High end homes in U.S. Prime for British Buyers

2 sub-prime lenders get helping hands

Two struggling mortgage lenders were thrown financial lifelines Friday, a glimmer of hope for the battered industry. But analysts said the shrinking of the so-called sub-prime loan business was likely to continue. “This hasn’t changed the operating fundamentals of the industry,” said Bose George, an analyst at investment firm Keefe Bruyette &[...]

Home builders cut prices, frills to draw buyers

Buyers priced out of the new-home market by the big price increases of the housing boom may get another shot at something they can afford. Many builders are cutting costs and prices as they struggle to attract more buyers and regain their footing in a market flooded with an excess of[...]

Rental homes expanding in PTC

Chief recommends working with landlords of problem houses It’s no big secret that many of Peachtree City’s older neighborhoods have homes that are converting into rental properties. Some are owned by residents who bought homes elsewhere in the city but wanted the rental income. Others are owned by former residents who have[...]

Home loan delinquency rates hit 4-year high

Delinquency rates on home loans made by federally chartered banks rose to a seasonally adjusted 1.91 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006, a level not seen since 2003, but still well below delinquency rates of the 1990s. The Federal Reserve reported Tuesday that the percentage of loans on which payments[...]

Study expects 1.1 million foreclosures Those with adjustable mortgages are most likely losers, even with conventional loans

Recent home buyers, many seduced by too-low-to-last teaser loan rates, are finding that all good things must end. For more than a million, they could end in foreclosure, according to a study released Monday. Americans borrowed $2.2 trillion from 2004 through 2006 in the form of adjustable loans, which start with[...]