Articles filed under Harney, Ken

• FHA’s new mortgage fees will pack a bite Feb 8, 2013 12:00 AM
  If you want to buy a house with minimal cash by using an FHA-insured mortgage, here's some sobering news: Thanks to an ongoing series of fee increases and underwriting tweaks — the most recent of which were announced Jan. 31 — FHA is getting steadily more expensive, and may not work for you.
  

   

• The nation’s housing: Caught in a reverse nightmare Feb 1, 2013 12:00 AM
  The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has a birthday gift for 91-year-old widow Jeanette Ogle that should cause any senior to think twice before signing up for a government-insured reverse mortgage.
  

   

• IRS to simplify deduction process for home officesJan 25, 2013 12:00 AM
  If you're one of the millions of homeowners and renters who work or run a business from the place you live, here's some good news on taxes: The Internal Revenue Service wants to make it easier for you to file for deductions on the business-related use of your home.
  

   

• Real estate sales appear to be in early bloom Jan 18, 2013 12:00 AM
  Could we be looking at an early spring this year — not in meteorological terms but real estate? Could the chilly December to February months, which traditionally see fewer buyers out shopping for houses compared with the warmer months that follow, be more active than usual?
  

   

• ‘Cliff’ deal is a bonus for homeownership, at least for now Jan 11, 2013 12:00 AM
  WASHINGTON — Although it wasn't a total win for homeowners and sellers, the patchwork legislation that emerged from the "fiscal cliff" fracas on Capitol Hill came pretty close. In fact, it even reached back and resuscitated two key tax benefits for housing that had expired more than a year ago.
  

   

• Home equity values roar back in past year Jan 4, 2013 12:00 AM
  With all the depressing reports about the "fiscal cliff" and potential rollbacks in tax benefits for homeowners, you might have missed some of the positive trends under way for real estate. After hitting a low of $6.45 trillion in the final three months of 2011, Americans' combined home equity jumped nearly $1.3 trillion during the next nine months to $7.71 trillion — a 20 percent gain.
  

   

• Government to tighten up on reverse mortgages Dec 28, 2012 12:00 AM
  You've probably seen the reverse mortgage pitchmen at work on your TV screen — former Sen. Fred Thompson and actors Robert Wagner and Henry "Fonzie" Winkler prominent among them — urging seniors to pull cash out of their homes through a loan program guaranteed by the federal government.
  

   

• The nation’s housing: On deduction, the polls are mixed Dec 21, 2012 12:00 AM
  In the congressional and White House negotiations on tax reform — including the mortgage interest and property tax deductions — who has the crucial political advantage of counting documented public opinion on their side?
  

   

• ‘Flippers’ will still be in business with FHA extension Dec 14, 2012 12:00 AM
  Rehabbers and real estate investors rejoice: You'll still be able to sell houses to first-time buyers who qualify for low down-payment, FHA-insured mortgages next year, even if you've owned the fixed-up property for less than 90 days.
  

   

• The nation’s housing: An underwater owner’s nightmare Dec 7, 2012 12:00 AM
  Patrick Boris is inching closer to his own "fiscal cliff," 2,100 miles away from the political brinkmanship under way on Capitol Hill. If Congress and the White House allow the country to go over the cliff later this month, Boris figures he could owe federal income taxes on more than $100,000 in forgiven mortgage debt following the short sale of his two-bedroom townhouse next year — a personal financial "disaster," in his words.
  

   

• FHA looks to tweak some mortgage requirements Nov 23, 2012 12:00 AM
  You may have seen headlines last week about the Federal Housing Administration needing a taxpayer "bailout" by the Treasury and wondered: Uh oh. Is the FHA heading down the fiscal drain like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which have required billions in federal assistance just to stay in business?
  

   

• ‘Fiscal cliff’ may hit home — and homeowners Nov 16, 2012 12:00 AM
  With the House and Senate back on Capitol Hill for the lame-duck session, preliminary negotiations aimed at keeping the country from careening off the "fiscal cliff" began in earnest this past week. Buried away in the discussions are bread-and-butter questions that could affect millions of homeowners and buyers.
  

   

• Short-sale program offers help, and snares, for walking wounded Nov 9, 2012 12:00 AM
  Though there are still some snares and drawbacks for participants, one of the federal government's most important financial relief efforts for underwater homeowners started operation on Nov. 1. It's a new short-sale program that targets the walking wounded among borrowers emerging from the housing downturn.
  

   

• Modest home-sale profits could be taxed after election Nov 1, 2012 12:00 AM
  Could the popular $250,000-$500,000 tax-free exclusion of capital gains on sales of homes be a target in any broad-scale, post-election effort to reduce the federal debt and deficit? Absolutely.
  

   

• What’s at stake with mortgage deductions Oct 26, 2012 12:00 AM
  Limiting the homeowner mortgage interest deduction came up in two of the presidential debates, but specifics about who would be affected and how much they might lose in tax benefits were minimal. To put some rough numbers on the issue, here’s a quick primer on the mortgage interest deduction and related housing write-offs.
  

   

• Suburban homes being fraudulently rented Oct 19, 2012 12:00 AM
  No one wants to take the blame for the housing bust in this political season, but scammers and rip-off artists in the hundreds are working overtime to siphon dollars out of the wreckage of the crash and its still-vulnerable victims.
  

   

• Home equity lending has returned, but rates vary widely Oct 12, 2012 12:00 AM
  If you have a pressing need to raise some cash, here’s some good news: Rising home values are encouraging lenders to revive a product that imploded during the housing bust years — second mortgages and equity lines of credit.
  

   

• Lame-duck decisions to impact thousands of homeowners Oct 5, 2012 12:00 AM
  Though the news spotlight has been on the presidential debates and the Nov. 6 elections, a more pressing personal issue for large numbers of homeowners across the country involves the lame-duck congressional session scheduled to begin Nov. 13.
  

   

• On mortgages, strict is still the rule Sep 27, 2012 12:00 AM
  WASHINGTON — With 30-year mortgage rates hitting new lows and recent borrowers' payment performance the best by far in decades, you'd think that banks and other lenders might be loosening up on their hyper-strict underwriting standards.
  

   

• FHA relaxes condo rules Sep 21, 2012 12:00 AM
  Here's some encouraging news for condominium unit owners, sellers and buyers: The biggest source of funding for low down payment condo mortgages, the Federal Housing Administration, has revamped controversial rules that caused thousands of buildings across the country to lose their eligibility for FHA financing.