New Home “Home Run?” Not Exactly You know you’re a Realtor when you notice a headline, like this one in today’s New York Times — ‘The House That Soared’ — and immediately think to yourself: ‘What developer is making a killing in such a tough market for new homes? What was their secret? Where’s the...Read More
“Are the Case-Shiller Numbers Right?” Chris Snowbeck at the St. Paul Pioneer Press is soliciting local Realtor and lender feedback to the latest Case-Shiller housing statistics. The (absymal) March numbers showed a record one-month fall of 6% in the Twin Cities. Snowbeck’s question to the “experts” (myself included): ‘are the Case-Shiller numbers accurate?’ Here’s what...Read More
“Safe” Mortgage Pain Spreads to MN In the latest phase of the nation’s real estate disaster, the locus of trouble has shifted from subprime loans ” those extended to home buyers with troubled credit ” to the far more numerous prime loans issued to those with decent financial histories . . . Economists refer to...Read More
Many Agents, Small Market Share What do you call a Presidential candidate who loses four out of every ten votes? A landslide winner (indeed, even garnering 56%-57% of the vote is considered a victory of historic proportions). What do you call a major league hitter who hits into outs two out of every three at-bats?...Read More
Cheaper — Not Necessarily Cheap In a recession, everyone’s looking for a sale. So it stands to reason that a home that has just had a big mark-down is a deal, right? Not necessarily. Simply knowing that a home that used to be “X” is now $10,000 less — or $50,000 — really tells you...Read More
Crash Victim: The Mortgage “Honor System” I thought I knew a lot about go-go mortgages. I had already written several articles about the explosive growth of liar’s loans, no-money-down loans, interest-only loans and other even more exotic mortgages. I had interviewed people with very modest incomes who had taken out big loans. Yet for all...Read More
