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McCain keeps hands off housing Premium Content

By Marcie Geffner, Friday, August 29, 2008.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain

Real estate professionals who turn to John McCain's Web site for information about his housing policy may be disappointed to discover there's not much there to examine. But the omission of specific plans and programs may be less of an oversight on the candidate's part and more of a statement in and of itself as to his views.  more...

Fed gets it: Credit crisis trumps inflation Premium Content

By Lou Barnes, Friday, August 29, 2008.

Mortgage rates improved again this week, slightly, to 6.375 percent and the 10-year T-note trading often just under 3.8 percent, a resistance level since spring. The improvement anticipates a weakening economy, but a further decline in rates will depend on the fact of weakness. A test comes quickly, in the first August data due next week.  more...

Represent REOs with caution Premium Content

By Bernice Ross, Thursday, August 28, 2008.

Up to 50 percent of all transactions in many markets are foreclosures, short sales and REOs. Like it not, these types of transactions are part of the landscape. While you're busy protecting everyone's interest, are you taking the necessary measures to protect yourself and your brokerage?

Back in the early 1990s, I specialized in representing REOs (properties that the banks had taken back in foreclosure).  more...

Don't let home inspector out of your sight

By Paul Bianchina, Thursday, August 28, 2008.

Q: In as much as there are a great number of current issues regarding disclosure to the purchaser of real property, when, if ever, is it going to be the responsibility of the purchaser to investigate particular items of relevance to them? --George D.  more...

Urban planning's future: people, not cars

By Arrol Gellner, Thursday, August 28, 2008.

What's an architect doing writing about cars, anyway?

I always get indignant e-mails asking me this whenever I criticize some aspect of our autocentric society -- whether it's our parking-obsessed city planning, our mania for fruitless road widening and freeway building, or our laughably primitive traffic control systems.  more...

Tenant suffers damages in plumbing remodel

By Janet Portman, Wednesday, August 27, 2008.

Q: When we moved in, our landlord gave us a one-page, yearlong lease that had just the basics (apartment number, rent, move-in date). It also had a paragraph saying that we agreed to abide by the "House Rules," which could be changed at any time. The rules covered who could park in the lot; use of the laundry and other facilities; fees for late rent; and charges for replacing lost keys.  more...

Employer willing to buy out tenant's lease

By Robert Griswold, Wednesday, August 27, 2008.

Q: I have a tenant who recently signed a two-year lease for my rental home. She just contacted me indicating that she has been approached by her employer about transferring to another city for a promotion with the company. She wanted me to voluntarily let her out of the lease, but I declined, as the rental market here is not that strong and it took me three months to rent the house.  more...

Real estate leads: a long-tail tale

By Teresa Boardman, Wednesday, August 27, 2008.

The spam and the phone calls just keep coming from those companies that promise to put my blog on page one of Google. I am on page one, and in the number one positions for the keywords that they are trying to sell me, and it isn't as wonderful as it sounds. It makes me look smart but doesn't pay the bills.  more...

Get rid of 'buyer's block'

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Wednesday, August 27, 2008.

Q: I have always wanted to own my own home. I have been saving money for five years toward a down payment and I have worked hard to maintain excellent credit, with the idea that I would buy a home when I got married. I got married last year, and my husband and I together can well afford to buy a nice home in our area. Part of the time, we're excited about buying because it seems like prices are really good right now. The other part of the time, though, we watch the news and it seems like the whole world is falling apart. Now we're sort of stuck -- we're not sure what to do.  more...

Eliminate heat loss through floors

By Bill and Kevin Burnett, Tuesday, August 26, 2008.

Q: We have a frame house with a stucco exterior. Part of it is over a crawl space about 3 feet high. The house is bolted to the foundation and the exterior stucco covers the walls down to the ground. On the inside of the crawl space, I can see the 1-by-8 redwood backing for the stucco and we have no problems with termites.  more...

Don't rely on agent's choice for loan, title services

By Tom Kelly, Tuesday, August 26, 2008.

Real estate agents are clearly the most influential persons in every real estate transaction and their power is not reserved for buyers and sellers -- it extends to all professionals involved.

That position of influence becomes magnified in a slower housing market. Everybody is desperate for deals. And, while Realtors typically offer beneficial referrals, consumers should always remember that they have a choice when picking the various players in the home-buying process -- appraisal, credit report, title report, escrow company, mortgage company, etc.  more...

Rules, creepers and one-way streets Premium Content

By Kris Berg, Tuesday, August 26, 2008.

Rules. We have buckets of rules for our social behavior, and the rules can be confusing. Many of these rules we learn over time. We know that a graduation announcement is not really an invitation to the event, but just an invitation to send money.  more...

Home inspection nightmare: Attic access denied

By Barry Stone, Monday, August 25, 2008.

DEAR BARRY: When we bought our home, the sellers prevented our home inspector from inspecting the attic. They simply told him that there was no access, and he merely confirmed this in his inspection report. We later discovered that the access was on the wall of the master closet, behind some clothes. Our concern now is whether we have asbestos insulation in our attic. If so, are the sellers liable for asbestos removal? --Kim  more...

Obama's housing plan is long on rhetoric Premium Content

By Marcie Geffner, Monday, August 25, 2008.
Image from barackobama.com.

As Democratic delegates and power brokers prepare in Denver, Colo., for the political party's presidential convention that begins tonight, real estate and mortgage professionals and homeowners may be curious about likely nominee Barak Obama's housing proposals.

The candidate's three-page housing policy statement doesn't say how many houses Obama owns (one), but offers plenty of speculation about ...  more...

Real estate by the numbers Premium Content

By Alison Rogers, Sunday, August 24, 2008.

I work with words a lot, but I wouldn't love real estate the way I do if I didn't have a feel for numbers too. So over the past week, as I've been reading news stories, I've been making notes about some interesting numbers that have popped up here and there. Sometimes my curiosity would lead me to track down another number -- all data is as current as possible.  more...

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