Archives: February 2006

Finally...

Posted by: Toddi Gutner on February 28

It’s finally here—statistically speaking--the declining housing market. Though most of us have been blogging about this slowly leaking bubble for the last six to nine months—the cold, hard numbers are...

Hunting Down The Predators

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 23

The non-profit Center for Responsible Lending http://www.responsiblelending.org has been an aggressive crusader to stop predatory mortage brokers who prey upon poor, unsophisticated borrowers. The Durham, North Carolina-based group has successfully...

New Info on Homeownership

Posted by: Peter Coy on February 23

New numbers from the Federal Reserve show some strange shifts in homeownership rates by age. An article is here about the most recent triennial survey. Although the survey was conducted...

You Call These Colonials????????

Posted by: Peter Coy on February 23

This, my friends, is a house that deserves the name "colonial." Or even "Colonial," with a capital C. It's in Colonial Williamsburg and was built by James Geddy, Jr., shortly...

No Commercial Real Estate Bubble

Posted by: Toddi Gutner on February 21

Much has been written about the residential real estate bubble –in fact, entire blogs are dedicated to the topic (thehousingbubble2 and economicrot). Commercial real estate is a much less popular...

Welcome to the Jungle--Costa Rican style

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 19

Imagine a master planned community without the acres of cookie-cutter housing and (insert name of over-the-hill pro)-designed golf course. That's what hotel entrepreneur Hal Wright--he of the Homewood Suites...

Is this what $700k buys you in Washington?

Posted by: Dean Foust on February 16

Tip of the cap to one of the posters on our popular "Washington D.C." thread (if you live in Washington, you owe it to yourself to check out the discourse...

Warm Winter = Hot Construction

Posted by: Peter Coy on February 16

Housing starts leaped through the roof in January. (Statistics below.) Does this mean construction is going to be strong after all in 2006, and all that talk about softening was...

Summer Meltdown

Posted by: Toddi Gutner on February 14

The problem with economic statistics are that they tend to tell the story after the reader already knows it. But Ian Shepherdson of High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, NY, tries...

The Donald's in, Ivana's out

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 10

You may have read about condominium cancellations in the otherwise white-hot Las Vegas high-rise market. Casualties include a well-publicized building promoted by Ivana Trump, ex-wife of The Donald. A new...

Un-Armed

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 09

It had been one of the biggest drivers of housing prices, the unbelievable attractiveness of adjustable rate loans. But all those Fed rate increases have really taken the muscle out...

Mistake #37--Are You Making It?

Posted by: Peter Coy on February 09

Imagine you're a renter moving from San Francisco to Pittsburgh. All of your rental options look marvelously cheap by San Francisco standards. So you pick out a nice apartment--much nicer...

Zillow Goes Live--Too Soon?

Posted by: Peter Coy on February 08

Rich Barton and crew finally got tired of all the jabs about how long it was taking to launch Zillow.com, their well-funded and well-publicized homebuyer website. Barton even promised to...

Planning Ahead, But How Far?

Posted by: Toddi Gutner on February 07

I’ve got cold feet. Maybe this blog can warm them. My husband and I are 44 and 45, respectively, and we’re starting to think about where we want to spend...

Help for Cash-Poor, House-Rich Senior Citizens

Posted by: Peter Coy on February 03

It didn't get a lot of attention, but last December the House of Representatives passed a bill that should enable more senior citizens to get reverse mortgages. A reverse mortgage...

Will Housing Make Bernanke Cranky?

Posted by: Peter Coy on February 03

He's genial. Personable. Open. He's Ben S. Bernanke, who this Wednesday succeeded Alan Greenspan as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. But Bernanke might get a little cranky in the...