After five months of seeking a mortgage loan modification, Jeffery Feig’s approval package arrived in March. His payment was cut in half.

But two months later, Bank of America called with bad news: The lender changed its mind and wanted him to start paying the larger amount again.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Feig said. “I thought, ‘How is this possible?’ I had gone through so much, jumped through all their hoops.”

Full story is available on Tampa Bay Online

A federal program to stimulate home sales took off like gangbusters late this past year, causing a rush to get local sales contracts closed.

While the program has been extended and expanded and could mean up to an additional $8,000 in tax credits for East Texans , it has not picked up the steam the program had in the fall, local home sales representatives said.

Full story is available on News-Journal.com

For more than a year, the government pulled out all the stops to revive homebuying by driving down mortgage rates.

Now, whether the housing market is ready or not, the government will be pulling out over the next two months.

The winding down of federal support for mortgage rates is a test of whether the Obama administration and the Federal Reserve have succeeded in jump-starting the housing market and ensuring it can hold its own.

Full story is availalbe on statesman.com

Out with the housing market crash, in with the apartment resurgence.

Despite an economy still in the earliest stages of recovery, some apartment construction projects are securing hard-to-get loans and moving forward as developers count on apartment living coming back into favor. After a decade that emphasized homeownership and for many ended in foreclosure, many housing experts predict that renting will rebound.

Full story is available on Baltimore Sun

If you have a good job and good credit, the next few months might be a sweet time to go house hunting. Then again, maybe not.

Fence-sitters take the risk that Congress may let a rich tax credit expire, and that interest rates may rise. So, let’s walk through some factors for buyers and sellers to consider as they consider jumping in.

Full story is available on stltoday.com

There is no time like the present. If you are interested in buying a new home this year, then now is the time to start looking. The Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 was signed into law on Nov. 6, 2009. This law extends the previous first-time homebuyer tax credit, which was set to expire Nov. 30, until May 1, 2010. The federal government also expanded the home-buyer credit so that more people are eligible, not just first-time homebuyers. So, if you have been thinking about upgrading homes, now is the time.

Homeownership affordable

The first-time homebuyer credit provides a credit for up to 10 percent of the purchase price of your new home, with a maximum of $8,000 ($4,000 for couples married filing separately). The credit helps make homeownership more affordable. It also provides a nice lump sum of money that can be used to help furnish your new home. This is a credit that does not have to be paid back as long as you live in your new home for at least 36 months.

Full story is available on recordsonline.com

At a time when dozens of Northwest banks are trying to dig themselves out of the mess left by the collapse of the housing bubble, City Bank of Lynnwood is attempting to build itself out. Literally.

AutumnWood at BrookTree in Tacoma, a gated development for “active adults age 55 or better,” had just seven or eight houses on its 117 lots when City Bank repossessed it last year. Rather than trying to sell the mostly empty project as is, City Bank hired builders and is gradually filling it in. Eight new homes are now under construction.

Full story is available on Seattle Times

The “great American dream” of home ownership could very well be within reach for more MetroWest residents in 2010 thanks to a recent extension in the First-Time Home Buyer Credit.

Even those considering upgrading their home may qualify for a free gift from Uncle Sam. But you must act now as the new principal residence must be purchased by April 30, 2010. If you’ve entered into a contract on a home by April 30, you have until June 30, 2010, to close.

Full story is availabl e on Metro West Daily News

United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development Home Loans are now available to low income applicants through the Section 502 Home Loan Program in Onslow County outside of the municipal limits of Jacksonville.

USDA Rural Development provides owner occupied, single family housing loans to eligible low and very low income applications. Applicants may obtain 100 percent financing to purchase an existing dwelling, purchase a site to construct a dwelling, or purchase newly constructed dwellings located in rural areas.

Full story is available on Jacksonville Daily News

In December, sales of new homes did not improve. According to the Census Department, only 342,000 homes, seasonally adjusted, were sold last month. The drop in new home sales is not good news. While the home sales rate only fell by 7.6% in December, when compared to the new home sales number for November, signs of a recovering new sales housing market do not appear to be imminent.

By now, some economist may be frustrated with this sector of the housing market? It is possible that December’s new home sales decline is a result of individuals rushing to buy new homes in previous months, prior to the original due date for the first time homebuyers tax credit? In the upcoming months, economists will be able to evaluate the validity of the previous question.

Full story is available on Examiner.com