Obama Encourages Refinancing

President Obama encouraged American Households to avail of refinancing opportunities through the administration’s "Making Home Affordable" initiative.The program is designed to allow homeowners that are underwater to refinance loans owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac and take advantage of lower rates brought about by the Obama administration via the actions of the Treasury Department under the guidance of Secretary Geithner. Homeowners must be current on their mortgage and can refinance even if thier loan-to-value ratio is at 105% due to declining property values.

"We are at a time where people can really take advantage of this, and what we want to do is to send a message that if you are having problems with your mortgage – and even if you're not, and you just want to save some money – you can go to makinghomeaffordable.gov." Bank of America announced that it has begun refinancing such loans.

In addition to the stability provided by the Government program, there are signs that buyers are entering the spring market to take advantage of lower interest rates. Single-family permits were also up 11 percent in February with new and existing home sales posting solid gains. Inventory levels across the nation are slowly being reduced and key areas that showed the first signs of the housing slowdown are bouncing back.

Park Ridge Inventory & Median Price

60613 Inventory & Median Prices

The above chart outlines the downward to flat median price trend for the 60606 zip code in Chicago. I've also added inventory levels for the same zip code which shows a decreasing trend which I'd traditionally expect to see increase in-line with traditional spring markets. Request your custom detailed report.