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Case Shiller: DC Area Home Prices Rise 3.6%

• March 29, 2011
 
• 14 Comments

by UrbanTurf Staff

Continuing the trend of outpacing the rest of the country, the DC area posted a 3.6 percent year-over-year increase in home prices between January 2010 and January 2011, according to the latest Case-Shiller report released this morning. Nationally, home prices in the 20-city index decreased 3.1 percent during that period. Economists predicted that prices would fall 3.3 percent in January, after a 2.4 percent drop in December.

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Real estate: It's time to buy again

Posted by Shawn Tully, senior editor-at-large

March 28, 2011 5:00 am

Forget stocks. Don't bet on gold. After four years of plunging home prices, the most attractive asset class in America is housing.

A home under construction in Austin. The number of new homes in the pipeline nationwide is quite low.

From his wide-rimmed cowboy hat to his roper boots, Mike Castleman fits moviedom's image of the lanky Texas rancher. On a recent March evening, Castleman is feeding cattle biscuits to his two pet longhorn steers, Big Buddy and Little Buddy, on his 460-acre Bar Ten Creek Ranch in Dripping Springs, a hamlet outside Austin in the Texas Hill Country. The spread is a medley of meandering streams, craggy cliffs, and centuries-old oaks. But even in this pastoral setting, his mind keeps returning to a subject he knows as well as any expert around: the housing market. "I'm a dirt-road economist who sees what's happening on the ground, and in 35 years I've never seen a shortage of new construction like the one I'm seeing today," declares Castleman, 70, now offering a biscuit to his miniature donkey Thumper. "The talking heads who are down on real estate will hate to hear this, but America needs to build a lot more houses. And in most markets the price of new homes is fixin' to rise, not fall."Click here for full article

Tax time is here!

Housing paperwork can pile up at tax time - here's what to keep, and for how long

By Harvey S. Jacobs

Friday, March 18, 2011; 7:40 PM

Many taxpayers are preparing for their annual battle with IRS form 1040 by gathering up all their documents, statements, checks and other assorted papers. At the end of this process, taxpayers are often left with piles of neatly sorted, tabulated and cross-indexed piles. From a homeowner's perspective just what documents do you need to keep, and for how long?

At the risk of incurring the wrath of those followers of the maxim "When in doubt, throw it out," there are certain documents you should never throw out and certain documents to hold for six, three or even as short as one year. Among them are the documents you received at your settlement.
Yes, I know that pile of papers now exceeds 100 pages. Many settlement attorneys are now providing digital copies of those documents in addition to, or in place of, paper. If offered that digital option, take it. Copies are fine; there is almost no reason the homeowner would need the original documents.
The essential documents are your HUD-1 settlement statement, the promissory note, the deed of trust (mortgage), the truth-in-lending disclosure and the deed.
The HUD-1 settlement statement identifies your cost basis (purchase price) and those settlement costs that are added to your cost basis when calculating capital gains or losses upon sale. Examples of settlement costs that get added to your cost basis include legal fees for preparation of the sales contract and deed, title search fees, recording fees, transfer taxes, surveys, owner's title insurance premiums, and any amounts that seller owed but that you, as buyer, agreed to pay.

 

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Washigton Post Interactive Map

   

Housing sale trends in Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia

Explore real estate trends from the last 10 years of property sales in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

 CLICK HERE to try interactive map

MSNBC reports Rates on 15- and 30-year mortgages tumble

5-year mortgage rate dips below 4% for first time in three months

By JANNA HERRON

NEW YORK — Fixed mortgage rates tumbled this week and the 15-year loan dipped below 4 percent for the first time in three months. Rates followed the yield on U.S. Treasury bonds, which fell on worries that the crisis in Japan could slow economic growth.

Freddie Mac said Tuesday the average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage, a popular refinance option, dropped to 3.97 percent from 4.15 percent. The last time the rate was below 4 percent was in mid-December. It reached 3.57 percent in November, the lowest level on records dating back to 1991. CLICK HERE FOR FULL Article