“The combination of rising delinquencies, higher foreclosures, more housing inventories, increasing interest rates on many mortgages and greatly reduced availability of mortgages due to limited liquidity is creating what we call a near-perfect storm for housing,” Chief Executive Officer Kerry Killinger said.
housing
Pending Home Sales Plummet 12% In July
By 9.5.07
“The housing market is bad and is going to stay bad for some time,” said Zach Pandl, an economist at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in New York, who predicted a 3 percent drop. “This number does not look good for existing home sales for August.”
As The Fed Snoozes, States Step Into The Subprime Breach
By 8.26.07
States are beginning to enact protections for subprime borrowers, reacting to the absence of a national solution from Washington. North Carolina last week became one of one of several states to clamp down on the adjustable-rate mortgages that have fueled the subprime meltdown.
Use Online Real Estate Broker, Get Back 2/3 Of The Sales Commission
By 8.12.07
A contributor to Kevin Kelly’s “Cool Tools” site writes that they saved $15,000 on a recent home purchase in California by using Redfin, an online real estate broker that lets you do most of the grunt work of finding a new house, then steps in to help with the paperwork at the end for a greatly reduced fee. We’ve discussed Redfin before, but thought it was interesting to read a user’s personal experience with it.
Lowe's Makes "Katrina Cottages" Available Nationwide
By 7.19.07
The small cottages designed to replace FEMA trailers after Hurricane Katrina are popular, so popular that Lowe’s has decided to offer them in their stores.
Fed Issues Guidelines To Prevent Subprime Implosion Redux
By 7.1.07
•Refinance Opportunities: Prior to any rate increase, consumers will have 60 days to refinance the loan.
Trade groups find fault with the regulations because they will prevent risky borrows from receiving credit:
When Will Casey Serin Pay For Embodying The Worst Of The Housing Bubble Burst?
By 5.15.07
Casey-Serin is 24, but he’s already $170,000 in debt, thanks to a bevy of hare-brained schemes that helped him buy 8 homes in 8 months in 4 states with no money down, looking to do the ol’ “fix n’ flip.” None of them sold, and now he’s strapped to the nines.
Rent While The Renting Is Good?
By 4.11.07
According to the New York Times, if you’re renting you’re smart.
Over the next five years, which is about the average amount of time recent buyers have remained in their homes, prices in the Los Angeles area would have to rise more than 5 percent a year for a typical buyer there to do better than a renter. The same is true in Phoenix, Las Vegas, the New York region, Northern California and South Florida. In the Boston and Washington areas, the break-even point is about 4 percent.
Check With The Postmaster Before You Install A Mailbox, Or Else
By 4.1.07
John Conway paid $1,300 for a lamppost and matching mailbox, but the Thiensville, WI postmaster refuses to provide service because the mailbox is on the wrong side of the street. The disputed mailbox is part of a new housing development located twenty minutes north of Milwaukee.
“I’m sort of the guy who set the pace here,” Conway said, pointing out that he and his wife are the first residents of Concord Creek. “I’m cemented in.”
The Conway’s concrete stance has the post office in a tizzy. They have refused to answer the Conway’s phone calls, and a local paper quoted one postal supervisor threatening to mark the Conway’s mail “return to sender.” A killjoy postal spokeswoman later retracted the statement, adding “We don’t do that.”
So You’re Tryin To Sell/Refi Your Co-Op And You Misplaced Your Lease
By 1.12.07
Losing your co-op documents can really suck if you’re trying to refi or sell your apartment. Unlike home and condos, there is no filing of deeds with the municipal clerk. So what happens when you lose your co-op stock certificate and proprietary lease papers?
Posterboy For The Housing Bust
By 10.9.06
Ah, more oogie in the wake of the recessing housing froth. Meet Casey Serin, a 24-year-old with $2.5 million in debt.
American Dream Faces Setbacks in Peoria
By 5.24.06
There’s a scandal brewing in Peoria and it doesn’t smell like potpourri.
Remainders
By 2.24.06
Here’s all the stuff we couldn’t think of enough clever things to say about but nonetheless found interesting.
American Houses, Blouses Trend Together
By 2.1.06
This is far from science—and the author of this chart doesn’t claim that it is—but you might find it a bit amusing to see this correlation between American’s median home size and our rates of obesity. Both are blossoming.
