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Low prices not helping housing Premium Content

By Lou Barnes, Friday, October 30, 2009.

Credit markets shrugged off news of 3.5 percent gross domestic product growth in the third quarter, and the 10-year T-note has repeatedly held tests of 3.5 percent (3.41 percent now), mortgages 5.125 percent or better.

The GDP news intermittently ignited the stock market and caused new speculation that the Fed will soon make noises preliminary to tightening credit. (Razzing from the skeptical side: If the Fed tightened credit, how could anyone tell?)

Stripped of "Cash for Clunkers" and weird inventory adjustment, GDP really grew only about 1.5 percent, and that was mostly due to other government stimulus.  more...

Contemplating $10M condo repair

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Friday, October 30, 2009.

Q: I bought a condo from an agent and she gave me the packet of disclosures and told me to read everything, which I did. I saw that there was a special assessment for $7,000 coming up, and she gave me some notes that basically state that the board does not anticipate any increases in dues.

Needless to say, since I moved here the dues have gone up from $350 to $460! At the last board meeting I found out that there is a $10 million repair project slated for 2028. The board sued the builder over this problem, and settled out of court for $1 million. Why the board didn't fix it then I do not know. They decided to wait 30 years to fix it when, due to inflation, it will cost $10 million! (The board has only $2.5 million in reserves right now.)  more...

Downside to high-efficiency furnace?

By Paul Bianchina, Friday, October 30, 2009.

Q: Is a high-efficiency furnace more likely to break down compared to a mid- or low-efficiency one?

A: High-efficiency furnaces, those with a rating of 82 percent to more than 96 percent efficiency, are designed to extract and utilize some of the waste heat that would otherwise be exhausted out through the flue. Accomplishing this task requires additional fans, valves and electronic controls within the furnace, and with more moving parts you have more things that can go wrong and therefore additional potential for breakdowns. However, I'm not aware of any substantial reliability issues that would cause me to shy away from purchasing a high-efficiency unit.  more...

Loan mod 'insanity' Premium Content

By Steve Bergsman, Friday, October 30, 2009.
Flickr image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ginnerobot/2976270292/in/photostream/" target=blank>ginnerobot</a>.

While I applaud President Barack Obama's plan to rescue the housing market through the restructuring of distressed mortgages, the current landscape of loan modifications appears to be something of a bad joke, littered with inept, if not fraudulent, practices by many loan servicers.

"Insanity" is the word Jay Meadows uses to describe current loan modification efforts.  more...

Beating out multiple bids

By Bernice Ross, Friday, October 30, 2009.
Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/soschilds/790808573/" target=blank>A. www.viajar24h.com</a>.

DEAR BERNICE: I can't speak for anywhere else in the country, but there are just no decent houses for sale in our area. We wrote a good offer on one house and discovered there were four other offers on the property. The owner wrote a counteroffer that was higher than the original asking price. We didn't think we would have to pay more than the asking price to get the property. I've heard of people bidding up properties, but I didn't think it was happening in today's market. If we end up in another multiple-offer competition what can we do to make sure we get the property without overpaying? --Jeanette H.

DEAR JEANETTE: Many places in the country are reporting one to three months of inventory in the first-time-buyer price ranges.  more...