14 March 2007
The Office (DVD) Review
One of the most refreshing new comedy series on TV, The Office catalogues the inner-workings of a fictional Pennsylvania paper company called Dunder-Mifflin. The name itself alludes to some sort of bureaucratic labyrinth administered by dunderheads, a...
I Love Lucy (Season 4) DVD Review
Real-life husband and wife Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz play the fictional roles of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo on I Love Lucy, one of the most beloved and celebrated television series ever produced. Living in a New York City apartment, Lucy and her neighbo...
09 February 2007
Mortgage rates fall to early-December Levels
The decline this week came after a government report showed that the unemployment rated edged up to 4.6 percent in January when a fewer-than-expected 111,000 jobs were created. The Freddie Mac survey showed that other types of mortgage rates also moved...
31 January 2007
Mortgage rates are rising again
Mortgage rates resumed rising this week as financial markets became more convinced the Federal Reserve will boost interest rates further. Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported yesterday that rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.63 pe...
Flips, defaults pay key role in real-estate risk
Risk, as the saying goes, is a matter of degrees. When it comes to investing in U.S. real estate, how do you take the temperature of local markets so you know which might be overheated and headed for declines? Do you look at the rate of increase in hom...
Debts, job loss driving uptick in mortgage foreclosures
Foreclosures on home mortgages are on the way up. Nationally, foreclosures are up 38 percent, higher than in any quarter of last year, property tracker RealtyTrac said. The numbers are even grimmer in the Midwest. Michigan and Ohio, battered by automot...
When Workday and House Sale Collide
It took Steve Weber just 10 days last summer to sell his condominium in Falls Church. That didn't mean, though, that the move was a smooth one. Weber runs a used-book business, Weber Books, from home. That meant he had to move about 11,000 books a...
Mortgage Fees to Avoid
Q: DEAR BOB: Which home mortgage fees are proper for a lender to charge borrowers? I recall you said some fees are unnecessary and should be avoided. — Stephen O. A: DEAR STEPHEN: Mortgage lenders seem to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, t...
Inside Real Estate Info Comics
Comic for 13 Jun 2006
A Beginnners Investment Property
Adam Smith When buying an investment property it is advised that you start small. Just like most aspects of life, it is good to get your feet wet before your dive right in. Before you buy a large apartment complex it is best try an investment propert...
Do You Know Your Loan?
Pat Smucker knows exactly how much she owes on her house, what the loan terms are, how the interest rate has doubled in the past four years and that the rate could go even higher before her retirement home in Florida is finished. (Read More) Source: Wa...
U.S. may try to recoup Fannie Mae bonuses
The government will pursue some Fannie Mae executives to recover bonus money they reaped in an accounting scheme - if the mortgage giant itself fails to do so, the acting director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight told a Senate comm...
New Mortgages Worry Regulators
They are the new breed of mortgages, and home buyers in high-cost real estate markets can't get enough of them: interest-only and payment-option plans that cut monthly payments sharply in the early years of a loan. Lenders have marketed both types...
Ex-Fannie Mae board faulted over errors
Fannie Mae's regulator yesterday faulted the directors of the biggest U.S. mortgage finance company for not putting a stop to accounting practices that led to almost $11 billion in errors from 1998 until 2004."The board of directors, the last...
Mortgage rates dip to 6.62%
Mortgage rates fell this week as a weaker-than-expected employment report eased concerns about inflation.Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported yesterday that rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.62 percent, down from 6.67 percent las...
The drama of buying your first house
An actor brings her home-buying experiences to the stage in a performance that includes challenges her friends faced and sadness at her parents' decision to sell her childhood home. Even clowns were buying houses, so Maria Moller knew it was time ...
Housing developers have values in mind — yours
What do views on abortion or politics have to do with the house you'll buy? Ask the marketing experts. The survey went to thousands of people who'd called a number on highway billboards announcing that Ladera Ranch, a new planned community in...
Do remodeling jobs with resale in mind
By Jay MacDonald Bankrate.com Thinking of fixing up your home to sell it? When planning a home-improvement project, you may have favorite "must do" projects, but it pays to design with resale in mind. How do you do that? Try these quick j...
A Bill to Deliver The American Dream
An unusual Capitol Hill alliance of liberal Democrats, conservative Republicans, commercial banks, real estate brokers, ethnic-group lobbies, home builders and mortgage brokers is supporting legislation that could give thousands of first-time home purc...
Rentals Are Strong, and the Rich Keep Buying
Because of rising mortgage rates, would-be first-time buyers are renting instead. THE smoke may have cleared from the last of the Memorial Day barbecues, but two months into the second quarter, many New Yorkers are still hazy about the state of the loc...
Black and Hispanic Home Buyers Pay Higher Interest on Mortgages, Study Finds
Black and Hispanic home buyers entering the fast-growing market for subprime mortgages tend to pay higher interest rates than whites with similar credit ratings, a statistical study by an advocacy group says. The subprime industry makes loans at higher...
1st-Quarter Home Prices Rise, but at Slower Pace
U.S. home prices continued to rise in the first quarter of the year, but in another sign of a cooling market the pace slowed from the last quarter of 2005, according to a report released yesterday. Home prices nationally were 12.5 percent higher in the...
Bubble Trouble? What to make of all the real estate trend news
It's springtime and real estate analysts are busy crunching numbers and spitting out prognostications at terrific speed. Open the paper or switch on the TV news or a radio talk show, and chances are you're going to encounter something about t...
30-year mortgages reach 6.67%
Mortgage rates rose again this week on worries about what the Federal Reserve will do next. One-year adjustable-rate mortgages hit the highest level in nearly five years. (Read More) Source: Baltimore Sun Tags: Home Buying, Home Selling, Mortgages, Mor...
What if you could close without so much paper?
Barriers, doubts remain, but more work of the common closing is being done electronically, and the trend is only growing. These days, you can use a computer to order an entire wardrobe without trying on clothes first. You could earn a college degree wi...
