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NEW Permits and Housing Starts Reflect Builder Optimism

Mon, Jan 22 2007, 8:00 AM

Home builders are growing increasingly more confident about the economy and the real estate market and that was reflected in the most recent report...

NEW Mortgage Rates Up and MBA Issues Long Term Forecast

Thu, Jan 18 2007, 8:00 AM

Both long and short term interest rates were up again during the week ended January 11 according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. ...

NEW Luxury Home Sales Hold Their Own In Down Housing Market

Wed, Jan 17 2007, 8:00 AM

The housing market is in a bit of a funk and home prices are not rising as fast as they did a year or so ago, but the outrageously expensive home ...

NEW Freddie Mac: Three Trends Will Impact Home Market and Financing

Tue, Jan 16 2007, 8:00 AM

The January 2007 Economic Outlook which is published last week by the Office of the Chief Economist at Freddie Mac was headlined " The Remodeled Hou...

NEW NAR To Launch $40 Million Ad Campaign

Fri, Jan 12 2007, 8:00 AM

The National Association of Realtors is not sitting back and waiting for the housing downturn to end. The association, one of if not the largest p...

NEW Freddie Mac Releases Results Of Annual ARM Survey

Thu, Jan 11 2007, 8:00 AM

Freddie Mac 23rd Annual Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) Survey released last week contained few surprises. The three major findings were:

NEW Mortgage Rates Take A New Year Holiday

Wed, Jan 10 2007, 8:00 AM

Mortgage interest rates were virtually unchanged during the first week of 2007 according to Freddie Mac's weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey. Ac...

NEW Reply.com Moves To Corner A Niche Of The Real Estate Industry

Mon, Jan 8 2007, 8:00 AM

The Web is truly getting crowded with real estate web sites, each trying to carve out its own niche. Reply.com has taken a different approach. Rat...

NEW Green House Exhibit Is An Invitation To Think Twice About The Environment

Fri, Jan 5 2007, 8:00 AM

The main reason we ventured to Washington D.C. and the National Bu...

NEW Mortgage Rates Move Higher On Consumer Spending and Calendar

Wed, Jan 3 2007, 8:00 AM

Inflation jitters caused mortgages rates to increase a bit during the last full week of 2006 according to the Primary Mortgage Market Survey relea...

NEW Federal Reserve Issues New CHARM Handbook for Consumers and Lenders

Tue, Jan 2 2007, 8:00 AM

The Federal Reserve Board seldom giveth, but they did send home buyers and owners as well as real estate professionals a bit of a holiday present la...

NEW Is The End Of The End Of The Housing Bubble Near?

Fri, Dec 29 2006, 8:00 AM

Is it the end of the end of the housing bubble ? The National Association of Realtors (NAR) seemed to think so as it issued its November report on ...

NEW Realogy Sale Not Necessarily A Done Deal

Thu, Dec 28 2006, 8:00 AM

The widely reported purchase of Realogy by Apollo Management LP last week may just be the opening move in a wild and wooly auction for the company...

NEW Mortgage Rates Drift and Activity Slows During Pre-Holiday Week

Wed, Dec 27 2006, 8:00 AM

While mortgage activity was down sharply - and expectedly - during the pre-Christmas week at least one mortgage expert saw reason to hope for a busy...

NEW Housing Starts, Permits and Builder Confidence Stabilize In Recent Surveys

Tue, Dec 26 2006, 8:00 AM

Housing permits and starts in November were mixed when compared to October levels according to figures released this week by the U.S. Census Bure...

NEW Clarifications About The Zillow Website

Fri, Dec 22 2006, 8:00 AM

Shortly after our recent article on Zillow's upgrades was published, we recei...

NEW Mortgage Rates And Volume Flatten In Pre-Holiday Market

Thu, Dec 21 2006, 8:00 AM

Mortgage rates were fairly stagnant during the week ended December 14 according to the Primary Mortgage Market Survey released by Freddie Mac. Fra...

NEW Zillow Announces Upgrades To Site As First Birthday Approaches

Wed, Dec 20 2006, 8:00 AM

In a press release earlier this month, the Zillow folks announced a " major upgrade ; homeowners and agents can now post homes for sale, for free." Th...

NEW Three Ex-Fannie Mae Execs Hit With Massive Civil Charges

Tue, Dec 19 2006, 8:00 AM

And just when things were starting to look up for Fannie Mae ! Then Monday the other shoe fell. Actually it was more like an axe. The Office of Fed...

NEW Fannie Mae Plays Catchup With SEC and Sues Its Former Auditor

Mon, Dec 18 2006, 8:00 AM

December is starting off with a bang for Fannie Mae . On December 6 the mortgage giant announced that it had (finally) finished a restatement of ...

NEW Mortgage Rates Remain Low While Applications Reach Recent Highs

Thu, Dec 14 2006, 8:00 AM

"Continued signs of slowing in the housing market and weakness in the manufacturing sector helped keep mortgage rates down this week," said Frank No...

NEW PMI Deduction Buried In The Closing Acts Of Congress

Wed, Dec 13 2006, 8:00 AM

It has not been widely reported, but late in the closing session of the 109th Congress which adjourned this past weekend may have been a bit of good n...

NEW National Building Museum Is A Change Of Pace In Washington D.C.

Tue, Dec 12 2006, 8:00 AM

On one's first, second, and third visits to Washington, DC, one must concentrate on the memorials - Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington, Vietnam, the new W...

NEW Housing Recovery - Normal Not White Hot Growth

Mon, Dec 11 2006, 8:00 AM

Probably the big news in the December 2006 Economic Outlook published by Freddie Mac's Office of the Chief Economist last Friday was that the offi...

NEW Unmarried Homeowners Part II

Thu, Dec 7 2006, 8:00 AM

As explained earlier, the two are not married nor do they intend to be, at least in the near future... This is not an isolated issue. It is estim...

NEW Mortgage Rates Spur Refinance Market

Wed, Dec 6 2006, 8:00 AM

Refinancing as a share of all mortgage activity increased to 50.1 percent from 46.9 percent the previous week. This is the highest market share that ...

NEW Significant Others Need To Think About Their Legal Status When Buying A Home

Tue, Dec 5 2006, 8:00 AM

A young relative called over the long weekend. He had just made an

NEW New Home Sales Report Issued For October

Fri, Dec 1 2006, 8:00 AM

As usual, fresh on the heels of the National Association of Realtors monthly report on the status of

NEW Mortgage Rates, Applications Down In Short Holiday Week

Thu, Nov 30 2006, 8:00 AM

Long term interest rates took a bit of a dive during the week ended November 22 according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. The 30-ye...

NEW Conforming Loan Limits Remain Unchanged

Wed, Nov 29 2006, 8:00 AM

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) has announced as expected that 2007 dollar limits on conforming mortgages would remain unc...

NEW Existing Home Sales Increase Slightly But Median Prices Decline

Wed, Nov 29 2006, 8:00 AM

Reports on the sales of existing homes for October were released on November 28 by the National Association of Realtors. On a slightly optimistic no...

NEW It Might Seem Like A Commune But Co-housing Is Not A Sixties Idea

Tue, Nov 28 2006, 8:00 AM

Co-housing is not a well known term in real estate but it is a growing housing movement. It is also called " intentional communities ," but if you we...

NEW OFHEO Outlines Plans For Declining Conforming Loan Limits

Mon, Nov 27 2006, 8:00 AM

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), the agency charged with keeping an eye on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae has alerted lenders t...

NEW Mortgage Rates Drop As Inflation Threat Wanes

Thu, Nov 23 2006, 8:00 AM

Mortgage rates continued a general downward trend during the week ended November 16 with the long term rate retreating substantially. According to...

NEW Home Prices and Volume Generally Down In Third Quarter

Wed, Nov 22 2006, 8:00 AM

Accentuate the positive. Gild the lily. Lots of cliches come to mind after reading the third quarter summary of existing home sales released on M...

NEW Anti-Eminent Domain Laws Both Won and Lost on Election Day

Tue, Nov 21 2006, 8:00 AM

Voters have made it clear that they have not forgotten Kelo v New ...

NEW Housing Starts Dive But Builder and Buyer Confidence Are Up

Mon, Nov 20 2006, 8:00 AM

The Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have released October figures on building permits and housing starts and ...

NEW Real Estate Technology Now Means Blogs

Thu, Nov 16 2006, 8:00 AM

When I went back into real estate in the mid-90's I expected a level of real estate technology at least as high as our commercial real estate firm...

NEW Mortgage Rates Drift Short Term With Little Change Since Last Year

Wed, Nov 15 2006, 8:00 AM

Interest rates during the week ended November 9 continued to exhibit the same meandering pattern that they have for months according to the Primary...

NEW NAR Put Big Money On The Table To Support Its Candidates

Tue, Nov 14 2006, 8:00 AM

Remember the days when it was thought a bit unseemly to brag about spending money to influence the political process? Apparently in today's world it...

NEW Housing Bubble Leak Showing Up In Other Parts Of Economy

Thu, Nov 9 2006, 8:00 AM

The slowdown in housing has begun to take a toll on the overall economy according to the November Economic Outlook issued by Freddie Mac on November 8...

NEW Mortgage Rates Back To November 2005 Levels

Wed, Nov 8 2006, 8:00 AM

Frank Nothaft, vice and president and chief economist of Freddie Mac credited declining third quarter Gross Domestic Product figures for a slight drop...

NEW CFA Hits Real Estate Industry On Low Entry Barriers and Lack Of Oversight

Tue, Nov 7 2006, 8:00 AM

The Consumer Federation of America had a lot of critical things to say about the real estate industry in general and the National Association of Rea...

NEW Consumer Group Calls For Regulation of MLS As A Public Utility

Mon, Nov 6 2006, 8:00 AM

Executive Director Stephen Brobeck spoke for CFA at the hearing and his testimony was titled " Residential Real Estate Brokerage Services: A Cockamami...

NEW Mortgage Rates Mixed But Freddie Mac Sees Hope In Inventory Declines

Thu, Nov 2 2006, 7:00 AM

Interest rates were up slightly this week according to the Freddy Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week ended October 26. The 30-year fix...

NEW Readers Weigh In On Real Estate Competitiveness and Commissions

Wed, Nov 1 2006, 7:00 AM

A few months ago we reported on testimony given before a subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee, largely targeting the National Associ...

NEW Study Debunks Boomer Urban Migration Myth

Tue, Oct 31 2006, 7:00 AM

In addition to focusing on older Americans' role in the second house market, Housing Trends Among Baby Boomers , a study jointly conducted by Researc...

NEW New Home Prices Take a Real Hit But Sales May Be Stabilizing

Fri, Oct 27 2006, 7:00 AM

New home prices took a heck of a hit in September according to information released by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and U...

NEW MBA Mortgage Rates and Applications

Fri, Oct 27 2006, 7:00 AM

The Mortgage Bankers Association went missing yesterday, a day when they usually release information on contract mortgage rates and mortgage applica...

NEW Mortgage Rates Remain Static - MBA Releases Prime and Subprime Activity Report

Thu, Oct 26 2006, 7:00 AM

After surging a bit during the week ended October 12, mortgage rates barely moved according to the Primary Mortgage Market Survey conducted by Fredd...