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NEW Housing Permits and Starts Slide But Builder Confidence Rising

Tue, Feb 20 2007, 8:00 AM

Right on the heels of the National Association of Realtors rather glum report on the

NEW NAR Releases Year End Existing Home Data - Sunny Side Up

Mon, Feb 19 2007, 8:00 AM

Existing-home sales had a rough 2006 fourth quarter according to figures released Thursday by the National Association of Realtors. David Lereah, ...

NEW Homes Of The Future - NAHB Takes A Guess

Fri, Feb 16 2007, 8:00 AM

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) took a stab at envisioning the home of the future at its recently concluded annual convention in ...

NEW Most Mortgage Rates Drift Lower For First Time In 2007

Wed, Feb 14 2007, 8:00 AM

Mortgage rates ratcheted down last week according to the results of Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. Rates have generally been on an upw...

NEW NAHB Convention Makes News About Green Building, Boomers and Future Homes

Tue, Feb 13 2007, 8:00 AM

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) just adjourned its annual International Builders Show in Orlando, Florida and the press releases ha...

NEW Negative Impact of Housing On Economy Lessens As Inventories Decline

Mon, Feb 12 2007, 8:00 AM

There were lots of little nuggets of information in the February Economic Outlook issued by Freddie Mac on February 8. It addition to the usual for...

NEW Home Equity Still Fueling Refinancing

Fri, Feb 9 2007, 8:00 AM

Americans are continuing to treat their homes as cash cows according to a report released this week by Freddie Mac. Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice...

NEW Mortgage Rates and Application Rates Both Mixed at the End of January

Wed, Feb 7 2007, 8:00 AM

Mortgage rates assumed a split personality again this past week with Freddie Mac showing moderate increases and the Mortgage Bankers Association repo...

NEW Florida Tornados and Scientific Reports Bad News For Homeowners

Tue, Feb 6 2007, 8:00 AM

Homeowners might not have realized it, but the news last Thursday and Friday carried a double whammy that may be more worrisome than the housing bub...

NEW MBA Urges Regulators To Avoid Invoking Suitability Standards

Mon, Feb 5 2007, 8:00 AM

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) recently made a preemptive strike against what it obviously perceives as the next threat against the mortgage i...

NEW Mortgage Rates Are Mixed As Markets Await Direction

Thu, Feb 1 2007, 8:00 AM

Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week ended January 25 indicated that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.25 percent co...

NEW Apartment Group Targets NIMBY Arguments

Tue, Jan 30 2007, 8:00 AM

Escalating home prices have pushed homeownership toward un-affordability in many parts of the country. Homelessness is an ever increasing problem ...

NEW An Update on PMI Tax Deductions

Mon, Jan 29 2007, 8:00 AM

In December we published an article about a provision in the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 which was passed in the waning days of the 109th...

NEW New And Existing Home Sales Continue Retreat From Record Highs

Fri, Jan 26 2007, 8:00 AM

First read the press release issued on Tuesday by the National Association of Realtors regarding data on the sale of existing homes in December an...

NEW Mortgage Rates Continue Upward Trend While Applications Slow

Wed, Jan 24 2007, 8:00 AM

Longer term mortgage rates were up again, albeit only slightly, during the week ending January 18 according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Mark...

NEW The Truth, Sort Of, About Open Houses

Tue, Jan 23 2007, 8:00 AM

Well honestly, there are no truths, only opinions. And there are few real estate issues where opinions are more numerous and more nuanced than the ...

NEW Permits and Housing Starts Reflect Builder Optimism

Mon, Jan 22 2007, 8:00 AM

Home builders are growing increasingly more confident about the economy and the real estate market and that was reflected in the most recent report...

NEW Mortgage Rates Up and MBA Issues Long Term Forecast

Thu, Jan 18 2007, 8:00 AM

Both long and short term interest rates were up again during the week ended January 11 according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. ...

NEW Luxury Home Sales Hold Their Own In Down Housing Market

Wed, Jan 17 2007, 8:00 AM

The housing market is in a bit of a funk and home prices are not rising as fast as they did a year or so ago, but the outrageously expensive home ...

NEW Freddie Mac: Three Trends Will Impact Home Market and Financing

Tue, Jan 16 2007, 8:00 AM

The January 2007 Economic Outlook which is published last week by the Office of the Chief Economist at Freddie Mac was headlined " The Remodeled Hou...

NEW NAR To Launch $40 Million Ad Campaign

Fri, Jan 12 2007, 8:00 AM

The National Association of Realtors is not sitting back and waiting for the housing downturn to end. The association, one of if not the largest p...

NEW Freddie Mac Releases Results Of Annual ARM Survey

Thu, Jan 11 2007, 8:00 AM

Freddie Mac 23rd Annual Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) Survey released last week contained few surprises. The three major findings were:

NEW Mortgage Rates Take A New Year Holiday

Wed, Jan 10 2007, 8:00 AM

Mortgage interest rates were virtually unchanged during the first week of 2007 according to Freddie Mac's weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey. Ac...

NEW Reply.com Moves To Corner A Niche Of The Real Estate Industry

Mon, Jan 8 2007, 8:00 AM

The Web is truly getting crowded with real estate web sites, each trying to carve out its own niche. Reply.com has taken a different approach. Rat...

NEW Green House Exhibit Is An Invitation To Think Twice About The Environment

Fri, Jan 5 2007, 8:00 AM

The main reason we ventured to Washington D.C. and the National Bu...

NEW Mortgage Rates Move Higher On Consumer Spending and Calendar

Wed, Jan 3 2007, 8:00 AM

Inflation jitters caused mortgages rates to increase a bit during the last full week of 2006 according to the Primary Mortgage Market Survey relea...

NEW Federal Reserve Issues New CHARM Handbook for Consumers and Lenders

Tue, Jan 2 2007, 8:00 AM

The Federal Reserve Board seldom giveth, but they did send home buyers and owners as well as real estate professionals a bit of a holiday present la...

NEW Is The End Of The End Of The Housing Bubble Near?

Fri, Dec 29 2006, 8:00 AM

Is it the end of the end of the housing bubble ? The National Association of Realtors (NAR) seemed to think so as it issued its November report on ...

NEW Realogy Sale Not Necessarily A Done Deal

Thu, Dec 28 2006, 8:00 AM

The widely reported purchase of Realogy by Apollo Management LP last week may just be the opening move in a wild and wooly auction for the company...

NEW Mortgage Rates Drift and Activity Slows During Pre-Holiday Week

Wed, Dec 27 2006, 8:00 AM

While mortgage activity was down sharply - and expectedly - during the pre-Christmas week at least one mortgage expert saw reason to hope for a busy...

NEW Housing Starts, Permits and Builder Confidence Stabilize In Recent Surveys

Tue, Dec 26 2006, 8:00 AM

Housing permits and starts in November were mixed when compared to October levels according to figures released this week by the U.S. Census Bure...

NEW Clarifications About The Zillow Website

Fri, Dec 22 2006, 8:00 AM

Shortly after our recent article on Zillow's upgrades was published, we recei...

NEW Mortgage Rates And Volume Flatten In Pre-Holiday Market

Thu, Dec 21 2006, 8:00 AM

Mortgage rates were fairly stagnant during the week ended December 14 according to the Primary Mortgage Market Survey released by Freddie Mac. Fra...

NEW Zillow Announces Upgrades To Site As First Birthday Approaches

Wed, Dec 20 2006, 8:00 AM

In a press release earlier this month, the Zillow folks announced a " major upgrade ; homeowners and agents can now post homes for sale, for free." Th...

NEW Three Ex-Fannie Mae Execs Hit With Massive Civil Charges

Tue, Dec 19 2006, 8:00 AM

And just when things were starting to look up for Fannie Mae ! Then Monday the other shoe fell. Actually it was more like an axe. The Office of Fed...

NEW Fannie Mae Plays Catchup With SEC and Sues Its Former Auditor

Mon, Dec 18 2006, 8:00 AM

December is starting off with a bang for Fannie Mae . On December 6 the mortgage giant announced that it had (finally) finished a restatement of ...

NEW Mortgage Rates Remain Low While Applications Reach Recent Highs

Thu, Dec 14 2006, 8:00 AM

"Continued signs of slowing in the housing market and weakness in the manufacturing sector helped keep mortgage rates down this week," said Frank No...

NEW PMI Deduction Buried In The Closing Acts Of Congress

Wed, Dec 13 2006, 8:00 AM

It has not been widely reported, but late in the closing session of the 109th Congress which adjourned this past weekend may have been a bit of good n...

NEW National Building Museum Is A Change Of Pace In Washington D.C.

Tue, Dec 12 2006, 8:00 AM

On one's first, second, and third visits to Washington, DC, one must concentrate on the memorials - Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington, Vietnam, the new W...

NEW Housing Recovery - Normal Not White Hot Growth

Mon, Dec 11 2006, 8:00 AM

Probably the big news in the December 2006 Economic Outlook published by Freddie Mac's Office of the Chief Economist last Friday was that the offi...

NEW Unmarried Homeowners Part II

Thu, Dec 7 2006, 8:00 AM

As explained earlier, the two are not married nor do they intend to be, at least in the near future... This is not an isolated issue. It is estim...

NEW Mortgage Rates Spur Refinance Market

Wed, Dec 6 2006, 8:00 AM

Refinancing as a share of all mortgage activity increased to 50.1 percent from 46.9 percent the previous week. This is the highest market share that ...

NEW Significant Others Need To Think About Their Legal Status When Buying A Home

Tue, Dec 5 2006, 8:00 AM

A young relative called over the long weekend. He had just made an

NEW New Home Sales Report Issued For October

Fri, Dec 1 2006, 8:00 AM

As usual, fresh on the heels of the National Association of Realtors monthly report on the status of

NEW Mortgage Rates, Applications Down In Short Holiday Week

Thu, Nov 30 2006, 8:00 AM

Long term interest rates took a bit of a dive during the week ended November 22 according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. The 30-ye...

NEW Conforming Loan Limits Remain Unchanged

Wed, Nov 29 2006, 8:00 AM

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) has announced as expected that 2007 dollar limits on conforming mortgages would remain unc...

NEW Existing Home Sales Increase Slightly But Median Prices Decline

Wed, Nov 29 2006, 8:00 AM

Reports on the sales of existing homes for October were released on November 28 by the National Association of Realtors. On a slightly optimistic no...

NEW It Might Seem Like A Commune But Co-housing Is Not A Sixties Idea

Tue, Nov 28 2006, 8:00 AM

Co-housing is not a well known term in real estate but it is a growing housing movement. It is also called " intentional communities ," but if you we...