Personal Finance Daily: How to buy and sell a house at the same time

Personal Finance Daily APRIL 12, 2012 Thursday's Personal Finance Stories By MarketWatch Don't miss these top stories: How to buy and sell a house at the same time 30-year mortgage near record low Planning for retirement? Plan to live to be 100 Affordable home prices and low interest rates are attractive to home buyers, Amy Hoak writes in her Home Economics column — but contingency deals are kind of rare these days. So is it possible to buy and sell a house at the same time, without a contingency in the contract? It's tough but possible, Amy says. She has some suggestions for people who want to swap their home for another. Also in real estate today, interest on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dipped in the past week to a near-record low of 3.88%. And, we report on foreclosure activity for March. RealtyTrac says the number of foreclosure filings dropped 4% in March compared to February, and is down 17% from the same period last year. But, said Brandon Moore, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, there's still a large supply of distressed properties out there. "The dam may not burst in the next 30 to 45 days," he said, "but it will eventually burst, and everyone downstream should be prepared for that to happen — both in terms of new foreclosure activity and new short sale activity." — Anne Stanley , Managing Editor, Personal Finance How to buy and sell a house at the same time Affordable home prices and low interest rates have lured investors and first-time home buyers into the housing market, but move-up buyers are a tougher sell. Read more: How to buy and sell a house at the same time. 30-year mortgage near record low Following weaker employment data, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage average fell to a near-record low, Freddie Mac said Thursday in its weekly report. Read more: 30-year mortgage rate near record low. Planning for retirement? Plan to live to 100 Playing the odds that you won't live past a certain age because of numbers in a mortality table is the wrong way to plan for retirement, say researchers. Read more: Planning for retirement? Plan to live to 100. Foreclosure activity lowest since July 2007 The number of foreclosure filings in March fell to their lowest level since July 2007, according to a report from RealtyTrac, released on Thursday. Read more: Foreclosure activity lowest since July 2007. ECONOMY AND POLITICS SEC fines Goldman Sachs $22 mln over 'huddles' The Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday fined Goldman Sachs & Co. $22 million over allegations that the Wall Street bank lacked procedures to address risks that analysts shared material nonpublic information about upcoming research changes in weekly "huddles." Read more: SEC fines Goldman Sachs $22 million. U.S. trade deficit narrows to $46 billion Data show a narrower U.S. trade deficit in February for the largest percent drop since May 2009. Read more: U.S. trade deficit narrows to $46 billion U.S. jobless claims jump to 380,000 The number of Americans who applied last week for jobless benefits rose to the highest level in two in a half months, partly because some school workers can file claims during spring break. Yet a recent uptick appears to have broken a longer downward trend, at least temporarily. Read more: U.S. jobless claims jump to 380,000. U.S. wholesale prices unchanged in March U.S. wholesale prices were flat last month as a spike in oil in February subsided in March, according to the latest government data Read more: U.S. wholesale prices unchanged in March. INVESTING China buying gold? Gold's rebound puzzles the bugs, but they'll take it anyway, writes Peter Brimelow. Read more: China buying gold? Facebook deal-making is not likely over As social network giant Facebook tries to keep up with younger social media upstarts, it's likely to seek out other acquisitions, no matter what its CEO says, writes Therese Poletti. Read more: Facebook deal-making is not likely over. Pullback enters 'sell-on-rally' phase The market's bounce on Wednesday marks both the end of the beginning of downturn and the start of the next phase, writes Tomi Kilgore. Read more: Pullback enters 'sell-on-rally' phase. Get the latest news on our mobile site: http://www.marketwatch.com/m MarketWatch has sent you this newsletter because you signed up to receive it. To ensure you receive this newsletter in the future, please add marketwatchmail.com to your list of approved senders. Sent to: kumaresan.selva.blogger@gmail.com Unsubscribe | Subscribe Copyright 2012 MarketWatch, Inc. All rights reserved. MarketWatch, the MarketWatch logo, and BigCharts are registered trademarks of MarketWatch, Inc. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy (updated 6/26/07). MarketWatch - Attn: Customer Service, 201 California St., San Francisco, CA 94111