May 2007 - MND NewsWire

In our on going series of articles about Second Life, the enormously popular make-believe on-line universe, we come back to the question of whether one can or WHY on earth they would own virtual real estate.

Anshe Chung would probably give you a loud and clear "yes." Chung is the avatar of a Chinese-born teacher living in Germany who claims to own about a million dollars in virtual land in Second Life; land that she buys, sells, leases, and employs several people to help her manage...

There is some additional news and a bit of a sidebar to the story about the 60 Minutes feature on Redfin a week or so ago and the strong reaction of the National Association of Realtors to that story. The run-up can be read here.

According to Frank Nothaft, vice present and chief economist of Freddie Mac, "Mortgage rates inched up this week following the Federal Open Market Committee statement reiterating that the predominant concern remains the risk that inflation will fail to moderate as expected. However...

Never underestimate Sir Richard Branson.

The mega-millionaire Brit has been an innovator from the beginning of his career and now it is hard to remember exactly when and where that started because his company, Virgin, is into so many industries and Sir. Richard himself seems to be everywhere. Now Virgin is officially in the mortgage business.

But it is a mortgage business with a real twist...

But a big part of the Second Life economy is virtual real estate and besides entrepreneurship many factors motivate residents to purchase property. People want privacy in their second life, they want a place to bring their friends or gather with people of similar interests, and they want a place to use Second Life's creative tools to build homes, castles, and fantastical structures. All of this is driving an active and pricey real estate market. And some surprising players in the real world of real estate are taking notice.

"Low employment growth in April - the slowest pace since November 2004 - and downward revisions to both February and March job growth tempered market concerns of future increases in the rate of inflation," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. "As a result, mortgage rates were little changed this week."

The Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ended May 11 showed a little more definitive movement...

Every so often a house comes on the market that is said to be stigmatized. Most of the time the stigma is in the mind of one or two buyers, but sometimes it will be a serious issue for multiple buyers and can affect the marketing of the property.

The two mortgage rate surveys we follow each week showed few significant changes for the weeks ended May 3 (Freddie Mac) and May 4 (Mortgage Bankers Association) although the MBA data did show a substantial change in the 30-year fixed rate mortgage (FRM) rate.

"Interestingly, the refinance share of mortgage applications has been on a downward trend from a recent peak of nearly 53 percent in December, 2006 to around 42 percent last week. But a majority of refinancing...