INFO THAT HITS US WHERE WE LIVE...

INFO THAT HITS US WHERE WE LIVE... Last week saw a variety of useful news about the housing market. The Mortgage Bankers Association's Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending June 30 reported its seasonally adjusted Purchase Index was up 3% from the week before. Then, an online real estate database reported that, despite rising prices, May had the highest level of homebuyer demand since they began tracking it more than four years ago. The CoreLogic Home Price Index was up 1.2% in May and up 6.6% from a year ago. But they say price gains will slow, to just 0.9% in June and 5.3% in the coming year.

Encouraging news came with CNBC's report that the three major credit rating agencies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) "will drop tax liens and civil judgments from some consumers' profiles if the information isn't complete," so those FICO scores "could go up by as much as 20 points." The CNBC article also said that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who guarantee conventional mortgages, are raising their debt-to-income ratio limit from 45% to 50% of pretax income. The final decision on a mortgage is with the originating lender's underwriters, but CNBC said these changes "could help millions more borrowers quality for a home loan."