Home

Gloomy outlook for loan mods Premium Content

By Matt Carter, Friday, October 9, 2009.

The Obama administration's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) is too focused on subprime loans to head off a projected 10 million to 12 million foreclosure starts that lie ahead if unemployment remains elevated, according to a report by a Congressional Oversight Panel.

The panel, created in conjunction with the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to keep tabs on financial markets and the regulatory system, said that even if the HAMP program meets a goal of facilitating up to 4 million loan modifications, its scope is too narrow to address foreclosures caused by unemployment.  more...

Who is in charge here? Premium Content

By Lou Barnes, Friday, October 9, 2009.
Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/devnull/194923942" target=blank>dev null</a>.

Long-term rates are rising today, the all-important 10-year Treasury suddenly above the 3.16-3.28 percent range that gave us sub-5 percent mortgages for the first time since spring. Gone now, pushing 5.125 percent, the 10-year trading 3.37 percent at this moment.

Ordinarily, a range breakout like this would signal a run to the top of the old range, 10-year Treasurys testing 4 percent as in summer, mortgages at 5.75 percent. However, nothing in this moment is ordinary -- not remotely predictable with normal tools.  more...

Mortgage rates breaking records

By Inman News, Friday, October 9, 2009.

Rates on several types of mortgages were at or near historic lows this week, helping spur demand for purchase and refinance loans, Freddie Mac said in releasing the results of its weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.87 percent with an average 0.7 point, down from 4.94 percent last week and 5.94 percent a year ago.  more...

Index: Inventories shrank again in August

By Inman News, Friday, October 9, 2009.

The number of for-sale listings in 26 metro markets where ZipRealty operates declined 1.8 percent from August to September, the company said, marking the 15th consecutive month-over-month decline in housing inventory.

Inventories shrank from month to month in all but four of the markets covered in ZipRealty's Housing Inventory Index, the company said. Inventories of single-family homes and condos were up in Boston (2.2 percent), Baltimore (1.5 percent), Sacramento (1.3 percent), and Charlotte, N.C. (0.2 percent).  more...

Freddie Mac REO incentive ending

By Inman News, Friday, October 9, 2009.

A program in which Freddie Mac pays some or all of the closing costs on purchases of homes in the company's real estate-owned (REO) inventory is ending this month, but Freddie will continue to provide two years of home warranty coverage on homes it sells.

Freddie Mac's SmartBuy program pays closing costs of up to 3.5 percent of a home's purchase price. On a $150,000 home, for example, SmartBuy will pay up to $5,250 of closing costs.  more...

Buyer stuck with convicts next door

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Friday, October 9, 2009.

Q: I live in a gated community of upscale, luxury homes. I bought my house directly from the builder, brand-new about two years ago. Our homeowners association (HOA) is just getting up and running, as the development gets close to being sold out.

Recently, my neighbor discovered on the Web that a sex offender was registered as living in the house next door to me. We did some research with the county and found out that the house has been converted into something similar to a halfway house for convicted sex and other violent offenders! So, now there are 10 men living there who all have criminal records (it's a five-bedroom house). I'm retired, so I feel like I'm trapped behind the gates with these guys all day every day, plus there are kids in a lot of these houses, and I'm fearful something very bad might happen.  more...

Paying for an architect's brain

By Arrol Gellner, Friday, October 9, 2009.

A while back, I was half-listening to a radio talk show when a guest's comment struck me like a bolt from the blue. New York Times Magazine columnist Lisa Sanders, a practicing physician, was talking about the basic problem with America's health care system. What caught my attention was the following statement:

"Thinking, which is really what a doctor does -- thinking, examining, questioning -- is not valued by the system. We value doing rather than thinking."  more...

Sizing up electric wall heaters

By Paul Bianchina, Friday, October 9, 2009.

With winter on its way, you may be thinking about some different options for warming up those cold rooms. If you don't like the idea of moving portable heaters around and you're looking for something permanent, an electric heater might be just the solution you need.

There are several types of electric heaters available, but the two most common styles are probably the wall-mounted can style, and the baseboard style.  more...

Real estate Twitter tips Premium Content

By Joseph Ferrara, Friday, October 9, 2009.
Flickr image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/itzybros/2868382361/">itzybros</a>.

"Speed kills ... except for real estate." --Anonymous

People are using Twitter to share their experiences. They are also using it for crowdsourcing: posing questions and problems to a group of people.

They are hoping for a quick and useful reply. They tweet (post on Twitter) for advice. They tweet for referrals. They tweet for real estate advice. Yes, they tweet that they are looking for homes ... and Realtors. No kidding.  more...

Real estate 'deadbeats' stay but don't pay

By Steve Bergsman, Friday, October 9, 2009.

My wife's sister's husband's family lives in a condominium on Florida's Gold Coast in which they are no longer making any mortgage payments.

"How does that happen," my wife asked me.

As always, I turned to experts to find out.  more...

Ditching a condo contract? Not easy

By The Real Deal, Friday, October 9, 2009.

NEW YORK -- It's often said that the devil is in the details -- and for many New York City buyers and sellers, that's increasingly become the case in the down market.

New development brokers and real estate lawyers say many of the attempts they are seeing among buyers to get out of contracts are from those arguing that the measurements on their condos are different from what they were promised. They say that sometimes buyers will invoke the claim over a minor quibble, such as small floorplan discrepancies or an inch or two difference in ceiling height.  more...