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Pending home sales increased in March and are well above a year ago, another signal the housing market is recovering, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, rose 4.1 percent to 101.4 in March from an upwardly revised 97.4 in February and is 12.8 percent above March 2011 when it was 89.9. The data reflects contracts but not closings.

The index is now at the highest level since April 2010 when it reached 111.3.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said 2012 is expected to be a year of recovery for housing. “First quarter sales closings were the highest first quarter sales in five years. The latest contract signing activity suggests the second quarter will be equally good,” he says.

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Article by: JIM BUCHTA , Star Tribune

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac want lenders to act within 30 days of getting a short sale offer.

The short sale process could get a lot quicker starting this summer under new rules that will require lenders to respond to offers within a month.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the nation’s two largest mortgage backers, will implement the guidelines on June 15. The changes require mortgage servicers to make a decision within 30 days of receiving a short sale offer. They also must consider requests for pre-approved short sales within that same timeframe.

If the lender needs more than 30 days, it must give borrowers weekly status updates and a decision within 60 days of the initial application. This extension gives lenders more time to determine the value of the property or to get the approval of a mortgage insurer.

The moves are aimed at streamlining the short sale process, which often takes months to complete. Faster response times could help thousands of local homeowners. During March, there were 4,084 short sale listings in the Twin Cities area.

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By Tara Nelson

One of the first things many homebuyers look for are the unmistakable signs of something called ‘pride of ownership.’ As a whole, it’s a relatively intangible concept: there are just homes that have it – reeking of their owners’ love and meticulous care for the property — and homes that, well, don’t.

I’ve watched firsthand as buyers who like a cute home that is in generally good shape literally talk themselves into looking at a more homes once they start to notice one rickety gate, which snowballed into a nitpicky laundry list of little, tiny fixes the seller had left undone. The challenge is that between deciding whether and when to sell, staging, interviewing agents and determining a list price, it can be tempting for homeowners to fall into the trap of deferring maintenance on a home they might sell soon.

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By Tara Nelson

My doctor recently confided in me that physicians have a golden rule when it comes to gettingan accurate estimate of how much alcohol their patients drink on a daily basis. They take whatever number of drinks you enter on the patient information form, then multiply it by a factor of three!

While comedic (if slightly troubling), this rule is not that dissimilar from how home buyers approach the art and science of translating home sale listing-speak into what they think is a more accurate understanding of the property’s characteristics and condition.

Just as property staging creates a somewhat contrived scenario buyers can imagine their own families taking part in, property listing descriptions have evolved into a sort of verbal staging exercise where sellers and agents may create an artificial‘scenario’ that belies the true state of the property. Fortunately for savvy sellers, there’s another parallel between physical and verbal home staging: it’s all about the edit.

Removing well-intentioned but counterproductive verbal clutter from your listing is simple, but not easy. It starts with understanding what buyers take away from your words vs. what you truly meant or intended to convey. Here, to start building that understanding, are four common areas of big-time disconnects between what sellers say and what buyers hear.

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Closing on a house can be joyful or horrific. Follow this advice for a smooth settlement.

By Polyana da Costa of Bankrate.com

You finally found the house of your dreams. You signed a contract and got approved for a mortgage. You’ve even hired the movers. Now comes the most important part: the closing.

In an ideal world, closing should be a mere formality, where homebuyer and seller sign on the dotted lines, exchange checks for the keys and shake hands. But this isn’t an ideal world, which means that if you and the professionals you hired don’t prepare, your closing could be a disaster.

Here are six tips for ensuring your closing goes smoothly.

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Closing on a house can be joyful or horrific. Follow this advice for a smooth settlement.

By Polyana da Costa of Bankrate.com

You finally found the house of your dreams. You signed a contract and got approved for a mortgage. You’ve even hired the movers. Now comes the most important part: the closing.

In an ideal world, closing should be a mere formality, where homebuyer and seller sign on the dotted lines, exchange checks for the keys and shake hands. But this isn’t an ideal world, which means that if you and the professionals you hired don’t prepare, your closing could be a disaster.

Here are six tips for ensuring your closing goes smoothly.

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The 2012 Nationwide Open House Weekend is this weekend – April 28th and 29th.

With record breaking housing affordability conditions, this event will be better than ever.

Contact your local real estate office for more information on times & locations.

The 2012 Nationwide Open House Weekend is this weekend – April 28th and 29th.

With record breaking housing affordability conditions, this event will be better than ever.

Contact your local real estate office for more information on times & locations.

February pending sales up 9.2% from year ago

By Inman News

The National Association of Realtors is predicting existing-home sales will jump 7 to 10 percent in 2012 to the highest level in five years, based on an “uneven but higher sales pattern” so far this year.

Pending home sales fell a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent from January to February, which was up 9.2 percent from the same time a year ago, NAR said today in releasing its latest Pending Home Sales Index.

Last week, NAR reported a similar trend for existing-home sales, which were down 0.9 percent from January to February, but up 8.8 percent from a year ago.

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Over the past several years, millions of homeowners have had billions of dollars in mortgage debt forgiven, either through foreclosure, refinancing or short sales. It’s important for real estate professionals and homeowners to understand that mortgage debt forgiveness has significant tax consequences.

Here are 10 things the Internal Revenue Service says you should know about mortgage debt forgiveness:

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