Rumorville... Says "first-time home buyers are often less patient than move-up buyers, and don't want to wait for a short sale to go through."

According to the monthly Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey, the share of short sales purchased by first-time buyers dropped to 40% in August 2011 after peaking at 54% of all short sales in November 2009.

Q. I went to a lender to refinance my mortgage and was turned down. They said my credit score was about 30 points too low. What can I do to fix my credit score so I can refinance while rates are low?

A. There are many reasons why your credit score might be lower than it should be.

A big reason is delinquent accounts. If you have any late payments, collection accounts, tax liens, or judgments, it can reduce your credit score by hundreds of points.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed loan fell to 3.91 percent in the week ended today, the lowest in data dating to 1971, from 3.94 percent, Freddie Mac said in a statement. The average 15-year rate matched last week's previous all-time low of 3.21 percent, according to the McLean, Virginia-based mortgage-finance company.

El Departamento de Comercio dijo el martes que las ventas de viviendas a estrenar bajaron a 298.000 unidades el mes pasado desde una cifra revisada a 300.000 en junio.

Los analistas consultados por Reuters esperaban que se vendieran 310.000 viviendas nuevas en julio, por debajo de la cifra original de 312.000 unidades estimada para junio.

En 12 meses a julio, las ventas aumentaron un 6,8 por ciento.

Si has perdido recientemente tu trabajo y en lo único que puedes pensar es: ¿Qué haré con tantas deudas?, aquí te compartimos algunos consejos que brinda el Gobierno de EU sobre cómo afrontar a esos duros acreedores para hacer más liviano el pago de tus deudas.

El dato revelado hoy por Northern Rock, que dio a conocer sus resultados financieros correspondientes al ejercicio del pasado año, mostró una llamativa disminución con relación a las pérdidas anuales que registró la entidad en 2008, y que entonces alcanzó los 1.360 millones de libras (1.491 millones de euros).

Attractive rates coupled with high affordability have been positives for the U.S. housing market, which has been showing signs of stabilization. Sales have surged in recent months as buyers scrambled to take advantage of the government's first-time home buyer tax credit.

Mortgage interest rates slipped further still this week, down to 5.01 percent, from 5.07 percent a week ago for fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs) on conforming 30-year loans, according to December's first weekly Interest Rate Review by Calabasas, CA-based Informa Research Services , a market research, analyses, and intelligence gathering service for the financial industry since 1983.

The U.S. Treasury Department is looking into ways to help people who are temporarily unemployed stay in their homes, including adjustments in mortgage principal, an official said Thursday.