1 in 20 to buy a home next year- Will you be one?

Poll – 1 in 20 will buy a home next year

• According to a survey conducted for Move Inc., one in twenty Americans say they plan to buy a home within the next year, and they’re most likely to be 34 years old or younger and living in the South or West. 
• A quarter of potential buyers said the No. 1 reason they would buy now is because prices have bottomed out.
• That reason topped bargain-priced foreclosures, worries about rising interest rates and a wide selection of homes. 
• The percentage of buyers thinking of jumping into the market was down slightly from a March survey, but up about 1 point from a poll in June. 
• Home prices rebounded this summer at an annualized pace of almost 7 percent, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index, but with high unemployment and foreclosures, economists debate whether prices will dip again. 
• Those surveyed widely favored federal policies that kept interest rates low and helped troubled homeowners avoid foreclosure over those that helped first-time homebuyers purchase a home.
• And, overall, 48 percent of those polled didn’t think the government was doing enough to stabilize the housing market, whereas 42 percent thought it was.
• Forty-five percent of Americans worry that they or someone they know will face foreclosure in the next year.
• And almost 30 percent of those with a mortgage have contacted their lender in the past year to reduce their payments.

For more valuable First Time Home Buyer information visit our website: http://firstimehome.us

Bank of America can’t hide from YouTube

I know many of you have been involved in short sales involving BofA/Countrywide and found them to be “dazed and confused”. Well here’s the story (with video) of one borrower who got sick of the run around and did something about it. If you like it, please share it.

Darren Bryant of Pensacola, Fla. spent hours in what he calls Bank of America's "phone maze," getting bounced from person to person, never reaching somebody who could address his situation.
Finally, in one last desperate attempt to get someone's attention, he uploaded a five-minute video to YouTube in which he explains his predicament and gives his phone number and email address. Darren’s video:

"The reason I'm making this video is to get in contact with somebody from Bank of America that can make a decision," Bryant says in the video, which he uploaded on Monday. He then emailed a link to over a dozen Bank of America email addresses he said he found online.
Within four hours of posting the rant, Bryant got a phone call. It was somebody from the office of David Darnell, president of Global Commercial Banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
"She says, 'We received your video and I'm calling you to see what the deal is and to go over the situation with you,'" Bryant said. The woman asked for his account number and said the bank would investigate.
"She said, 'We take this very seriously when somebody posts a video.'"
Bank of America has proven responsive to other videos from its customers. Ann Minch of Red Bluff, Calif., made a huge splash in September when she declared via YouTube that she wouldn't pay off her credit card debt unless the "evil, thieving bastards" at Bank of America lowered her interest rate. The video went viral, and within a week of its posting an executive got in touch with Minch and agreed to her demand.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/30/bank-of-america-another-c_n_304630.html