- New Century Files for Bankruptcy
- From the New York Times:
Once a highflier in the booming market for making risky mortgage loans, the New Century Financial Corporation filed for bankruptcy court protection today.
- 2007-04-02
- Manhattan home prices on the rise - again
- From CNNMoney.com Manhattan homes now average more than 1.2 million:
Estimates of the average price of a New York City apartment ranged from $1.28 million to $1.36 million. Reports were issued by Brown Harris Stevens, the Corcoran Group, Halstead Property and Prudential Douglas Elliman.
Those prices represented increases of between 4 percent and 13 percent compared with the third quarter of 2006.
- 2007-04-03
- Pending home sales rise narrowly
- From Reuters, has the housing market bottomed out?
Pending sales of existing U.S. homes rose above analysts' expectations in February, data from a real estate trade group showed on Tuesday, a signal that the housing sector may be stabilizing.
- 2007-04-03
- Selling? Here's your to-do list
- MarketWatch has the improvements to sell your home:
When the housing market's iffy, it's more vital than ever to make home repairs, spiff up the kitchen and bathroom, get rid of odd paint colors and bare patches of lawn, and consider other improvements.
- 2007-04-06
- Mortgage rates rise slightly, still near year low
- Mortgage rates from the Associated Press:
In its weekly survey, mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.17 percent for the week ending April 5.
- 2007-04-06
- Group predicts median home prices will drop
- From the AP, the National Association of Realtors expects a price drop:
NAR is forecasting a 0.7 percent dip in 2007 for the national median price for existing homes after a 1 percent gain last year.
The national median new home sale price is projected to rise 0.4 percent after a 1.8 percent gain last year, according to the association.
- 2007-04-11
- Green acres
- From Business Week Online, the increase in demand for ethanol has sent farmland prices skyward:
Farmland prices in Iowa, the country's biggest ethanol producer, surged 13.6% between September, 2006, and March, 2007, adding to a total year-over-year increase of 16.5%, the second-highest rate in 20 years, according to the Iowa Farm & Land Chapter No. 2 Realtors Land Institute.
- 2007-04-11
- Not-so-real estate: Is it ethical to alter photos?
- Bankrate.com discovers greener grass and more in Internet real estate photos:
Two years ago, Jonathan J. Miller, a Manhattan real estate appraiser, bought a house outside New York City. Shortly after the sale, he looked up the listing on the Web site of the seller's agent and noticed something unusual: The utility lines running over his house were nowhere to be seen in the listing photo. They had been airbrushed out of the picture.
- 2007-04-16
- How fair are appraisers who already know home price?
- Check out the Realty Q&A on MarketWatch.
- 2007-04-16
- 5 lousy excuses for not buying a home
- SmartMoney helps you take the leap to home ownership:
Hard-core renters can come up with all kinds of reasons to avoid real-estate purchases. Here are some of the usual stories -- and why they just don't wash.
- 2007-04-17
- U.S. mortgage rates reverse course, move down
- From MarketWatch, mortgage rates are decreasing for the first time since march:
"Mortgage rates slipped following the latest reports of moderation in inflation rates from the core producer price and consumer price indexes," Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac chief economist, said in a news release. "Excluding food and energy, the core inflation rate for consumer prices rose 2.5% year-over-year, the smallest annual growth since May 2006. This helped calm markets and brought mortgage rates down."
- 2007-04-19
- The dubious value-add of appraisers
- From MarketWatch, appraisers are pressured to assess higher when the market is down:
The solicitation that Texas real-estate appraiser Jim Amorin fielded came with a quid pro quo. If he'd appraise a mixed-use Austin subdivision for $25 million, the mortgage broker promised to steer 15 more major deals his way.
- 2007-04-23
- 5 dumbest renovation fads
- From great rooms to built in lighting, CNN money has some renovation fads to watch out for.
- 2007-04-23
- Sharp decline in US house sales
- From the BBC, sales of homes drop in March:
Sales of non-new US homes fell 8.4% in March, the sharpest month-on-month drop for 18 years and a further illustration of weakness in the US housing market.
- 2007-04-25
- Real Estate Market is Like a Roller Coaster
- Go for a ride on the real estate roller coaster.
- 2007-04-25
- The Ultimate Guide to Real Estate Investing
- From How Do I Self Build, a short primer if you're interested in real estate investing.
- 2007-04-25
- Amid housing bust, some markets still boom
- From MSNBC, homes in the pacific northwest, texas, are seeing prices rise:
While most of the country frets about what could turn out to be the worst housing bust in a generation, in a selected few metro areas home buyers are still trying to figure out how to break into markets that seem to get pricier by the day.
- 2007-04-28
- Will 'green' roofs be a red-hot trend?
- Bankrate.com takes a look at garden rooftops:
Buildings topped by soil and vegetation reduce urban heat, stay cooler inside, muffle noise and curb storm-water runoff. As a bonus, they can beautify cities and provide plots for growing food.
- 2007-04-28
- Homes: Big drop in speculation
- From CNNMoney.com, real estate investment sales are down, but vacation home sales are up:
Total sales of all homes fell 4.1 percent for the year but Investment-home buying fell to 22 percent of all home sales last year compared with 28 percent in 2005. Vacation-home sales were up to 14 percent of all sales, from 12 percent the year before.
- 2007-04-30