Archives: August 2008

Don't Sell Those Ginnie Maes

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on August 29

If you haven’t already discovered it HSH Associates runs a great Web site with lots of free data for checking the latest mortgage rates. One of the things I keep...

Putting the real estate slump in perspective

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on August 28

Unlike previous housing slumps, the one we're in now has spread from coast to coast. But that doesn't mean that every market is suffering equally. The worst markets -- the...

Houston's High-Octane Housing Market

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on August 27

It’s nice to know some parts of the country are still seeing home prices climb—one of them is Houston, the energy capital of the U.S. The Houston Association of...

New iPhone home-finder app could have consequences for the struggling newspaper industry

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on August 26

Newspapers across the country are in turmoil as advertising revenue continues to flood out of print and onto the Web. Classified advertisements, especially the real estate listings that papers...

Where Bottom-Fishers are Fishing?

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on August 26

Home search site Realtor.com gives us a list of the markets showing the biggest increase in searches on their site in July, versus the same month a year ago....

The good and bad in the latest housing report

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on August 25

First the good news. Home sales in July jumped by 3.1%, the highest level in five months, the inventory of unsold single-family homes declined slightly, and home prices in the...

Is the Trump Organization too late for India's real estate party?

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on August 19

Donald Trump Jr., The Donald's 30-year-old son and the Trump Organization USA's executive vice president of development and acquisitions, recently announced that he's launching a $1 billion Indian hedge fund...

Inside the House of Blues

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on August 18

Citigroup analyst Josh Levin picked a gutsy time to initiate coverage of home builder stocks. It’s telling too that he called his first report House of Blues. Levin paints...

What's going on? Home sales booming in bad markets, sinking in good ones.

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on August 15

I was playing around this morning with the National Association of Realtors’ second-quarter home sales data (I know, I lead an exciting life) and I noticed something startling. We’re...

I'm Going Online First

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on August 14

Avoiding Realtor commissions might seem like a good idea now that home prices are falling and many people owe more in mortgages than their homes are worth. Free sites...

It's Called Negative Equity

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on August 12

Real estate Web site Zillow.com released data today suggesting that the average U.S. home fell 10% in value in the past year, to $207,000. That was the largest year-over-year decline...

If Greenspan and Bernanke were into instant messaging ...

Posted by: Peter Coy on August 11

Ordinarily I wouldn't point you to something that came out way back in March, but I just saw it today and it's funny. Bess Levin of Dealbreaker.com imagines an IM...

One way to avoid foreclosure: live with a stranger

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on August 08

It seems that more and more Americans faced with foreclosure are renting out rooms in their homes to help pay the mortgage. Of course, this is a trend that is...

Pending home sales numbers weren't good after all

Posted by: Peter Coy on August 08

I like this blog by Barry Ritholtz. Lots of news media reports were encouraged by the Realtors' report on pending home sales, which showed a monthly gain. Some even...

Do College Towns Make Good Investments?

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on August 08

If your kid is heading off to college this fall, does it make sense to buy him a place to live? In many cities the answer is yes, according...

This is what a foreclosure auction looks like

Posted by: Dean Foust on August 07

Ever wonder what a foreclosure auction looks like, y'know the ones held on the proverbial courthouse steps? I do, and this raw footage from a San Diego courthouse auction...

Union of construction laborers sounds off on subprime

Posted by: Peter Coy on August 06

Guest blog by BusinessWeek Associate Editor Mara Der Hovanesian, who has closely followed the housing bubble and bust: Some of the hardest hit neighborhoods across America are ones that never...

Denial is Not Just a River in Egypt

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on August 05

Perception vs. Reality was an ad campaign Rolling Stone magazine used to convince advertisers its readers weren’t unemployed hippies living in old VW campers but instead wealthy members of...

Latest prediction: California's housing market will hit bottom first

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on August 01

It’s easy to call a bottom to the housing slump. The tough part is getting the timing right. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has made many such predictions. "All the signs...

Why Do We Listen to this Man?

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on August 01

Former Fed Chief Alan Greenspan sent the stock market into a tailspin this week after declaring home prices were "nowhere near the bottom." Just a month ago Greenspan said:...