Archives: April 2006

New Home Sales Jump, But Beware

Posted by: Peter Coy on April 26

Don't be too impressed by today's Census Bureau report that new home sales in March rose 13.8% from February. First of all, these numbers fluctuate wildly. Sales had fallen 10.9%...

Raw Land for Retirement

Posted by: Toddi Gutner on April 25

A few months ago I blogged about whether my husband and I should buy a vacation home. The idea was that we will use it in the next ten years...

Gen Y Goes House-Shopping

Posted by: Peter Coy on April 20

Once upon a time, when Baby Boomers were really babies, people thought of houses as places to live. How quaint. The modern conviction is that houses are actually ... investments!...

Remodeling Growth Is Cooling, Too

Posted by: Peter Coy on April 19

It's not just the growth rate of construction that's tapering off. According to a study released today by Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, spending on remodeling grew a modest...

The "Official" Real Estate Industry Blog

Posted by: Peter Coy on April 19

Here's one of the first posts from www.realblogging.com, which bills itself as "the official real estate industry blog": "RealBlogging was created to fill the need of a national blog for...

Housing Construction Softens

Posted by: Peter Coy on April 18

It's probably a healthy sign that starts on construction of homes fell 7.8% in March, as the Census Bureau reported today. It's healthy because the pace of construction was getting...

Zeroing in on Zillow

Posted by: Tim Mullaney on April 13

The new goodie at Zillow.com is an upgraded satellite mapping feature that lets you zero in much more closely on a house you want to know more about. As the company says, "it's the difference between seeing a picture of someone's roof (on most satellite mapping sites) and seeing a picture of their house."

So that's why he thinks this house is worth half a mil

Posted by: Tim Mullaney on April 12

A hat tip to Inman News Service for uncovering brave Colorado legislators rushing to fix what really scares us about this housing market: The chance that that dream house you're...

How to Opt Out from Credit Offers

Posted by: Peter Coy on April 12

Thanks to David Porter at Pacesetter Mortgage in Michigan for explaining how you can get your name taken off the list for getting unsolicited loan offers. Here's a link to...

Second Home Blues

Posted by: Toddi Gutner on April 11

It is no surprise that vacation and investment homes sales both set records in 2005, according to the recently-released the National Association of Realtors’ annual report. Four out of 10...

Is Your Privacy Being Invaded By Lenders?

Posted by: Peter Coy on April 11

When you apply for a mortgage, or even quietly ask for a rate quote, don't be surprised if that sensitive information almost immediately gets into the hands of other lenders,...

Overvalued Real Estate

Posted by: Peter Coy on April 10

We scan the blogosphere so you don't have to. Check out a great little blog called America's Overvalued Real Estate. The top item right now is about a 299-square-foot house...

State Taxes: Vermont vs. New Hampshire

Posted by: Peter Coy on April 08

Vermont and New Hampshire may be geographic twins, but they are fiscal opposites. Vermont (right-hand flag) had the highest state tax burden per person in the nation this past fiscal...

Follow the condos

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on April 06

When Doug Duncan, chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association, wants to get a forward peek at housing prices he looks at condos. “A higher share of them are...

The Other Real Estate Market...

Posted by: Toddi Gutner on April 06

There is a lot more to real estate than residential homes. Glenn Mueller, the investment strategist at Dividend Capital Group, a real estate investment company, recently completed his market cycle...

More On 'Media Hype'

Posted by: Peter Coy on April 06

My blogging colleague Toddi Gutner got a good discussion going last week when she asked whether or not "housing bubble" talk was just a lot of media hype. Hot Property...

Whether, and How, to Remodel

Posted by: Peter Coy on April 06

I get steamed every time I hear someone say that remodeling pays for itself. In a booming market it might look like the remodeling is paying for itself, but in...