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As the economy again sputters and potential buyers flee — July housing sales sank 26 percent from July 2009 — there is a growing sense of exhaustion with government intervention. Some economists and analysts are now urging a dose of shock therapy tha
Nearly half of all Americans who claimed the first-time homebuyer tax credit on their 2009 tax returns will have to repay the government.
Home prices in the region fell 5 percent in August, as did the number of home sales. It was the second consecutive month of declines.
Homeowners are slashing prices more drastically and more frequently, according to recently released data from ZipRealty. The average price reduction is now 7.1 percent of list price.
The worst market in terms of negative equity is Las Vegas. Nearly 73 percent of all loans are underwater! This is simply incredible. Much of the Las Vegas bubble was built from home equity from places like California.
A report is circulating that some housing sales are being recorded at much higher prices than the true sales prices. The report has the smell of truth.
Imagine what another 20%, 30% or 50% drop in home prices would do. To you yourself, to your neighbors, to your community, your town. And, in the end, the nation.
Now industry executives are questioning whether delaying foreclosures — a strategy contrary to the industry adage that "the first loss is the best loss" — is about to backfire. With home prices expected to fall...
Clearly Florida and Nevada have a large percentage of loans delinquent or in foreclosure. But the delinquency problem is widespread with 36 states and D.C. all having total delinquency rates above 10%.
The following chart shows household formation data. It shows new household formation rates through June 2010. The first half of this year saw negative household formation rates in the US, which is unprecedented.
The government is panicked about what will happen to the economy (and voters) if house prices decline further. By subsidizing mortgages through Fannie and Freddie, therefore, the government is now doing everything it can keep house prices as high...
New home sales fell in July to the lowest level on record as the housing market continued to suffer from the end of the homebuyer tax credit boost. This is after yesterday's report of a 27.2% decline in sales of existing homes.
Housing led the U.S. out of seven of the last eight recessions. This time, it may kill the recovery.
I proposed a solution that recognized the necessity, not the desirability, of using government involvement, which would take the form of rolling FNMA, FHLMC, and other housing agencies into one giant agency – call it GNMA...
But in some new developments, homebuilders are including in contracts a 1% fee to be paid to them every time the house is sold -- for 99 years. And the money doesn't go for improvements or upkeep: It's just money in the builders' pockets.
Existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, dropped 27.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.83 million units in July...
One forecaster (no names!), after hearing about the local sales data, suggested that the NAR “just won’t” publish a sales number that low...
If you are short selling your home or a homeowner thinking about a short sale, you should watch this video!
There seems to be a growing consensus in favor of abolishing Fannie and Freddie. This is the good news. The bad news is instead of simply returning to the free market, Fannie and Freddie will be replaced with something equally damaging.
Bob Walters, chief economist of the online mortgage firm Quicken, acknowledges that the recent collapse will create a “mind scar” just as the Great Depression did. But he argues that housing remains unique.
Amazing ... people still think house prices will go up 10% per year ... For the next 10 years...
While not as important as new home sales, think of all the carpeting, landscaping, appliance upgrades, cabinets, etc., that will all go "poof" right along with this decline.
Nearly half of the 1.3 million homeowners who enrolled in the Obama administration's flagship mortgage-relief program have fallen out. The Treasury Department suggests the $75 billion government effort is failing to slow the tide of foreclosures in t
They've been called McMansions, Starter Castles, Garage Mahals and Faux Chateaus but here's the latest thing you can call them - History.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have become gigantic financial black holes that the U.S. government endlessly pours massive quantities of money into. Unfortunately, if the U.S. government did allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to totally implode...
For decades, owning a home has been touted as the very heart of "the American Dream", but today that dream is out of reach for an increasing number of Americans. Why? It is because there are not nearly enough jobs for everyone.
MERS was developed in the early 1990s by a number of financial entities, including Bank of America, Countrywide, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac, allegedly to allow consumers to pay less for mortgage loans.
The Obama administration called for "fundamental change" at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but a long, politically explosive debate lies ahead on the future of the bailed-out mortgage giants and housing policy that affects millions of Americans and bill
The GSEs are nationalized now in all but writing, this would be logical. Alas, the fact that US Debt to GDP would jump from 90% to 140% may make this proposal a little difficult to implement.
"Right now, there's a whole lot of supply, but very, very little demand. The buyers that drove a flurry of activity during the spring have left a deafening silence in their wake."
