Owners Upbeat on Home Values
Remodeling Cost vs. Value: Less Is More: Home sales may be off to 
a sluggish start this year, but home owners are still upbeat when it comes to the value of their homes. They’re willing to spend to preserve that value too. Home-improving
giants Lowe’s Co. and Home Depot Inc. reported “blowout fourth quarter
profits,” which beat expectations with sales advancing more than 7
percent at both retailers, Bloomberg News reports. What’s more, January is showing strong gains too, which could prove a boon heading into the spring selling season, read more.
Red-Carpet Treatment for Jumbo Borrowers
Some highlights from 2014: For a five-week stretch between August and September, 
jumbo
rates were lower than those for comparable conforming mortgages. Many
banks and credit unions began offering more jumbo options, some with
down payments less than 20% and no private #mortgage insurance
requirements. Jumbo mortgages have loan amounts higher than the limits for government-backed loans. Competitive housing markets in some areas fueled a rise in
first-time #homebuyers who took out jumbo mortgages.“The jumbo share of the market was much more purchase-driven in 2014,” read more.
New Construction, Mortgage Rates Are Up
Buyers always prefer new construction, even though new construction prices are rising.
Therefore, mortgage rates are going up, according to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, which
reported that new-home sales and price appreciation had driven the
average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage to 3.8% this week, up from 3.76%
last week. That’s actually down from this time last year, when it
averaged 4.37%. New-home
sales were largely flat in January but are up 5.3% from last year, read more.
You Can’t Avoid Closing Costs—But You Can Reduce Them:
Closing Costs Increased 6% Last Year, It takes a long time to save for a down payment on a house. The rest of us sacrifice
our gourmet coffee for the lukewarm in-office drip in the hope that
setting aside a few dollars a day will magically compound into enough to
buy our piece of the American Dream. And just when we think we have the necessary funds to make even the minimum 3% down payment, we’re slapped with another round of expenses: closing costs. In every real estate transaction, there are closing costs. Closing costs typically amount to 3% to 6% of the purchase price. Why the broad range?
Housing Markets Are Stabilizing
Nearly 80% of Thirty-eight of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, are 
now
showing an improving three-month trend in housing activity, according
to latest Multi-Indicator Market Index. What’s more, 40 of
the 50 major metros tracks are also showing a three-month
improving trend. Overall, "housing markets are getting back on track,”
says Len Kiefer, deputy chief economist. “The national
MiMi improved for the fourth consecutive month. MiMi tracks are improving or in their
stable range of activity. See most improving states …
High Land Rents Strains in U.S. Farmers
The farming sector has enjoyed an agricultural boom for the past decade, but that is showing signs of coming to an end. A plunge in grain prices across the 
Midwest is pitting landowners and their farmer tenants against one another, Reuters reports. Landowners
are trying to sustain rental incomes against farmer tenants, despite a
drop in revenues, and the farmers are now worried about being able to
make those rental payments. Some farmers are choosing to breach lease
contracts or even reduce how much land they can afford to sow this
spring. If the farm economy continues to show weakness, a growing number, read more.
Financing Condos Remains a Big Hurdle For Home Buyers
Strong Townhouses and Condos Market: Townhouse construction was back on 
the rise in 2014, as home buyers show an increasing appetite for this type of housing once again. Single-family attached starts totaled 19,000 in the fourth quarter of 2014
– 12 percent higher than a year prior, according to Census data. For
all of 2014, townhouse construction starts totaled 72,000, up from
68,000 starts in 2013. Home Sales Off to a Bumpy Start in 2015: Existing-home sales dropped in January to the lowest rate in nine months, latest housing report, read more.
