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Extreme Makeover Homes for Sale!
Tweet Share on Facebook May 27, 2008 Comment (61)Turns out that some of the cash-strapped families that were given their dream homes on ABC's hit show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition have put the properties on the market.
"Some are for sale because the owners can't afford the upkeep and taxes (kind of hard going from an 800-square-foot home to a 3,500-square-foot home) and others because of changes to the family," according to Zillow Blog.
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Home Prices Rise! (and Fall …)
Tweet Share on Facebook May 27, 2008 Comment (2)Despite the release of a happy-seeming set of housing figures, the nation's real estate market swan dive continues.
Providing a much-needed zap of optimism, a government report issued today found that the average price of new homes was up 3 percent in April from the previous year. That's on top of an above-consensus 3.3 percent increase in sales from March.
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Housing Starts
Tweet Share on Facebook May 27, 2008 CommentThe Ne w York Times: "The auto industry is getting sideswiped by the housing crisis."
The Wall Street Journal: "Home sales are rising in some U.S. metropolitan areas where lenders have slashed prices on foreclosed properties."
The Washington Post: "In neighborhoods across the region, a potent recipe is brewing on the front lawns and in the back yards of thousands of homes emptied by foreclosures. The combination of a rainy spring and a flood of the unkempt houses has local governments increasingly concerned about public health and struggling to keep nature at bay. As more people move out, the grass grows taller, the water puddles up and the wild things move in."
Bloomberg: "In the midst of the worst surge in mortgage defaults in seven decades, foreclosures in U.S. towns where soldiers live are increasing at a pace almost four times the national average, according to data compiled by research firm RealtyTrac Inc. in Irvine, California."
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Watch Out! Home Prices Are Headed Even Lower
Tweet Share on Facebook May 23, 2008 Comment (1)Although the decline in existing-home sales reported today was less than expected, the swelling backlog of unsold homes—which grew from a 10-to-11.2-month supply—means more pain is in store for the already-downtrodden housing market.
The National Association of Realtors' existing-home sales report for April, released Friday, showed that sales fell 1 percent—slightly above consensus estimates—from March and are now down nearly 18 percent from last year's levels. At the same time, total housing inventory climbed nearly 11 percent. Median existing-home prices are now 8 percent below April 2007 levels.
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Housing Starts
Tweet Share on Facebook May 23, 2008 CommentMarketWatch: "U.S. home prices fell a seasonally adjusted 1.7% in the first three months of 2008—the largest quarterly price decline on record, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight reported Thursday."
Associated Press, via Yahoo: "Rates on 30-year mortgages dipped below 6 percent this week, falling to their lowest level in five weeks."
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Bank Chairman to Struggling Borrower: 'Disgusting'
Tweet Share on Facebook May 22, 2008 Comment (3)Countrywide Financial Chairman Angelo Mozilo called a struggling borrower's efforts to remain in the home he has lived in for 16 years "disgusting." According to the Los Angeles Times, by hitting "reply" when he apparently meant to hit "forward," the well-tanned banker sent the following E-mail to one of his beloved customers:
From LoanSafe.org, via L.A. Land:
This is unbelievable. Most of these letters now have the same wording. Obviously they are being counseled by some other person or by the internet. Disgusting.
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Areas Where Home Prices Are Rising the Most
Tweet Share on Facebook May 22, 2008 CommentWhile median American home values posted their steepest year-to-year drop in a dozen years during the first quarter of 2008, a number of areas actually reported increases, according to a report by Zillow.com. Of the 160 metro areas covered in the report, only 30 did not decline from the same period last year. Here are the best performers:
Region Median Price Year-Over-Year Change Mobile, Ala. $120,500 11.8% Jacksonville, N.C. $135,500 6.7% Burlington, N.C. $132,500 6.3% Yakima, Wash. $126,500 5.2% Oklahoma City $104,500 5.0% Pueblo, Colo. $121,500 4.9% Winston-Salem, N.C. $133,000 4.7% Redding, Calif. $279,000 4.5% Raleigh-Cary, N.C. $220,000 3.8% Grand Junction, Colo. $219,000 3.7% -
Housing Starts
Tweet Share on Facebook May 22, 2008 Comment (2)The Washington Post: "Most leaders of the Federal Reserve viewed their decision to cut interest rates last month as a 'close call,' according to minutes of the meeting released yesterday, a document that made it clear that the Fed is probably done with rate cuts for the foreseeable future."
The Wall Street Journal: "Moody's Investors Service's problems in rating complex debt instruments known as CPDOs show the difficulty in assessing new, untested products with the same scale that conveys the financial strength of blue-chip companies or the U.S. government."
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Latrell Sprewell vs. Jose Canseco
Tweet Share on Facebook May 20, 2008 Comment (6)Ex-NBA star Latrell Sprewell launched an impressive campaign to unseat former slugger Jose Canseco for the title of America’s least-sympathetic housing crisis victim when his Milwaukee-area home was foreclosed on last week.
Sprewell spent 13 seasons in the NBA with the Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks, and Minnesota Timberwolves, making the all-star game four times. But he is best known for choking then coach P.J. Carlesimo in 1997.
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Committee Approves Housing Rescue
Tweet Share on Facebook May 20, 2008 Comment (2)The housing rescue took a big step closer to enactment today when Republicans and Democrats joined to pass the measure through a key Senate committee by a 19-to-2 vote.
From the Associated Press:
Eight Republicans joined Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee to advance the housing rescue package. It also includes tougher regulations for government-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
