Daily Real Estate News  |  March 7, 2011  |    Share Fed to Maintain Stimulus Efforts Experts expect the Federal Reserve to wait for more proof of a self-sustaining economic recovery before scaling back stimulus efforts. Fed officials, meeting March 15, likely will keep short-term interest rates near zero and allow a $600 billion Treasury bond-purchase program to run until June as … [Read more...]

Daily Real Estate News  |  March 7, 2011  |    Share Future of 30-Year Mortgages at Risk? Proposals to phase out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may make 30-year fixed-rate mortgages harder to find, housing experts say. An outline drafted by the Treasury Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the White House and circulated last month calls for winding down Fannie and … [Read more...]

By JUNE FLETCHER Q. What is customarily left in a home when you sell? Is it possible to get more money for expensive things I want to leave behind, like a wooden play set or a crystal chandelier? --Baltimore A. Generally, whatever is attached to the house stays; whatever isn't goes. That means that if a bookcase is nailed or screwed to the wall, it's considered part of the house; if it … [Read more...]

By SIMON CONSTABLE Simon Constable explains to Kelsey Hubbard how rising affordability of housing will be a key to a turnaround. Plus how to invest in housing without buying a home. There might finally be some good news this year about the nation's dismal housing market. Or, at least, the bad news could stop. Either way, it will be welcome relief for current homeowners as … [Read more...]

By VICTORIA MCGRANE And NICK TIMIRAOS Regulators Push 20% Down Payments on Homes Banking regulators are pushing for mortgage-lending rules that require homeowners to make minimum 20% down payments on loans classified as lower-risk, according to people familiar with the matter. The proposal is being floated as a way to rewrite the rules for mortgage lending to prevent a rerun of the … [Read more...]