Archives: December 2006

Too Many Realtors

Posted by: Peter Coy on December 29

Whether the housing market is stabilizing or not, it seems pretty clear that there are still too many people in the U.S. trying to make a living selling houses. The...

In Mortgage Lending, Big Is Better

Posted by: Peter Coy on December 20

J.D. Power and Associates, a sister unit of BusinessWeek in The McGraw-Hill Companies, came out last week with a report on overall customer satisfaction with primary mortgage lenders. Here are...

Foreclosure: How Big a Risk?

Posted by: Peter Coy on December 19

A study out today from the Center for Responsible Lending predicts that subprime borrowers are going to lose their homes to foreclosure on a massive scale. Looking at more than...

What's out!

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on December 15

A couple of days ago I shared author Mark Nash's research on some hot new trends in housing. Here's the opposite--what Nash says is out in 2007. -"As is" in...

Where's Your Man Cave?

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on December 13

December is when publications like to forecast upcoming trends for the new year. Mark Nash, author of a number of books on real estate, has come up with some good...

'Creative Shrinkage' in Youngstown

Posted by: Peter Coy on December 11

The population of Youngstown, Ohio, has fallen by more than half from its glory days as a steel city. Lots of buildings are empty. Instead of trying to grow, Youngstown...

Homebuilder Stocks Down From Their Highs

Posted by: Peter Coy on December 08

I have an article in the latest issue of BusinessWeek contrasting the perspectives of Wall Street and Main Street in the housing market. I say that potential homebuyers on Main...

Zillow's New Feature: 'Make Me Move'

Posted by: Peter Coy on December 07

You've probably seen this bumper sticker: "If you're rich, I'm single." The fertile minds at online real estate startup Zillow.com have come up with its real estate equivalent: "Make me...

The Home You Don't Own

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on December 05

The destination clubs business had been a fast-growing one until industry pioneer Tanner and Haley went under earlier this year. The business is sort of like time shares but customers...

Tom Wolfe Takes on the Developers

Posted by: Peter Coy on December 03

Tom Wolfe is rarely at a loss for words. This past Sunday, the dapper novelist (Bonfire of the Vanities, A Man in Full, etc., etc.) and preservationist issued a 3,644-word...

From Nimby* to Banana**--The Challenge for Developers

Posted by: Peter Coy on December 02

Opposition to development of single-family homes and condominiums decreased a bit in the latest survey of residents' attitudes by Boston-based Saint Consulting Group. Here's a long excerpt from its press...

The South and the West Will Go Grayer Faster

Posted by: Peter Coy on December 01

As boomers "age in place" and new ones move in, the Sun Belt and Western states will age much faster than the Rust Belt and the Plains states. That's the...