Jacqueline MoodyJammin’ Jests, Jukin’ Jives, & Jolly Roger Justice

The housing market is just about as depressed as a dog with a tennis ball and no one to throw it for him.  With the media reporting so much bad news, I want to talk about some of the good news. 

While there are different interpretations, it looks like foreclosure rates are declining.  Many people were hit with a double-whammy. They may have gotten a 100% financed 5 year ARM or interest-only loan, only to find out that their home value declined and they were upside-down on their mortgage.  It really is criminal that the banks gave out these kinds of loans. Anyone in this situation that can no longer make the payments is finding themselves in the unfortunate situation of not being able to sell their house for enough money to cover the debt they took on buying it.  

So what can you do?  If you have been a saver and have good credit, there’s a lot of good deals for you out there now.  It’s like being a kid in a candy store.  You can get good value on homes.  I found a site called Zillow that has a lot of good information to help you find good deals.  http://www.zillow.com When I looked at my own neighborhood, I saw that the values homes were selling for last year have been cut drastically; however, they are still selling for a decent price.  Go take a look there and see what deals you can find for yourself. 

After that, go to Bank Rate and see what price you can get a mortgage for.  While rates have creeped back up a bit, they are still very low.  It has been a long time since we had bank rates this low combined with the types of housing deals that are out there.

Good luck to you!