Is the Next Real Estate Collapse on the Way?
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There are concerns that things may not be improving as much as hoped for the housing market. Sure, home prices seem to be stabilizing and the first time home buyer tax credit resulted in the sale of hundreds of thousands of homes. But another real estate collapse may be on [...]
5 Things Home Buyers Need to Be Aware Of
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Right now, there are a lot of good deals to be had when it comes to buying a home. Home prices are low, and mortgage interest rates remain relatively low. And, it looks like Congress is getting serious about some sort of extension to the home buyer tax credit. It [...]
Appraisal Rule Changes Mean Lower Home Values
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A controversy is brewing over the recent rule changes to the way appraisers are paid, and how they do their jobs. In order to help beat back mortgage fraud, appraisers could no longer be paid by the mortgage lenders and brokers that were trying to get approvals for loans. While forcing independence on [...]
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Takes Aim Predatory Lending
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California is ready to enact tough laws aimed at restricting predatory lending practices. While over-reaching consumers certainly deserve some of the blame for the foreclosure crisis, some of the things mortgage lenders and brokers did in order to close deals were not above board. Many took advantage of their positions of trust to [...]
Are Foreclosures Rising or Falling?
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There seems to be a bit of confusion with regard to what is happening with foreclosures. Indeed, it is commonplace to read about how foreclosures are both increasing and decreasing. Mainly because “foreclosure” is being used to report homes in various stages of foreclosure. Real Estate Pro Articles points this out about foreclosure [...]
New Plan to Help Home Buyers in the Works
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It is little surprise that, even as the stock market soars today, that the home builder sentiment index is falling. The first time home buyer tax credit that so many have been taking advantage of over the last few months is set to expire November 30. However, since the mortgage has to close [...]
Bank of America Shakes Things Up on the Stock Market
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Just a couple of days ago, JP Morgan reported significant profits in the third quarter of 2009. This news was greeted with enthusiasm from investors, and sent the Dow above 10,000. The thought was that the financial system was improving, and that things were on the verge of improving. Yesterday, though, Citi announced [...]
Blog Action Day: Fight Climate Change with Green Home Improvements
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Every year, bloggers around the world unite with a single purpose, in an effort to raise awareness of an issue. The year, Blog Action Day is focusing on global climate change. When one things of climate change, one must also think about energy consumption. How we use our energy affects our [...]
JP Morgan Leads Financial Sector in Earnings
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It’s an exciting day on the stock market — and for the financial sector. JP Morgan profits are in, an it appears that third quarter earnings are $3.6 billion. This is even better than a year ago, just before the global financial crisis really hit. As the first major bank [...]
CIT Bankruptcy Like to Affect Businesses
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Sometimes we forget that some of the things that affect big banks will come back to haunt the whole financial system as a whole. That might be the case with the looming CIT bankruptcy. The bank CIT has been having trouble with debt swaps and is verging on bankruptcy. The CEO of CIT, [...]
