In our previous report, your RIS Consumer Confidant introduced some stormy predictions regarding the upcoming and potentially severe hurricane season. According to Chicago-based Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI), leading weather researchers are forecasting an active hurricane season.

With that in mind, PCI spokesman Chris Hackett provides …

A: According to the Millennial Housing Commission, few lenders are willing to administer home improvement loans. Most prefer to make home equity loans or unsecured consumer loans because they are easier to manage. Home improvement loans usually require inspections and irregular draws on the loan amount as work is completed, …

Freddie Mac recently released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey(R) (PMMS®), showing fixed mortgage rates trending higher for the third consecutive week and putting pressure on refinance momentum. Regardless, mortgage rates remain low helping to keep home-buyer affordability high, which should further aid home sales and construction in …

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Census Bureau has announced the following new residential construction statistics for April 2013:

Building Permits
Privately owned housing units authorized by building permits in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,017,000. This is …

The Appraisal Institute, the nation’s largest professional association of real estate appraisers, advises homeowners to properly maintain their landscaping, which can significantly affect property values.

“If a landscaping change is positive, it can often enhance price and reduce a home’s time on the market,” said Appraisal Institute President Richard …

Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes improved three points to a 44 reading on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) for May, released recently. This gain, from a downwardly revised 41 in April, reflected improvement in all three index components – …

Freddie Mac recently announced it is making its new Streamlined Modification program immediately available to all eligible borrowers nationwide in order to expedite financial relief for potentially thousands of distressed families. Freddie Mac's Streamlined Modification program had originally been scheduled to start on July 1, 2013.

The recent announcement …

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury recently released the April edition of the Obama Administration's Housing Scorecard – a comprehensive report on the nation’s housing market. The latest data show important progress across many key indicators—as home values continue …

Fannie Mae introduced Servicing Management Default Underwriter™ (SMDU™), a tool to help mortgage servicers work faster and more consistently with homeowners to prevent foreclosure. This technology, a counterpart to Fannie Mae’s widely used Desktop Underwriter® for mortgage originations, breaks new ground by evaluating a homeowner’s financial situation and determining what …