As I’m sure my industry-savvy readers — that would be you — know by now, President Obama sat down with Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Zillow, for a half hour interview in which the President answered questions that Zillow gathered from social media. The video is embedded above. Thing is, if we’re going to understand where … Read more
I have to imagine, given the focused readership this blog has, that most of you already know that NAR has been fighting a war against homeownership on multiple fronts in recent months. I’ve been doing the Chicken Little dance about these Federal issues for quite some time, after all. One of those fronts is the … Read more
The Wall Street Journal carried a story today on its front page entitled, “Banks Push Home Buyers to Put Down More Cash“. The key paragraph: The median down payment in nine major U.S. cities rose to 22% last year on properties purchased through conventional mortgages, according to an analysis for The Wall Street Journal by … Read more
[Note: This is a longer version of the original, which was posted on AOL Housingwatch a few days ago. I’m crossposting it because Notorious ROB has no space constraints and my readers are used to 2,000 word posts, heh. :)] In Part 1 of this series, where I laid out why I believe the 30-year fixed … Read more
In my earlier post on the New Normal in real estate, a commenter took issue with my predictions about the future of the 30-year fixed rate mortgage (among other claims). I thought I would expand on that aspect a bit. The specific mechanism that I think will be put in place is a change in … Read more
It’s a chilly, rainy day here in New Jersey under iron grey skies. If where you are is sunny, and you’re feeling happy and optimistic, and you want to stay that way, let me strongly suggest that you not finish reading this post. This is where I engage in paranoid fearmongering speculation. You have been … Read more
It’s a chilly, rainy day here in New Jersey under iron grey skies. If where you are is sunny, and you’re feeling happy and optimistic, and you want to stay that way, let me strongly suggest that you not finish reading this post. This is where I engage in paranoid fearmongering speculation. You have been … Read more
So earlier today, I get an email of some interesting real-estate related links from my friends at AOL Housingwatch (where I pen an occasional column or two). In it, I find this gem of a story: Mortgage loan originators will have to be fingerprinted and sign up to a central registry to do business in … Read more
In part 1, I laid out some hints of what the Obama Administration has in mind for a new federal housing policy that would “reset the rules of the market” and engage in a “fundamental rethink” not just of the mechanics of housing finance, but of the objectives of housing policy themselves. The Treasury now … Read more