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The $168 billion economic stimulus plan signed Wednesday includes a temporary increase to conforming loan limits in some parts of the country.

Currently, many homeowners whose loans exceed $417,000 are paying higher interest rates because their loans are not securitized the way that smaller loans are.

The loan limit increase is intended to make housing more affordable [...]

President Bush is expected to sign the economic stimulus package today.

The package includes tax rebates and incentives for business and its purpose is to jumpstart a stalling U.S. economy.

If the package is deemed “effective” by Wall Street investors, we should expect the stock market to rally on the prospects of business growth. [...]

On the backs of surging purchase activity across the country and low mortgage rates, home loan applications have risen to a near four-year high.

For people with mortgage applications in process, some patience may be required.

In 2006 and 2007, mortgage volume slowed nationwide. Narrowing mortgage guidelines restricted the number of eligible borrowers and [...]

Mortgage markets are conflicted about the U.S. economy and the confusion is impacting home buyers.

If you’ve recently tried to lock a mortgage rate, you’ve probably experienced it personally.

On one hand, reports of plunging sales suggest that the economy is slowing more quickly than expected.

This is recessionary and tends to be good for [...]

A 2004 study showed that 4 out of 5 credit reports contained at least one error.

The errors were of various types with different implications. A quarter of the errors, for example, were of the “serious” nature; errors that could lead to a credit denial because of a false-reporting delinquency or collection. [...]

In an election year, voting for a presidential candidate can be a lot like buying a home.

Both require a fair amount of analysis but — in the end — the decision is still highly emotional.

Using Bankrate.com’s side-by-side candidate comparisons, some of that emotion could be replaced by fact.

In a gridded format, [...]

Many homeowners are entitled to two major tax deductions — one for annual interest paid on a home loan, and another for real estate tax bills paid to government.

Calculating your approximate tax credit is basic:

Add mortgage interest paid and real estate taxes paid together
Find your marginal tax rate
Multiple your tax bracket by the sum of [...]

The end of the Super Bowl kicks off the Real Estate Spring Buying Season.

As home sellers should prepare for the season’s upcoming homebuyers, they could do worse than to watch this four-minute home staging video from Barbara Corcoran.

Barbara offer simple steps that “won’t cost you a lot of money but [...]

We entered the New Year uncertain of the country’s economic future. With January over, it’s a little more clear.

Last week’s data and events helped firm expectations.

In the near-term, we can expect weakness:

The economy is shedding jobs
Consumer sentiment is low
Home sales continue to slump nationally

In the intermediate-term, however, the picture gets fuzzy. [...]

When buying a home, you pay for more than just physical property at the closing table. You also pay a series of charges. Commonly, homebuyers lump all of these charges under the heading of “closing costs”.

That’s a miscategorization.

Many changes on a HUD-1 Settlement Statement are specifically not closing costs. They [...]