A bit about contruction and mortgages…
Just when so many real estate blogs are getting better and better, we seem to keep backsliding. But fear not, we’ll be back, we just happen to have a pile of both personal and professional obligations (all good, by the way) to sort through. Bear with us….
Local· Debate: Affordable Housing = Crime? [downtownjournal]· Development Roundup: Two Condo Projects on Hold [DTJournal]· Uptown: Six Month Height Moratorium in Place [SWJournal]· Home Heating Prediction: Will Cost $1200.00 This season [MPR]· All About Windows! [Strib]Elsewhere Otherwise· Foreclosures Rising, Florida Leads Nation [bizjournals]· QA: Buy a New Home, or Wait? [WSJ]· Sellers, Please Stop Whining [soapbox]…
Graphic Courtesy MSNBCLast WeekRates up just a bit last week after the release of Friday’s (weak) employment report showing the economy created only 51,000 of an expected 120,000 +/- jobs. Normally, this would help rates, but because the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) revised upward the previous months data - effectively adding 60,000 jobs to the economy (an absurdly large revision, says Ritholtz) the bond market hit the skids and rates ticked upwards.This WeekThe Minutes from the last FOMC will be the wild card this week, as the world gets a peek into what was discussed, with possible clues as…
Cartoon Courtesy of Hugh Mcleod/Gapingvoid.com Over at the highly entertaining consumerist, (which if you aren’t familiar is like a massive public airing of consumer grievances and catalog of the vagaries of dealing with crappy customer service) they’ve been on a roll in outing bad banking behaviors, so we’ve linked some of the best/worst below. Consumerist Bad Banking Roundup:· WaMu Snookers with Scary Letter· Suck My Pricematch, Chase Bank· Be Billed for Paying Off Your Bills with BoA’s Magic Trailing Interest· WAMU’s Friendly Layout Gets Customer Robbed· Pay Pal will Still Screw you, But Less Obtusely· Clark Howard Attacks BoA for…
The question below is an email from an actual reader - yes, they do exist. What we do with these is post them here (because we are far too lazy and self-important to do any digging of our own) in the hope that someone might know something, or want to start a nasty rumor, or whatever. So if you have an answer, an axe to grind, a question about another development, or any other real estate related inside info/hearsay/rumor drop a note in the comments or via email at tips@behindthemortgage.com Reader Says:Got anything to say about Mozaic? We are thinking…
Let’s start by saying we like Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, it is a solid personal finance publication which, most of the time, gives sound advice. That said, we wanted to take just a moment to flush out the silly mythology and flawed logic behind their recent case study advising aspiring homeowners to not buy a house with no money down. [We’ve covered this before. The media generally gets the risks of not putting money down precisely backwards - characterizing low or no money down loans as risky in the extreme. We disagree.] Here’s Kiplinger’s reasons not to buy a home with…
Local· Mom Pop Resorts Going Condo [businessnorth]· Downtown: The Return of Streetcars? [DTJournal]· Mobile Home Arson [Strib]· Ralph Burnet into Handcuffs? [Strib]Elsewhere Otherwise· New Home Sales: Cancellations Rising [bloomberg]· Property Grunt: Blood in the Water [Propertygrunt.com]· Pricing Your Home Tricky in Soft Market [WSJ]…
Graphic Courtesy MSNBCLast WeekRates held mostly steady for the week, though the economic releases were a rather mixed bag. Home sales figures managed to surprise and dissapoint the markets, and the PCE report Friday suggested that inflation remains a top concern for the Fed. Still Holding at 6-month lows.This WeekThe ISM Manufacturing Index (speaks to the health of the Man. sector, can contain inflation clues) could start the week off witha bang, and there are also a handfull of treasury auctions, but all eyes will be on Friday’s employment report - a weak showing could further establish the fact that…