosure rate has tripled in a year. In nearby Fairfax County, it has quadrupled, according to The Washington Post.
Maryland has seen a similar trend. Foreclosures rates there have been rising sharply, especially in the suburbs, as many buyers who had stretched to purchase homes have found themselves unable to keep up with payments, the Baltimore Sun reported.
In another non-urban indicator in Massachusetts, Foreclosures.com also found that Barnstable County, which includes 15 coastal communities on Cape Cod, saw a 79 percent increase in foreclosure filings.
Locally, there have been 18 actual foreclosures in East Bridgewater in the past 18 months, East Bridgewater Assessor Cheryl Pooler said. Eleven of those foreclosures were recorded in 2006, seven in the first six months of 2007.
The latest statewide figures show 1,589 notices of foreclosure auctions in May, a 143 percent increase from a year ago.
“Foreclosures are more and more prevalent in the area,” Palmer said.
The surge in foreclosures has been traced to “sub-prime” mortgage loans made to people who stretched their finances too far to purchase homes in an inflated real estate market.
Sometimes unscrupulous lenders loosened credit rules for home buyers with bad credit, who made no down payment or who didn't earn enough money to qualify for traditional loans. The lenders then charged them higher interest rates, which made the loans more expensive and the payments harder to make as other living rose, such as food and fuel.
May statistics indicate that foreclosure activity will continue to rise in Massachusetts, according to Timothy Warren Jr., CEO of the Boston-based Warren Group.
“There are fewer options available to people,” Warren said. “In the past, maybe they had enough equity in their house to refinance.”
Pooler, the East Bridgewater assessor, said she is not surprised that many homeowners find themselves facing foreclosure, though they can recover before losing their homes.
Many find ways to reverse the process, while others who may have been marginal buyers to begin with, cannot.
“There's more bank-owned property for sale,” said Palmer, the West Bridgewater Realtor. “The percentage is becoming greater and greater.”
By ; Elaine Allegrini, ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
Via : www.enterprisenews.com
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