Sentinel Help Team: Surviving the Recession - Housing

Surviving the Recession is a monthlong series by the Orlando Sentinel Help Team. This collection of stories focuses on housing.

January 21, 2009

Sentinel Help Team

Refinance? First, see whether you will save

When mortgage rates fell below 5 percent last month, broker Jeff Perdue's phone lines lighted up as dozens of people tried to join the latest refinance boom. When the ringing stopped, only five were approved.

January 17, 2009

The Economy in Crisis Surviving the recession A monthlong Sentinel help team series

Here's where to start when buying a home

Are you thinking about buying a home?

January 16, 2009

Sentinel Help Team

To buy or not to buy: In tight times, more folks are renters

Amid one of the coldest real-estate markets in decades, the question of buying vs. renting is a hot topic again. When the economy was strong and housing prices were soaring, buying a home in the Orlando area seemed to be a no-brainer: The tax savings and home-price appreciation were too good to pass up. Now renting is on the rise again, for a lot of reasons, but mainly because the economy has tanked, home loans are harder to get, home values are falling and home equity is vanishing.

January 14, 2009

Surviving the recession A monthlong Sentinel help team series

Fear you can't qualify for loan? Worth a try

Qualifying for a mortgage is not nearly as easy these days as it was just a couple of years ago, before the subprime-loan-market collapse and the worldwide credit freeze. Still, mortgages are approved every day, even for homebuyers with less-than-sterling credit records

January 13, 2009

Surviving the recession A monthlong Sentinel help team series

That house may fit your budget now

How much house can you really afford these days? Maybe more than you think, despite the worldwide credit crunch and lenders' tighter mortgage standards.

January 12, 2009

Surviving the recession A monthlong Sentinel help team series

Sell short, refinance, but try not to lose your home

Every day, hundreds of people in Central Florida continue to slip into the foreclosure whirlpool and spiral downward toward the day they may have to leave their home. What should you do if you are on the verge of getting a foreclosure notice?

January 11, 2009

Sentinel Help Team series: Surviving the Recession