Pointing the finger at someone else seem to be very de rigueur these days. It seems the "drive-by" media's next target is the home appraiser. It's really just one more way to blame someone else. In my opinion, a house should not need an appraisal. An appraisal is for...
With the downturn in the housing market, the neighborhoods on the far edges of development seem to be taking the biggest price hit. This phenomenon has prompted Reuters to ask, "is America's love affair with the 'exburbs' over?" Trends indicate the love is dying;...
House hunters looking for a bargain may want to head to California where homes that once sold for over $500,000 now sell for half that value. This CNN article reports that Riverside county in California has seen a catastrophic drop in home prices from their highs in...
The good news in the rebounding housing market continues to pour in. According to Reuters, new home sales jumped 4.7 percent to 337,000 sales in February from 322,000 in January, the fastest sales growth in 10 months. Despite the jump in sales, February marks the...
Here's some good news on the housing front for a change: According to Builder magazine, housing starts jumped 22 percent from the previous month to 583,000. The number of building permits for single-family homes also rose 11 percent to 373,000. This was "unexpected...
What home improvement project gives the greatest dollar value return in today's market? The "2008–2009 Cost vs. Value Report" compiled by Remodeling and REALTOR® magazines shows assorted projects with the estimated job cost and expected resale value. It also outlines...
Contrary to my expectation, more than half of the foreclosures last year took place in 35 counties, accounting for 1.5 million foreclosures. The USA Today article has a fascinating map showing where the largest numbers of foreclosures are occurring. California,...
Forbes recently created their own version of a misery scale, based on economist Arthur Okun's Misery Index and the Misery Score. The new measurement, called the Forbes Misery Measure, calibrates unemployment, personal tax rates, commute times, weather, crime and if...
Seems as if everyone is writing about Florida and not in a good way. A lengthy piece in the New York Times about the housing bust in Fort Meyers is a good preface for the longer piece in the New Yorker. Both articles document the human cost of the foreclosure wave...
President Obama rolled out his plan to stop, or at least slow, the foreclosure wave sweeping the nation on Wednesday. Estimated to cost $75 billion, the program is designed to rescue up to 9 million homeowners from foreclosure and stabilize the collapsing housing...
