June 13th, 2010

The Mercury News
Silicon Valley house hunting? Five things to know
It’s been a tumultuous three years since the housing bubble popped, leaving both buyers and sellers uncertain about the best strategy. Interest rates are low, but likely to head up, and while housing prices also are low, they’re already inching up in some areas.
To read the full story, please click here.

The Wall Street Journal
REALTORS® want Congress to tweak tax credit timeline
The real-estate lobby wants Congress to extend the amount of time that potential buyers have to complete transactions that qualify for the $8,000 federal home-buyer tax credit.
To read the full story, please click here.

The New York Times
The 20-year mortgage alternative
Most people who took out jumbo mortgages during the financial crisis got hit with high interest rates as lenders and investors recoiled from anything that seemed even remotely risky. Now that market conditions have improved, some of these borrowers are looking to refinance into lower-rate mortgages, but they may not want to start over with a 30-year loan.
To read the full story, please click here.

The Wall Street Journal
Profiteers, not government, to blame for housing crisis
Former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros placed the blame for the recent housing crisis on “unscrupulous interests” that fueled reckless lending and weak regulation rather than housing policies of the past two decades.
To read the full story, please click here.

The Los Angeles Times
Foreclosure filings decline 3 percent in May
Foreclosure activity in the U.S. continued to level off in May with the number of homes caught up in some stage of the process falling 3 percent from April, a real estate firm said.
To read the full story, please click here.

CBS News
Freddie Mac: Mortgage rates hit low for year
Rates on 30-year fixed mortgages fell this week to the lowest level of the year and were barely shy of the all-time low.
To read the full story, please click here.