Mon, Oct 23 2006, 7:00 AM
If you follow network or cable news you probably believe that the
real estate market has gone from unbridled insanity where
buyers apparently losing...
Thu, Oct 19 2006, 7:00 AM
The various new home construction indicators tracked by
the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development were mixed i...
Wed, Oct 18 2006, 7:00 AM
Maybe it was just too good to last.
After four weeks of declining interest rates Freddie
Mac reported a relatively sharp jump for each of the pro...
Tue, Oct 17 2006, 7:00 AM
Credit repair is a subject that has been on our back
burner for a long time, but a piece of spam received a few days ago brought
it to the forefront....
Thu, Oct 12 2006, 7:00 AM
Mortgage rates for the week ended October 5 barely
budged. After substantial downward moves over the last ten weeks only the
30-year fixed-rate mortg...
Wed, Oct 11 2006, 7:00 AM
Freddie Mac's Economic and Housing Market Outlook for October is
headlined " Finding Solid Ground. " It is another in a series of
projections that the...
Tue, Oct 10 2006, 7:00 AM
Could America's record balance of payments deficit with China be the
solution to low cost housing? Might it even be an unprecedented
opportunity to ...
Thu, Oct 5 2006, 7:00 AM
Mortgage fraud is back in the news. However, this time
it is the lenders rather than the borrowers who appear to be the main
targets of the scams.
...
Wed, Oct 4 2006, 7:00 AM
The old mortgage tracking clock has just rolled back to March
2 . That was the last time that the interest on a 30-year
fixed-rate mortgage was lower...
Tue, Oct 3 2006, 7:00 AM
There has been much speculation over the last few months that as housing
sales continue to decline, the home remodeling industry will also take a
big ...
Mon, Oct 2 2006, 7:00 AM
Last Friday, as had been expected, the five federal departments or
quasi-agencies charged with overseeing the nation's banking system jointly
issued "...
Thu, Sep 28 2006, 7:00 AM
Freddie Mac and the Mortgage Bankers Association were, for a change,
unanimous in agreeing that mortgage interest rates
retreated the past week.
...
Wed, Sep 27 2006, 7:00 AM
Buyers have been hoping for it and sellers have been dreading it but
home prices have apparently started a long-expected
decline while existing home...
Tue, Sep 26 2006, 7:00 AM
Thu, Sep 21 2006, 7:00 AM
The Federal Reserve Board recently released the latest in a series of
occasional reports on mortgage lending based on data
collected under the 1975...
Wed, Sep 20 2006, 7:00 AM
After a single "up" week, long term interest rates have
resumed the slow downward pattern that began the week ending July 20.
Freddie Mac's Prima...
Tue, Sep 19 2006, 7:00 AM
Two monthly housing market indicators have been
released so far this week, both relating broadly to home construction and
showing a continued slowin...
Fri, Sep 15 2006, 7:00 AM
The results are too subtle (and also presented in an incredibly
confusing format) to determine if rate shock is starting to take its toll
on American ...
Wed, Sep 13 2006, 7:00 AM
Mortgage rates reversed a six week downward trend,
increasing slightly during the week ended September 7 according to the
Weekly Primary Mortgage Mar...
Tue, Sep 12 2006, 7:00 AM
" A Cooling Trend " was the title given to Freddie Mac's
September 2006 Economic Outlook released recently. In keeping with the
seasonal theme, the re...
Mon, Sep 11 2006, 7:00 AM
Thu, Sep 7 2006, 7:00 AM
We have often said that the quarterly Office of Housing Enterprise
Oversight (OFHEO) Home Price Index (HPI) report is one of the most
interesting of t...
Wed, Sep 6 2006, 7:00 AM
Once again Freddie Mac is reporting that mortgage rates
are down from the preceding week and have now reached levels not seen since
late March and e...
Fri, Sep 1 2006, 7:00 AM
Have you ever had a credit card company suddenly lower your credit line
in spite of your sterling payment record?
Have you wondered how every mortg...
Wed, Aug 30 2006, 7:00 AM
For the fifth straight week Freddie Mac reported that mortgage
rates fell from the previous week's level. During the past week
which ended August 24...
Tue, Aug 29 2006, 7:00 AM
After a parade of seven witnesses (plus Full Committee Chair Michael
Oxley) who appeared before the House Banking Subcommittee on Housing and
Communit...
Fri, Aug 25 2006, 7:00 AM
The National Association of Realtors issued its monthly report on sales
of existing houses on Wednesday, August 23 and one would think they were
revie...
Thu, Aug 24 2006, 7:00 AM
ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, has
just issued the results or a large scale study of the potential impact of
upcomi...
Wed, Aug 23 2006, 7:00 AM
Most interest rates were down again during the week
ended August 17 and 18, but the changes were not nearly as aggressive as
immediately after the F...
Tue, Aug 22 2006, 7:00 AM
It's that time again. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)
and the Census Department have released their monthly reports on the state
of t...
Thu, Aug 17 2006, 7:00 AM
In addition to the three witnesses from government agencies, Department
of Justice, Government Accountability Office, and Federal Trade Commission
who...
Wed, Aug 16 2006, 7:00 AM
It is hard to imagine how two organizations could deviate more on the
direction of mortgage rates than Freddie Mac and The
Mortgage Bankers Associat...
Tue, Aug 15 2006, 7:00 AM
Several things have occurred over the last week or so in the ongoing
saga of Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and their financial improprieties which
date back...
Fri, Aug 11 2006, 7:00 AM
Slower economic growth and rising inflationary pressures are cited as
competing trends in the U.S. economy by Freddie Mac in its
monthly Economic Ou...
Thu, Aug 10 2006, 7:00 AM
As promised, we are continuing an account of a hearing conducted
recently by the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity of the
House Bankin...
Wed, Aug 9 2006, 7:00 AM
Mortgage rates dropped again during the week ended
August 3 and August 4, and with the announcement on August 8 that the
Federal Reserve has, for the...
Tue, Aug 8 2006, 7:00 AM
Remember our old friend Michael G. Oxley?
Recently the House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity
held hearings entitled " The Changin...
Thu, Aug 3 2006, 7:00 AM
And this week, they are down.
Mortgage rates , that is. The one week up, two weeks
down, two weeks up pattern continues as the markets try to ou...
Wed, Aug 2 2006, 7:00 AM
Newsweek Magazine's Tip Sheet section last week featured two Web sites that
have nothing to do with real estate or mortgage financing but may illu...
Mon, Jul 31 2006, 7:00 AM
Home buyers have waited for years but perhaps the agony is over. It is
official; the National Association of Realtors has confirmed that we are
now in...
Thu, Jul 27 2006, 7:00 AM
It was nice while it lasted - one full week to be exact - but, according
to Freddie Mac the mortgage market last week took back most of the rate
decre...
Wed, Jul 26 2006, 7:00 AM
The brutal murder of Sarah Ann Walker in McKinney, Texas early this
month has again spotlighted a perennial topic - violence against real
estate agent...
Tue, Jul 25 2006, 7:00 AM
As the recent report, Buying For Themselves: An Analysis of
Unmarried Female Home Buyers by Rachel Bogardus Drew for the Joint
Center for Housing St...
Fri, Jul 21 2006, 7:00 AM
The two monthly reports that measure the health of the home
construction industry were released this week. The U.S. Census
Bureau and U.S. Departmen...
Thu, Jul 20 2006, 7:00 AM
Who are these millions of unmarried women who have plunged into the
housing market in the last few years and what makes them different from
married co...
Wed, Jul 19 2006, 7:00 AM
Mortgage rates backed off during the week ending July
13 and 14th, declining in every category tracked by both Freddie Mac and
the Mortgage Bankers A...
Mon, Jul 17 2006, 7:00 AM
Have you noticed how many television ads for real estate and mortgage firms feature
women as the decision maker, the person who is buying or refinan...
Fri, Jul 14 2006, 7:00 AM
Back in November we reported that The President's Advisory Panel on
Federal Tax Reform had submitted recommendations to then Treasury Secretary
John S...
Thu, Jul 13 2006, 7:00 AM
This space generally reports on what is going on in the real estate and
mortgage industry; rates, suggestions on buying or selling, news about
Fannie ...
