Reliant Mortgage & Janice Wescott Announce Partnership with Brendan Fontaine & Team to serve Lewiston/Auburn Area
Updated Oct. 24, 2014
AUBURN, ME, April. 8, 2011 - Reliant Mortgage Company, LLC. is proud to announce the alliance of Janice Wescott and Brendan Fontaine’s team (formerly New England Home Loans) to establish a very exciting, powerful mortgage banking team for the benefit of the residents and Real Estate community of...

Census Bureau Compiles New Home Stats For 2010
Updated Oct. 9, 2013
Census Bureau Compiles New Home Stats For 2010The U.S. Census Bureau's Annual Characteristics of New Housing compiles housing data ranging from median and average square footage to construction method, number of bathrooms, and type of heating system. Last year's statistics show new...

Economists Express Improved Expectations For Housing
Updated Oct. 9, 2013
Economists Express Improved Expectations For Housing<div class="entry">. Out of 28 economists polled by Reuters, half said that home prices had already hit bottom or would by the end of this year. The polled economists also projected a smaller decline in prices this year than in earlier polls and,...

Mortgage Rates Fall To New All Time Low
Updated Oct. 9, 2013
Mortgage Rates Fall To New All Time LowAccording to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Applications Survey, the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to 4.17 percent last week from 4.23 percent the week before. The 30-year rate is the lowest in the history of the...

Encouraging Signs For Housing Despite Slow Economic Growth
Updated Oct. 9, 2013
Encouraging Signs For Housing Despite Slow Economic GrowthThe Mortgage Bankers Association's chief economist Jay Brinkmann doesn't foresee much improvement in the overall economy in coming months, though he sees rising home sales and further stabilization in the housing market's...

Builder Confidence Slips Slightly In September
Updated Oct. 9, 2013
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index measures builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes on a scale where any number below 50 indicates more builders view the market as poor than good. In September, the index dropped one point to 14. The index has...

Building Permits On The Rise In August
Updated Oct. 9, 2013
Building Permits On The Rise In AugustPermits to build privately-owned housing units in August rose 3.2 percent above July's estimates and 7.8 percent above last year, according to new residential construction statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development....

Mortgage Application Activity Increases
Updated Oct. 9, 2013
Mortgage Application Activity IncreasesAccording to The Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Applications Survey, the seasonally adjusted Market Composite Index, which measures total mortgage loan application volume, increase 0.6 percent last week from the previous week. On an unadjusted...

Existing Home Sales Hit Five Month High
Updated Oct. 9, 2013
Sales of previously owned homes hit a five-month high in August, according to data from The National Association of Realtors. Existing-home sales spiked 7.7 percent to an annual rate of 5.03 million units, exceeding economists' expectations. Total sales, including single-family, townhomes,...

New Home Sales Up 6.1 Percent Over August 2010
Updated Oct. 9, 2013
New Home Sales Up 6.1 Percent Over August 2010Estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development show sales of new single-family houses were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 295,000, 2.3 percent below July's rate but 6.1 percent above August of last year. The...

Home Prices Rise For Fourth Consecutive Month
Updated Oct. 9, 2013
Home Prices Rise For Fourth Consecutive Month<div class="entry"><div style="padding-top:5px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:5px;padding-left:0px;;"><iframestyle="height:25px !important; border:0px solid gray !important; overflow:hidden !important; width:550px...

Delinquency Rates Improve Over Last Year
Updated Oct. 9, 2013
According to a report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the number of borrowers making their mortgage payments on time has improved from last year. Data from the second quarter of this year shows 88.0 percent of U.S. mortgages were current, up from 87.3 percent a year ago but down from 88.6 percent...

HUD Secretary Announces Disaster Assistance for Maine Storm Victims
Updated Oct. 9, 2013
WASHINGTON (Source: HUD) - U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance to the State Of Maine and provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes following Tropical Storm Irene.. Yesterday, President Obama...

Mortgage Rates At Lowest Level Since The 1940s
Updated Oct. 9, 2013
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Applications Survey, the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances fell to 4.18 percent last week from 4.24 percent the week before. The 30-year rate for jumbo loan balances dropped to 4.49...

Builder Confidence Hits Highest Level Since May 2010
Updated Oct. 9, 2013
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index rose four points to 18 in October, the largest one-month increase since April of 2010. The index measures builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes on a scale where any number below 50 indicates more...

Foreclosures, Default Notices Fall From Last Year
Updated Oct. 9, 2013
RealtyTrac's U.S. Foreclosure Market Report For November shows foreclosure filings, which include default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions, were down 3.0 percent from October and 14 percent from November 2010. The report found one in every 579 housing units received a foreclosure...

Economic Growth, Housing Activity To Rise In 2012
Updated Oct. 9, 2013
According to Freddie Mac's December 2011 U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook, 2012 should bring stronger economic growth, a better job market, and an increase in housing activity. Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist, says the economy grew at a faster pace in the waning months of 2011...

New Home Sales Slow After Three Months Of Gains
Updated Oct. 9, 2013
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau's New Residential Sales report for December shows new home sales slowed after three consecutive months of gains. According to the report, sales of new single-family houses were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 307,000...

Consumer Sentiment Rises Again, Hits 11-Month High
Updated Oct. 9, 2013
According to the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index, Americans' confidence in the economy rose again in January. The overall reading for the month rose to 75.0 from 69.9 in December. It was the highest reading since February 2011 and a better-than-expected improvement....

Index Finds Prices Down Less Than One Percent
Updated Oct. 9, 2013
The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the most closely followed measure of national home values, registered a decline of 0.7 percent for their 20-city composite index through November, a bigger drop than the 0.5 percent forecast by economists. David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at...