Wed, May 16 2007, 7:00 AM
But a big part of the Second Life economy is virtual real
estate and besides entrepreneurship many factors motivate
residents to purchase property...
Tue, May 15 2007, 7:00 AM
How can something that is virtual be real? Over 6 million
people apparently find no problem with the concept as they
socialize, create, build, and...
Fri, May 11 2007, 7:00 AM
Every so often a house comes on the market that is said to be
stigmatized . Most of the time the stigma is in the mind
of one or two buyers, but so...
Thu, May 10 2007, 7:00 AM
With the growth of house price appreciation now stalled or even
reversed, this has fueled fears that homeowners may face an inability to
withdraw eq...
Wed, May 9 2007, 7:00 AM
The two mortgage rate surveys we follow each week
showed few significant changes for the weeks ended May 3 (Freddie Mac)
and May 4 (Mortgage Banke...
Tue, May 8 2007, 7:00 AM
Declining home sales and prices have not succeeded in discouraging
homeowners from pulling equity out of their homes
according to Freddie Mac's qu...
Mon, May 7 2007, 7:00 AM
Two associations representing owners of multi-family
properties have brought suit again the Department of Housing and
Urban Development over new r...
Fri, May 4 2007, 7:00 AM
It seems impossible to get a clear look at the housing situation these
days. Where there is hope there is despair, if good news there is bad,
existi...
Thu, May 3 2007, 7:00 AM
Lots of news on the mortgage front in the last few days.
...A second part of the proposed legislation is designed to "seal the
cracks in our regul...
Wed, May 2 2007, 7:00 AM
To use the word "drift" in conjunction with the mortgage market the past
week would be suggesting too much energy in mortgage rates
and in the marke...
Tue, May 1 2007, 7:00 AM
Thu, Apr 26 2007, 7:00 AM
The two most closely watched monthly housing reports
came out this week and served only to muddy the real estate waters even
further. On Tuesday t...
Wed, Apr 25 2007, 7:00 AM
Soothing news about inflation was reflected by declining
mortgage interest rates last week, although Freddie Mac
and the Mortgage Bankers Associat...
Tue, Apr 24 2007, 7:00 AM
The chief executives of both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae as well as the
Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal
Housing...
Fri, Apr 20 2007, 7:00 AM
The right of the federal banking oversight system to preempt any
attempts by the various states' to regulate federally chartered financial
systems h...
Thu, Apr 19 2007, 7:00 AM
Redfin , the Seattle based and self-
described " first Internet brokerage " turned one year old
recently. It has been nearly that long since we took ...
Wed, Apr 18 2007, 7:00 AM
Mortgage rates bumped upward last week, buoyed
largely by encouraging news about job growth. However, at the same time
the fees and points charge...
Tue, Apr 17 2007, 7:00 AM
Builders appeared to have remained cautious about the housing market
in March, pulling permits and starting construction on new houses in
numbers li...
Mon, Apr 16 2007, 7:00 AM
The Senate Banking Committee and one of its subcommittees dealt this
week, however superficially, with two issues that should be of
interest to a l...
Fri, Apr 13 2007, 7:00 AM
A coalition of housing activists and civil rights groups has called
for a six month moratorium on
foreclosures to provide time for financially t...
Thu, Apr 12 2007, 7:00 AM
Will the economy return the favor?
Spring usually provides the strongest home selling period of the year
and with interest rates still relatively ...
Wed, Apr 11 2007, 7:00 AM
In a statement accompanying the release of Freddie Mac's Primary
Mortgage Market Survey for the week ended April 5, Frank Nothaft, Freddie
Mac vice ...
Tue, Apr 10 2007, 7:00 AM
David Lereah, the chief economist for the National Association
of Realtors (NAR) has weighed in on the bankruptcies,
foreclosures, and predicted A...
Mon, Apr 9 2007, 7:00 AM
April is Fair Housing Month and the Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) just released its Annual Report on Fair
Housing .
The 2006...
Thu, Apr 5 2007, 7:00 AM
True story. In 2004 a woman bought a small vacant lot, one of the last
remaining, in a 1960's development of 400 homes. No one seemed to notice
the ...
Wed, Apr 4 2007, 7:00 AM
In its report of the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey for
last week, Freddie Mac took some credit for the stability in
mortgage rates ...
Tue, Apr 3 2007, 7:00 AM
As a subplot to the entire mortgage drama, two feuds
recently emerged or more accurately re-emerged among some major mortgage
players.
...The N...
Mon, Apr 2 2007, 7:00 AM
The subprime mortgage industry may be going through
hard times but the paper industry and those who invest in broadband
capacity are probably laug...
Fri, Mar 30 2007, 7:00 AM
It seemed time to check on Zillow again and, while we
were at it, to take a look at a couple of relative newcomers to the home
values genre of web...
Thu, Mar 29 2007, 7:00 AM
Wed, Mar 28 2007, 7:00 AM
Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist
indicated that the market was in a holding pattern. " Mortgage
rates were stable this...
Tue, Mar 27 2007, 7:00 AM
Reports on the sales of both new and existing homes
were released on Friday, March 23 and Monday, March 26 and they pointed in
distinctly opposite d...
Mon, Mar 26 2007, 7:00 AM
In the midst of the upheavals surrounding the
subprime
market a new study has eme...
Thu, Mar 22 2007, 7:00 AM
Mortgage rates were essentially unchanged during the
week ended March 15 according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market
Survey.
The only rea...
Wed, Mar 21 2007, 7:00 AM
Mon, Mar 19 2007, 7:00 AM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) quarterly delinquency
report is jammed full of information reported from dozens of
different perspectives - a...
Thu, Mar 15 2007, 7:00 AM
Lots of chickens came home to roost on Tuesday but they didn't exactly
fly in unannounced.
First the news about the subprime mortgage market got
...
Wed, Mar 14 2007, 7:00 AM
Mortgage rates tracked by Freddie Mac in its Primary
Mortgage Market Survey for the previous week mostly established new 2007
lows.
Mortgage activ...
Tue, Mar 13 2007, 7:00 AM
Freddie Mac seems to be seeking a little cover in its March 2007
Economic Outlook released late last week. These monthly forecasts
always have a the...
Mon, Mar 12 2007, 7:00 AM
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae may have
recently come to appreciate the old saw "be careful what you wish for."
A year or so ago Federal Reserve Cha...
Thu, Mar 8 2007, 8:00 AM
Recently we reported on a new nationwide system for licensing and
regulating mortgage lenders on the state level.
The system will include an Inte...
Wed, Mar 7 2007, 8:00 AM
Mortgage interest rates slipped for the second week in a row last
week, with some rates reaching 2007 lows. The Mortgage Bankers
Association's (MB...
Tue, Mar 6 2007, 8:00 AM
It would probably be safe to bet that six months ago 90 percent of
Americans had never heard of a subprime loan . It would
be equally safe to wager...
Fri, Mar 2 2007, 8:00 AM
Reports on January sales of both new and existing houses were released
this week. Conclusions were, to say the least, mixed.
The National Associat...
Thu, Mar 1 2007, 8:00 AM
In October a covey of federal agencies including the Federal Reserve,
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the National Credit Union
Admin...
Wed, Feb 28 2007, 8:00 AM
Concern over the slowing housing market may be impacting
mortgage rates according to Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice
president and chief economist...
Tue, Feb 27 2007, 8:00 AM
In the wake of a tough couple of weeks that have rattled the sub-prime
lending industry, Freddie Mac announced on Tuesday that it was
cracking down...
