Tips to find the perfect neighborhood

1. Make a list of all of the amenities that are close by in the neighborhood you are considering as your new residence. Keep in mind what distances and routes to each of these places are acceptable and what are not.



2. Determine what the best features of the neighborhoods are. This is especially helpful if you are deciding between a few different neighborhoods.



Are there parks nearby?

Is it scenic and visually appealing?

Are there quiet areas, streets, culs de sac?

Are the people friendly in the neighborhood?

Is the neighborhood clean? Yards, streets, parks?

Are there nice trees and foliage?

Do the lots have large or small yards?

Are there walkways and are they easily accessible?

Is it a safe neighborhood?

What are the market values of the homes in the area?

Are there many houses for sale?

How long ago was the community developed?

What is the average age of the people in the area?

Are there families with small children in the area?

What is the proximity to schools?

Are there community events or organizations?


3. Walk around in the neighborhood. The best way to determine the cleanliness and friendliness of the neighborhood is to walk around in it and meet its residents.

New home construction drops, but outlook brightens

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- New home construction fell to an 8-month low in June, but there were indications of increased activity in coming months, the government said Tuesday.

Housing starts fell 5% from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 549,000 last month, the Commerce Department said. That was the lowest rate since October 2009.

Economists were expecting housing starts to fall to 575,000. On a year-over-year basis, starts sank 5.8% from June 2009.

"The housing industry remains stuck in a rut, with both sales and construction activity moribund," said Mike Larson, real estate analyst at Weiss Research. "Builders simply lack the confidence -- or in some cases, the financing -- to ramp up construction, especially in the wake of the home buyer tax credit's expiration."

But building permits, a gauge of future construction activity, rebounded last month, posting the first gain since March. Permits rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 586,000 last month, up 2.1% from a revised 574,000 in May.

Economists expected permits to drop to 572,000. Permits were down 2.3% from June 2009.

"Cheap mortgage rates and cheap homes should help ease the housing market's pain," Larson said. "But until we see signs of life in the labor market, we're just not going to see a robust recovery -- only more malaise."

The monthly fall in housing starts followed a sharp drop in May, the first month after the end of a government tax incentive of up to $8,000 for homebuyers.

New construction of single-family homes, the key sector of the housing market, slipped 0.7% last month to an annual rate of 454,000.

The annual rate for new construction of multi-family homes -- buildings with 5 or more units -- was 88,000.

Article By By Hibah Yousuf

on CNN Money

NEWS: Homes lost to foreclosure on track for 1M in 2010

More than 1 million American households are likely to lose their homes to foreclosure this year, as lenders work their way through a huge backlog of borrowers who have fallen behind on their loans.

Nearly 528,000 homes were taken over by lenders in the first six months of the year, a rate that is on track to eclipse the more than 900,000 homes repossessed in 2009, according to data released Thursday by RealtyTrac Inc., a foreclosure listing service.

“That would be unprecedented,” said Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at RealtyTrac.

By comparison, lenders have historically taken over about 100,000 homes a year, Sharga said.

The surge in home repossessions reflects the dynamic of a foreclosure crisis that has shown signs of leveling off in recent months, but remains a crippling drag on the housing market.

The pace at which new homes falling behind in payments and entering the foreclosure process has slowed as banks continue to let delinquent borrowers stay longer in their homes rather than adding to the glut of foreclosed properties on the market. At the same time, lenders have stepped up repossessions in an effort to clear out the backlog of distressed inventory on their books.

The number of households facing foreclosure in the first half of the year climbed 8 percent versus the same period last year, but dropped 5 percent from the last six months of 2009, according to RealtyTrac, which tracks notices for defaults, scheduled home auctions and home repossessions.

In all, about 1.7 million homeowners received a foreclosure-related warning between January and June. That translates to one in 78 U.S. homes.

Foreclosure notices posted monthly declines in April, May and June, but Sharga said one shouldn’t read too much into that.

“The banks are really sort of controlling or managing the dial on how fast these things get processed so they can ultimately manage the inventory of distressed assets on the market,” he said.

On average, it takes about 15 months for a home loan to go from being 30 days late to the property being foreclosed and sold, according to Lender Processing Services Inc., which tracks mortgages.

Assuming the U.S. economy doesn’t worsen, aggravating the foreclosure crisis, Sharga projects it will take lenders through 2013 to resolve the backlog of distressed properties that have on their books right now.

And a new wave of foreclosures could be coming in the second half of the year, especially if the unemployment rate remains high, mortgage-assistance programs fail, and the economy doesn’t improve fast enough to lift home sales.

The prospect of lenders taking over more than a million homes this year is likely to push housing values down, experts say.

Foreclosed homes are typically sold at steep discounts, lowering the value of surrounding properties.

“The downward pressure from foreclosures will persist and prices will be very weak well into 2012,” said Celia Chen, senior director of Moody’s Economy.com.

She projects home prices will fall as much as 6 percent over the next 12 months from where they were in the first-quarter.

Economic woes, such as unemployment or reduced income, continue to be the main catalysts for foreclosures this year. Initially, lax lending standards were the culprit. Now, homeowners with good credit who took out conventional, fixed-rate loans are the fastest growing group of foreclosures.

There are more than 7.3 million home loans in some stage of delinquency, according to Lender Processing Services.

Lenders are offering to help some homeowners modify their loans. But many borrowers can’t qualify or they are falling back into default. The Obama administration’s $75 billion foreclosure prevention effort has made only a small dent in the problem.

More than a third of the 1.2 million borrowers who have enrolled in the mortgage modification program have dropped out. That compares with about 27 percent who have received permanent loan modifications and are making payments on time.

Among states, Nevada posted the highest foreclosure rate in the first half of the year. One in every 17 households there received a foreclosure notice. However, foreclosures there are down 6 percent from a year earlier.

Arizona, Florida, California and Utah were next among states with the highest foreclosure rates. Rounding out the top 10 were Georgia, Michigan, Idaho, Illinois and Colorado.

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