Some consumers place a high priority on selecting a home where a well-known celebrity is among the neighbors.

Homebuyers chose late-night TV host Jimmy Fallon as the most desirable celebrity neighbor for 2014, according to the recently released seventh annual Zillow Celebrity Neighbor Survey, as reported by the National Association of Realtors.

Fallon captured 11 percent of the vote, dethroning last year's "most desirable neighbor" duo, Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton. In order to be Fallon's neighbor, you'd have to move to Sagaponack, N.Y., where Fallon owns a 19th-century farmhouse that sits on more than two acres.

On the other hand, topping the list as the worst neighbors for this year: Reality star Kim Kardashian and singer Kanye West.

However, "what remains clear is that many people don't want to live next to any celebrity, regardless of why they are famous," says Amy Bohutinsky, Zillow's chief marketing officer. Indeed, the survey found that more than one-third of Americans say they prefer a non-celebrity neighbor.

Q: Will mortgage rates rise in 2014?

A: Probably. Several analysts have addressed this question. Here is an example:

"Last year at this time, the conforming 30-year fixed rate mortgage had climbed just a handful of basis points above all-time lows of 3.44 percent on Dec. 14, 2013. This year, homeowners and homebuyers can only dream about near 60-year lows for fixed mortgage rates.

"We are presently a full percentage point above those levels as we again approach multiyear highs, and 2014 seems to be promising higher rates rather than lower," according to a report by HSH Market Trends.

"How soon those higher rates will appear depends upon a number of factors, including how quickly the economy grows, the pace of the Fed's just-begun tapering process and how much new mortgage rules disturb the price of credit."

Q: Are many homeowners still underwater?

A: Realtytrac, a source for housing data, recently released its Home Equity & Underwater Report for December 2013, which shows that 9.3 million U.S. residential properties were deeply underwater. They were worth at least 25 percent less than the combined loans secured by the property — representing 19 percent of all properties with a mortgage in December.

That was down from 10.7 million residential properties deeply underwater in September 2013, representing 23 percent of all properties with a mortgage, and down from 10.9 million properties deeply underwater in January 2013, representing 26 percent of all properties with a mortgage. The recent peak in negative equity was May 2012, when 12.8 million U.S. residential properties were deeply underwater, representing 29 percent of all properties with a mortgage.

Q: What has happened to all the past homeowners who lost their homes in a foreclosure?

A: Many of them have been renting and preparing for the day they can regain their position as a homeowner. According to a poll of 140,000 LoanSafe.org members, boomerang buyers — who were ousted from the housing market due to foreclosures or short sales — spent years renting to rebuild their credits and have saved enough to buy again. They are now expected to help turn the real estate market around.

These buyers could flock to the market at the same time that investors and retirees pull back, as new government programs aim to help consumers with bankruptcies or loan defaults become homeowners again, sooner than they would have otherwise.

Jon Maddux, LoanSafe.org co-founder, says boomerang buyers in markets across the nation are showing interest in getting back into homeownership, with almost 80 percent of poll respondents who lost homes during the crisis interested in buying again.

Q: Are home sales and prices rising?

A: Here's an interesting quote by Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac:

"Mortgage rates edged up to begin the year on signs of a stronger economic recovery. The pending home sales index inched up 0.2 percent in November, after five consecutive months of decline.

"The Conference Board reported that confidence among consumers rose in December and the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city composite house price index rose 13.6 percent over the 12 months ending in October 2013."

To find out more about Jim Woodard and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.