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Clinton's Law: 'It's the economy ...' Premium Content

By Lou Barnes, Friday, August 14, 2009.
Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/brent_nashville/166218527/" target=blank>Brent and MariLynn</a>.

Long-term interest rates fell this week, and a lot: the 10-year T-note from its 3.85 percent peak last week to 3.51 percent, which took mortgages from 5.75 percent to 5.375 percent.

This move thoroughly contradicts the one-way stock-market exuberance and the inventive reading of new data and the Fed's post-meeting statement.

One day, when the "Green Shooter" economic optimists have it right, the bond market will get killed by the news, rates racing up.  more...

5 seller mistakes to avoid

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Friday, August 14, 2009.

Q: My home has been on the market for almost a year. My Realtor also sold it to me and also sold my last two homes, and does a lot of sales in my neighborhood. She told me to list it at $599,000, but I really couldn't afford to eat that much of a loss, so I had it listed at $699,000.

Anyhow, I keep reading about how the market is rebounding now. I see other homes getting multiple offers in a fairly short period of time, and I've got nothing. I know my agent spent a lot of money advertising the place, but I'm tired of having conflict with her. So, I just asked my Realtor to cancel the listing and relisted it with another agent who wouldn't take the listing priced any higher than $599,000. What did I do wrong, here?  more...

Rethinking the full-price offer

By Paul Bianchina, Friday, August 14, 2009.

Q: I am a first-time homebuyer. The asking price was $275,000, and I offered the whole thing. The home is in my son's school district and one of the only nice ones that have come up in months. I didn't want to lose out on the opportunity. However, the inspector found a few major problems, and my Realtor and I were present for the inspection.

First: The roof needs replacing.

Second: The seller's husband (who is now deceased) finished the basement himself. Apparently it isn't up to code and no permits were pulled.  more...

So you wanna be an architect?

By Arrol Gellner, Friday, August 14, 2009.

At least once a year, some bright-eyed young student calls me up and, either out of academic compulsion or actual interest, asks to interview me about the architectural profession.

I can never say no to these requests, because I had to do the same thing when I was in school. But as much as I try to put a happy face on my profession, when our little chat is over, these kids always seem to leave a bit discombobulated, their image of the architect suddenly not so much Fountainhead as Mr. Potato Head.  more...

Davenport weathers real estate storm Premium Content

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Friday, August 14, 2009.
Flick image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/brightmeadow/415523543/">Bright Meadow</a>.

Davenport, Iowa, may not jump to mind as a nation-leading real estate market.

And the area's real estate professionals, too, seem a bit shocked and cautious about a nearly 31 percent jump in the area's median resale home price from second-quarter 2008 to second-quarter 2009, reported by the National Association of Realtors trade group this week.

"This is not headlines. It's just plain business as usual," said Lucky Lang, a top-producing Realtor for Mel Foster Co. Inc. in Davenport.  more...

Capped ARMs a good financing alternative

By Steve Bergsman, Friday, August 14, 2009.

It's been two years since the subprime mortgage market blew up taking down the residential housing industry and eventually the economy. While everyone's hoping the end of the property blues will be reached this year, there are still some sectors, such as commercial real estate, that were late coming into the down cycle and still have a long way to fall.

I bring this up because a lot of small investors after successfully dabbling in the residential markets, picking up forlorn properties cheap and either fixing to sell or holding as a rental units, are realizing it might be time to move up the real estate food chain.  more...

Price cut on 1 in 4 listings

By Inman News, Friday, August 14, 2009.

One in four homes on the market as of Aug. 1 had its asking price reduced at least once, although price reductions were smaller on average in July than June, according to an analysis by real estate search site Trulia.

Price reductions averaged 10 percent from the original listing price in July, compared to 10.6 percent in June, Trulia said. Luxury homes -- defined as those priced at $2 million and above -- tended to take a bigger hit, with an average reduction of 14 percent.  more...

Landlord too lax on noise enforcement

By Robert Griswold, Friday, August 14, 2009.

Q: I have a question about noise. I live on the ground floor of a four-story "luxury" apartment community. We have a "quiet hours" clause written in all of our leases that states residents must be quiet from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. The tenants who just moved in above me, a family of four, make a lot of noise between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. almost every night.

I've informed the landlord and even bought a video camera to record the noises along with the times. I've shown several tapes to the landlord and he agrees that the noises (which include children screaming, running around, thumping, thuds and loud banging noises, in addition to foot traffic) are excessive. However, the tenants have continued virtually unabated with their noise-making.  more...

Realogy haunted by Cendant's past Premium Content

By Matt Carter, Friday, August 14, 2009.
Flickr image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/redjar/113152393/in/photostream/" target=blank>redjar</a>.

More than three years after being spun off as an independent company, Realogy Corp. remains saddled by an agreement to cover the lion's share of some unresolved liabilities of its former parent, Cendant Corp., including legal judgments and a potential $476 million back-tax bill.

In a regulatory filing detailing the company's second-quarter results, Realogy said it recently paid $62 million of a $98 million legal judgment against Cendant, as required by separation and distribution agreements between Cendant and three companies it spun off in 2006.  more...