Archives: December 2007

Happy New Year!

Posted by: Peter Coy on December 28

Happy, that is, if you're a renter who's looking to buy. Evidence is mounting that prices will continue to fall substantially in 2008. Think of it this way: When...

Schussing the black diamond: home prices go straight down

Posted by: Peter Coy on December 26

To a skier, schussing a black diamond means going straight down a very steep trail. Which pretty much describes what's happening to the housing market--and not just in ski...

Don't commit credit score suicide

Posted by: Peter Coy on December 26

Pamela Yip of The Dallas Morning News warns borrowers not to worsen their credit scores deliberately in hopes of qualifying for a rate freeze under the Hope Now initiative...

Getting an F in Flipping

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on December 24

I got a call recently from a woman with a wild tale about a real estate investment she'd made as part of her studies at business school. Jill Bigelow said...

Why buy used when you can buy a new home for less?

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on December 21

Builders these days are being forced to discount new home prices so heavily that it’s actually cheaper -- at least in some pockets -- to buy new than used, Hovnanian...

A Builder to Buy?

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on December 20

Homebuilder shares took another beating yesterday after Hovnanian Enterprises announced a wider than expected loss and saw its stock price fall 17%. "Fiscal '08 will clearly be a difficult...

The Foreclosure Tide Turns

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on December 19

Interest rate cuts, borrower-friendly legislation, President Bush and even Alan Greenspan stumping for homeowner debt relief. Could all of this actually be slowing the foreclosure tide? The latest numbers from...

"Dizzying" home prices in China

Posted by: Peter Coy on December 17

You may have heard that a housing bubble is popping in China. Not so, says China Daily. The newspaper says that prices are still rising briskly--and that's not a good...

Real estate agents expected to collect $55 billion in commissions this year

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on December 14

Home sales have fallen throughout most of the country, but real estate agent commissions appear to be holding steady at just over 5%, according to a new report by Foresalebyowner.com....

Presidential hopefuls living large

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on December 13

The candidates like to talk about everyday Americans, but as a new Newsweek article makes clear, nothing is average about the way they live. In addition to his ski lodge...

A Portrait of Ben

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on December 11

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates as expected today. The stock market fell. Wall Street wanted more than a quarter percentage point cut. Those in the real estate biz...

How'd we get in this mess? Here's how...

Posted by: Dean Foust on December 10

All the headlines over the debt burdens that consumers are dragging around made me think of this old skit from Saturday Night Live featuring Steve Martin. In it, the...

The subprime suckers who paid on time

Posted by: Peter Coy on December 06

I predict a rising backlash by on-time subprime borrowers against the Bush administration's Teaser Freezer bailout plan. As far as I can tell, on-time borrowers wouldn't be helped, even...

HotPads

Posted by: Peter Coy on December 06

Check out HotPads.com, a free website for finding homes to rent or buy. It was started by three former Notre Dame roomies and seems to be thriving. Here's a review...

Delinquencies highest since at least 1986: Things are bad in Florida, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana

Posted by: Peter Coy on December 06

The Mortgage Bankers Association said today that delinquencies in the third quarter were at their highest rate since it began surveying in 1986. It was 5.59% seasonally adjusted, up...

Remodeling Blues

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on December 03

As anyone who's done home remodeling knows, it costs more and takes longer than you originally planned. Now the latest data from the National Association of Realtors and real estate...