Seattle home values up 15 percent. What is your home worth now?
Your source for Real Estate News for Seattle, Burien, Normandy Park and Des Moines.
Which US Cities have the lowest Closing Costs?
Washington’s closing costs among lowest in U.S.
As mortgage rates slowly increase, so do loan origination fees. USA Today reports that loan-origination and other fees went up 6 percent in the last year to a national average of $2,402 on a $200,000 single-family mortgage loan to a customer with stellar credit and 20 percent down, based on data from Bankrate.com. The reason for the parallel rise in rates and fees is two-fold. First, higher rates mean less profit on the money loaned. To compensate for the loss in profit, lenders attempt to make up the difference in fees. Second, the work required in underwriting loans is greater today than it has been in the past, thereby increasing costs. Bankrate’s 2013 survey indicates that Hawaii averages the highest closing costs at $2,912 for a mortgage of $200,000 (excluding taxes, title fees, property insurance, association fees, interest, and other prepaid items). In contrast, Washington has one of the lowest in the nation at $2,208. – See more at: http://dustinkeeth.info/#sthash.LtCW2P5e.dpuf
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Monday’s housing news
Existing-home sales could reach normalcy in 2013, according to Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors (NAR) .
Mortgage debt forgiveness is on the line
Homeowners who sold their principal residences short or lost them to foreclosure have benefited from the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007. But the law expires at the end of 2012, meaning that those households who experience a short sale, foreclosure, or deed in lieu could receive a tax bill the following year. Wisebread explains how it works: Typically, the IRS considers forgiven debt up to $2 million as ordinary, taxable income. The lender issues a 1099-C to the borrower for the balance owed, minus what the home was sold for
One square meter of my own
What could you do with one square meter? Berlin-based architect and founder of Hartz IV Mobel, Van Bo Le-Mentzel , proposes the one-square-meter house. Le-Mentzel conceptualized what is likely the world’s smallest house from his personal experience of living some of his earlier years as a refuge who depended on social housing