Archives: March 2008

Will paying a higher commission help sell your home faster?

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on March 31

Selling a home is expensive -- especially after agents take their 5% or 6% cut. But as we reported on March 20, some Realtors have started charging commissions of...

Washington DC Bubble? The Debate Rages

Posted by: Dean Foust on March 31

We’re a victim of our own success. A little less than three years ago I wrote an entry to this blog, titled “Washington DC Bubble?” that was fueled off...

Inner cities are getting mauled by foreclosures

Posted by: Peter Coy on March 28

A new study by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City says that inner cities are being harmed even worse than other parts of the country by the foreclosure crisis....

A housing economist who doesn't want the Fed to cut

Posted by: Peter Coy on March 25

Econ 101 says lower interest rates are good for the housing market. But the chief economist of the National Association of Realtors, Lawrence Yun, worries there could be too...

The Parking Problem

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on March 21

Hat’s off to my colleagues Michael Mandel and Peter Coy for their timely cover story on the monumental challenges and efforts by Fed chief Ben Bernanke to stave off...

The Fed's Big Move

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on March 18

The Federal Reserve takes a huge gulp and slashes its key interest rate 3/4s of a percent. The stock market cheers. But on Realtor oriented Web sites such as...

'Hope Now' Hot Line Frustrates Borrowers Needing Help Now

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on March 14

A telephone hot line run by the Hope Now Alliance, a public-private partnership launched by the White House in October as a lifeline for homeowners facing foreclosure, appears to...

Hop aboard the Foreclosure Bus!

Posted by: Dean Foust on March 12

So it's come to this: Enterprising real estate agents -- desperate for a sale -- have taken to organizing "foreclosure bus tours" for prospective buyers and investors. This from Inman...

Finding Foreclosures for Free Online

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on March 11

I can remember during the last great real estate bust in the early 90s, I went to a real estate expo at an arena in New Jersey. Banks had...

DC real estate rebounding?

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on March 10

Average home prices in Washington D.C. and nearby suburbs are on the rise, according to data from the Center for Regional Analysis at the George Mason University School of...

Who caused the housing meltdown? She did.

Posted by: Dean Foust on March 07

Who caused the housing meltdown? Stephen Colbert, intrepid reporter that he is, has found the culprit. It's this little girl. Here's his evidence. Why didn't I think of this???...

Back to 2004?

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on March 05

Economist Robert Samuelson argues today in the Washington Post that home prices have to fall at least 20%, back to 2004 levels, before sales can start to climb again and...

Ben Says It Like It Is

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on March 04

Fed Chief Ben Bernanke has been criticized for shifting course a bit too much, raising interest rates, then lowering them, and not moving swiftly to address the housing crisis....

Home sales could be improving in a handful of major cities

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on March 03

The housing slump is deepening, spreading and showing little sign of letting up. But home sale transactions in December picked up a bit in Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, Sacramento and San...