Want to test a tractor? Put the pedal to the metal. Want to get a scan of your spine? Take a seat. Want to learn golf from a pro? Pick up a club and take a swing.

Most times of the year, doing all this at once would be a tiring exercise in crosscounty window-shopping. But with this weekend’s Berkshire Home Expo at the Berkshire Mall, the motto for many participants was simple: “Try before you buy.”

“This event is always a great opportunity,” said Christina Barrett of the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, who said that 50 local businesses signed up to participate in this year’s three-day expo, which concludes today. “It’s a wonderful way to showcase the work they do.”

Fulls tory is available on Berkshire Eagle

Lender Processing Services, Inc. (NYSE:LPS), a leading provider of integrated technology and services to the mortgage and real estate industries, today announced that its LPS Auction Solutions division will conduct an online auction of bank-foreclosed homes in Arizona, California and Nevada. The bid deadline is April 1, 2010.

Property information and photos of the homes for sale are available at www.LPSAuctions.com. The varied portfolio of properties includes single-family homes, condominiums, town homes and a duplex.
States and cities represented in the portfolio include Arizona (Phoenix and Tucson); California (Los Angeles, Bakersfield, San Diego, Fresno, Modesto, Redding, Sacramento, and San Francisco) and Nevada (Las Vegas).

Full story is available on PRWeb

Buying a house for the first time can be pretty confusing. Trying to find a house considered affordable can be even more overwhelming for first-time buyers in this area.

Enter the Home Buyers Round Table of Dane County. This nonprofit member group established in 1997 works to give first-time home buyers information they need to find and get an affordable home. On Saturday, the organization holds its Home Buyer Fair at the Alliant Energy Center. The free, day-long event offers home buyers education through classes and information booths.

Full story is available on Madison.com

Zachary and Elva Clevenger house-shopped for two years before deciding that now was the time to buy.

Prices and mortgage rates had come down. And the clock was ticking on the $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers.

“It forced us to get moving,” said Zachary Clevenger, who expects to close this month on a yellow, two-bedroom house in North Kansas City.

Free  home  buying  seminar

Date:     Thu, Mar 11, 2010 06:30 PM to 08:00 PM
Location:     Warwick, RI

More details on Warwick Online

J.J. MCallister, a Pacific North West  Real Estate Broker  that specializes in representing buyers in short sale transactions went on to say: ” I’ve found short sale transactions to be difficult at best, impossible at worst” .  Many transactions drag on for months only for critical contingency deadlines to expire, effectively killing the deal. In the mean time ? ” My client is put on hold by the bank’s loss mitigation specialist”.

” The public is being mislead”   What’s being touted as an immediate, viable remedy for the homeowner that must move, as well as a screaming financial opportunity for the first time as well as investment property buyer, rarely translates into a ” Closed Sale”. J.J. Went on to say .. ” The banks are willing to agree in most cases to an 18% gross adjustment of mortgage; in a market that hasn’t hit bottom”  Most buyers  are looking for a much deeper discount.

Full story is available on Examiner

Although if you ask River folk about Cabot House, they’ll probably say it’s in another state, it’s actually just a ten-minute walk down Garden Street. Cabot offers spacious rooms, a great community, and a location that’s generally peaceful—although with two other Quad Houses within a few feet, it’s never hard to find a party.

Dining Hall: While it looks a lot like a concrete bunker from the outside, the interior of Cabot dining hall is cozy, and there are always seats available. The big windows overlooking the Quad let a lot of light in, and in the winter, you can watch the snow fall outside while drinking hot chocolate, which you can get at basically any time between meals because the drinks, cereal, and dessert are all outside the servery. Even if you want something more substantial between meals, you can usually convince a member of the dining hall staff to let you in, since Cabot’s dining hall staff, including the much-beloved Roy and Slavy, are some of the nicest around.

Score: +200 for atmosphere, -50 for outside appearance

Full story is available on The Crimson

Winthrop is Harvard’s most welcoming and illustrious House with probably the best corps of alumni that Harvard can offer: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke ’75, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein ’75, and the Kennedy brothers: naval officer Joseph P. Kennedy ‘38, former U.S. President John F. Kennedy ’40 and former U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy ’54-’56.

Dining Hall: Winthrop’s subterranean dining hall is cozy and hospitable, but it can get too close for comfort. The dining hall was originally designed to serve only the building where it is housed: Gore Hall, a former freshman dormitory. (Standish Hall, another former freshman dorm, was later joined with Gore Hall to form Winthrop House.) The dining hall got so crowded this year that it recently had to impose stricter inter-House dining restrictions, requiring all Winthrop students to secure Winthrop House stickers for their IDs. At least the dining hall is a convenient place to hang out with friends and do work late at night, boasting a lasting stock of soda, coffee, tea, and carbs. The food itself during meals is middle-of-the-road: better than Adams House and Annenberg Hall, but not as high-quality as Dunster or Currier.

Full story is available on The Crimson

Many financial advisers recommend buying a home to take advantage of the associated tax benefits. If you want the investment portfolio without the hassle of home ownership, life management blog My Life ROI has some suggestions.

Buying and long-term renting each come with their own long lists of pros and cons. On the one hand, the tax benefits of home ownership are pretty sweet. On the other, renters aren’t beholden to a fickle real estate market and can move fairly quickly if the dwelling no longer suits.

Full story is available on Life Hacker

The city of Oxnard received a little more than $2 million in funds from the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) to aid in the purchasing and rehabilitation of foreclosed homes. Oxnard received notification of the award more than nine months ago, but after dealing with demanding federal and state regulations, has only started using the funds recently.

“The city was required to go through a number of pre-operational steps, such as hearings and approvals, etc.,” said Oxnard housing director William Wilkins. “As with any program where state or federal funds are awarded, you are required to complete a massive amount of paperwork and processes prior to actual implementation of the program.”
The program was established with the goal of stabilizing communities that have suffered from foreclosures and abandonment. The NSP was created under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, and with this grant, it made awards to a total of 309 grantees, including states and territories.

Full story is available on Ventura County Reporter