"If you live in a neighborhood that has a homeowners association, brace yourself. Neighbors losing their homes to foreclosure and short sales not only are dragging down your property values but also are setting you up for higher fees. There's even a threat that your entire neighborhood could grow ...
" (2008-11-9)
December 5, 2008
Foreclosures Pick Pockets of Homeowners Associations
Now Is the Time for Those Bottom-Feeders to Do Their Work
"Bring on the vultures. I mean that in the most flattering way possible, you dear deep-pocketed real estate investors with access to credit.
" (2008-11-2)
Surrounded by Ruins, Mortgage Market Remains Intact
"Everybody knows how severe and painful the global financial breakdown has been, with banks unwilling to lend even to other banks. But what about mortgages and real estate? Can you still get a home loan with less than 20 percent or 30 percent down? Or with a credit score below 720?
" (2008-10-18)
Another Losing Proposition for Homeowners
"It's happened again. Some of the same people who lost money last year to the Metro Dream Homes mortgage-payment scheme lost tens of thousands of dollars more to another debt-payment plan before it was shut down by the Maryland securities commissioner this month. The commissioner has ordered Edwar...
" (2008-10-12)
20 Steps to Toughen Up Against Hard Times
"Harder times appear to be on the way, even if lawmakers succeed in unclogging the nation's credit system. It's time to look around our homes and do what we can to cut costs, avoid unnecessary repairs and preserve cash.
" (2008-10-5)
'Hope for Homeowners,' Still Long in Coming
"We interrupt this financial crisis with a word from its sponsor: the families who are losing homes to foreclosure.
" (2008-9-28)
When Your Couch Is on Order and the Company Goes Bankrupt
"Maybe they'll become collector's items, my coffee table from Bombay Co., some old bedside tables from Scan. Both are retailers that have shuttered their stores after filing for bankruptcy protection. It's the trickle-down result of a poor housing market.
" (2008-9-21)
A House Tour With Two-Wheeled Appeal
"PORTLAND, Ore. -- With gas prices high, bicycles flying out of stores and a buyer's market for houses, a handful of real estate agents around the country are touting the two-wheeled appeal of their listings.
" (2008-9-13)
December 2, 2008
Nowadays, the bank says what a house is worth
"It used to be a market mantra: A house is worth only as much as a buyer is willing to pay. But given today's bank failures, foreclosures and tightened credit, real estate experts have had to modify the aphorism to reflect harsher realities. "A house is only...
" (2008-11-30)
Civil rights complaint targets Wall Street rating firms
"Moody's and Fitch's high ratings of subprime mortgage bonds disproportionately harmed black and Latino home buyers, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition alleges.
In what is apparently the first legal action of its kind, an association of community-based organizations has filed a federal civil rights complaint against two of the three largest Wall Street rating firms, charging that their inflated ratings on subprime mortgage bonds disproportionately caused financial harm to African American and Latino home buyers across the country." (2008-11-30)
New crisis, in commercial real estate, looms
"The full scope of the housing meltdown isn’t clear and already there are ominous signs of a new crisis — one that could turn out the lights on malls, hotels and storefronts nationwide." (2008-11-28)
The death penalty: Reasonable doubt
"Troubling questions surround a capital case in GeorgiaIN 1989 Troy Davis and two friends were hanging out in Savannah, Georgia. They saw a homeless man leaving a shop and started to bully him. An off-duty policeman heard the commotion and intervened; he was shot and killed. Though no gun was found, the state produced nine witnesses who said that Mr Davis was the culprit. He was convicted of the murder and sentenced to death in 1991. It seemed a straightforward case. Americans particularly revile cop-killers and here was a parade of people saying that Mr Davis had shot a policeman. But after the trial, no fewer than seven of the nine recanted. Several of them said they had felt subjected to pressure by the police. Others thought someone else was the killer. The homeless man said he could not remember, and anyway he had been drinking. ..." (2008-11-27)
New home sales fall to slowest pace since 1991
"Sales of new homes fell in October to the lowest point in nearly 18 years while the median price of a new home dropped to the lowest level since 2004." (2008-11-26)
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