Not all U.S. housing markets went south last year. First American CoreLogic Inc., in its latest study, identified the best-performing markets in the U.S. for 2008.
In many cases, the markets that made the list are areas that never enjoyed significant increases in value over the last decade — but neither did they lose value over […]

Credit Scoring
How to increase a personal credit score
Increasing one’s personal credit score is a long-term process. Following are some of the most important steps to a better credit score:

Pay bills on time. Late payments and collections can have a serious impact on the FICO score.
Do not apply for credit frequently. Having a large number of […]

A sustained lack of credit and the economic slump will depress the commercial real estate market this year, according to a forward-looking index and forecast for the commercial real estate sectors published by the National Association of Realtors®.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said all components of the index declined. “The credit crunch has especially hammered […]

Preventing foreclosures is critical for the nation’s economic recovery, and the National Association of Realtors® commends the Obama administration’s plan to help millions of homeowners who are at risk of losing their homes.
“When people lose homes to foreclosure, our communities, the housing market and our economy all suffer,” said NAR President Charles McMillan, a broker […]

Home Buyer Tax Credit - The bill provides for an $8,000 tax credit that would be available to first-time home buyers for the purchase of a principal residence on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009.  This credit does not require repayment. Most of the mechanics of the credit will be the same […]