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Housing News

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...

NEW Two New Studies Look at Homebuying Patterns of Older Americans

Wed, Oct 25 2006, 7:00 AM

Two studies out in the last week or so are taking at look at the impact on housing of - what else - the Baby Boomers . Both the Research Institute...

NEW Home Sellers Should Remember That They And Their Homes Are Not National Statistics

Mon, Oct 23 2006, 7:00 AM

If you follow network or cable news you probably believe that the real estate market has gone from unbridled insanity where buyers apparently losing...

NEW Housing Starts and Builder Confidence Show Slight Improvement

Thu, Oct 19 2006, 7:00 AM

The various new home construction indicators tracked by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development were mixed i...

NEW Mortgage Rates Resume Climb After Brief Respite

Wed, Oct 18 2006, 7:00 AM

Maybe it was just too good to last. After four weeks of declining interest rates Freddie Mac reported a relatively sharp jump for each of the pro...

NEW Slow and Steady is the Best Way to Clean Up Bad Credit

Tue, Oct 17 2006, 7:00 AM

Credit repair is a subject that has been on our back burner for a long time, but a piece of spam received a few days ago brought it to the forefront....

NEW Mortgage Rates Stagnant But Refinancing Strong

Thu, Oct 12 2006, 7:00 AM

Mortgage rates for the week ended October 5 barely budged. After substantial downward moves over the last ten weeks only the 30-year fixed-rate mortg...

NEW October Forecast Sees Housing Finding Solid Ground

Wed, Oct 11 2006, 7:00 AM

Freddie Mac's Economic and Housing Market Outlook for October is headlined " Finding Solid Ground. " It is another in a series of projections that the...

NEW Shipping Container Houses Are Coming

Tue, Oct 10 2006, 7:00 AM

Could America's record balance of payments deficit with China be the solution to low cost housing? Might it even be an unprecedented opportunity to ...

NEW Mortgage Lender Fraud Increase Seen By Law Enforcement

Thu, Oct 5 2006, 7:00 AM

Mortgage fraud is back in the news. However, this time it is the lenders rather than the borrowers who appear to be the main targets of the scams. ...

NEW Most Mortgage Rates Decline as Mortgage Applications Increase Sharply

Wed, Oct 4 2006, 7:00 AM

The old mortgage tracking clock has just rolled back to March 2 . That was the last time that the interest on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was lower...

NEW Energy Costs Not Likely To Encourage Green Home Improvements

Tue, Oct 3 2006, 7:00 AM

There has been much speculation over the last few months that as housing sales continue to decline, the home remodeling industry will also take a big ...

NEW Federal Bank Regulators Offer Guidelines For Exotic Mortgage Lending

Mon, Oct 2 2006, 7:00 AM

Last Friday, as had been expected, the five federal departments or quasi-agencies charged with overseeing the nation's banking system jointly issued "...

NEW Mortgage Rates Down Again - Some Changes Significant

Thu, Sep 28 2006, 7:00 AM

Freddie Mac and the Mortgage Bankers Association were, for a change, unanimous in agreeing that mortgage interest rates retreated the past week. ...

NEW Housing Bubble Watch: Home Prices Decline For First Time In 11 Years

Wed, Sep 27 2006, 7:00 AM

Buyers have been hoping for it and sellers have been dreading it but home prices have apparently started a long-expected decline while existing home...

NEW Ethnicity Counts When It Comes To Higher-Priced Subprime Loans

Tue, Sep 26 2006, 7:00 AM

In an earlier article we reported some interesting mortgage lending information...

NEW Federal Reserve Report Highlights Lending Concentration and Other Loan Patterns

Thu, Sep 21 2006, 7:00 AM

The Federal Reserve Board recently released the latest in a series of occasional reports on mortgage lending based on data collected under the 1975...

NEW Mortgage Rates Resume Slow Decline - Application Volume Increases

Wed, Sep 20 2006, 7:00 AM

After a single "up" week, long term interest rates have resumed the slow downward pattern that began the week ending July 20. Freddie Mac's Prima...

NEW Housing Bubble Watch: New Home Construction Reports

Tue, Sep 19 2006, 7:00 AM

Two monthly housing market indicators have been released so far this week, both relating broadly to home construction and showing a continued slowin...