Tag Archives: Home+prices

Finally A Step In The Right Direction

As many of you may recall I sent an open letter to the President last month begging for a refinance relief plan for underwater, but current borrowers.  Yesterday the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced changes to the ineffectual HARP … Continue reading

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Pending Home Sales

So the headline wasn’t great: sales down month over month.  National Association of Realtors economist, Lawrence Yun hung the blame on tight lending standards and lack of confidence, both of which are true.  If that’s all you read or heard, … Continue reading

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Case-Shiller Calls A Bottom?

The S & P/Case-Shiller report on the housing market came out today.  There were a couple of highlights worth mentioning.  First was the fact that we have had 4 straight months of price appreciation.  “With July’s data we are seeing … Continue reading

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Buying A Home: Your Real Estate Compass And What’s Important

Every household is unique and every family has a certain division of labor.  In my home, I pay the bills, share the cooking and fix things around the house; my wife looks after the kids, does the laundry, over sees … Continue reading

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Ben Bernanke’s Big Blunder

Let me begin by saying I’m not a Ben basher, on the contrary I like the Fed Chairman.  But last month’s announcement that he intends to keep rates low for the next two years was nothing short of disastrous for the … Continue reading

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An Open Letter To President Obama and The CEO’s Of The Big 4 Banks

Dear Mr. President, Chairman Bernanke, Secretary Geithner, Brian Moynihan, Vikram Pundit, Jamie Dimon and John Stumpf, Want to start to fix the economy and help housing at the same time?  Refinance underwater and insufficient equity borrowers.  It’s really that simple.  … Continue reading

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Case-Shiller, Consumer Spending and Confidence: What To Make Of Too Much Data

This morning started out for me like every last Tuesday of the month… I read Case-Shiller.  Published on the last Tuesday of the month, S & P’s Case-Shiller report provides a thorough albeit backwards look into the status of the … Continue reading

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Is Real Estate’s ‘Irene’ in the Rearview Mirror or Ahead: July’s Pending Home Sale Numbers

The news wasn’t all bad… however whenever someone starts a sentence like that, you know the news isn’t very good either, so I’ll keep this brief: Pending home sales numbers as reported by the National Association of Realtors for the … Continue reading

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Where Have You Gone Bank of America?

…our nation turns its lonely eyes to you, ooo wooo woo… (with apologies to Simon and Garfunkel)… Let me begin by saying I have been a Bank of America customer since 1973, so what follows comes from the heart and … Continue reading

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Katrina, Lehman, Lincoln and Today

I was thinking back on when Katrina released her wrath on the city of New Orleans and the South.  I distinctly remember thinking, “What?  The whole city of New Orleans is under water?  How can that be?  Bodies are piling … Continue reading

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