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Bush officials say GSEs could be allowed to guarantee jumbo loans 2007-09-20 14:25:23 The Bush administration will consider allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to guarantee
loans in excess of the $417,000 conforming loan limit to inject liquidity into the secondary market for jumbo loans, officials
told Congress Thursday.
In testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that any such move would be temporary, and should be accompanied by tighter oversight of Fannie and Freddie.
Bernanke also said such action would have to be taken promptly, because financial markets will recover in coming months.
“If it comes on line in March, it’s not going to be effective,” Bernanke said, responding to questioning by Rep.
(Read the full post about ‘Bush officials say GSEs could be allowed to guarantee jumbo loans’…)
While tech sector holds promise, these stocks are sells: editor 2007-09-20 14:19:26 In a radio interview with Chuck Jaffe, MarketWatch senior columnist, Tran used that logic to suggest that investors sell two hardware manufacturers and buy several other stocks from industries about which he has less optimism than technology. Tran’s technology sells were Hewlett-Packard Read more:holds
, promise
, sector
Point2 CEO steps down amid sexual exploitation charges 2007-09-20 14:16:15 Wendell Willick, co-founder and CEO for real estate marketing and technology provider Point2 Technologies, resigned his position last week and this week entered a guilty plea for sexual exploitation of a teen from January 1996 to November 1999 while serving as a church elder in the teen’s congregation, according to news reports and court records.
Willick is scheduled to be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 5 in Queen’s Bench Court in Saskatoon, Canada. He faces a maximum sentence of five years, according to Kristen Crowell, a spokeswoman for Saskatchewan Law Courts.
(Read the full post about ‘Point2 CEO steps
down amid sexual exploitation charges’…)
New single-family home prices fall 8.6% in California 2007-09-20 12:45:43 New-home sales dropped 27.8 percent in July compared to July 2006, the California
Building Industry Association reported today, and new single
-family sales fell 20.3 percent, with median new-home prices dropping 4.8 percent and median new single-family home prices falling 8.6 percent.
Eleven of 29 regions in California had double-digit percentage declines in median new-home prices in July compared to July 2006, according to the latest
Schumer asks for tough review of Dubai-Nasdaq deal 2007-09-20 12:32:15 “I believe that the acquisition of such a large stake in a U.S. exchange by a foreign government raises some serious questions,” Schumer
wrote to Paulson. The senator asked for a review
of national security concerns associated with the deal under a yet-to-be-enacted law providing for such reviews. The law takes effect this fall. Terms of the pact call for the government holding company to buy a nearly 20% stake in the Nasdaq
Stock Market Read more:Dubai
Abu Dhabi to buy 7.5% stake in Carlyle Group 2007-09-20 12:04:26 The deal represents a 10% discount to the parties’ agreed-on $20 billion firm valuation. There are no voting rights associated with the deal, according to a press release. Mubadala, the investment vehicle, will also invest $500 million in a Carlyle
fund. The deal is expected to close in October. “These resources, like the earlier investment by CalPERS, will add to Carlyle’s capital base, strategically expand our business and be used for additional investments,” said Carlyle co-founder David Rubenstein in a statement. In 2000, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, known as CalPERS, purchased a 5.5% stake in Carlyle, which oversees nearly $76 billion in assets under management and is widely expected to go public. (Read the full post about ‘Abu Dhabi to buy 7.5% stake in Carlyle Group
’…)
California single-family starts down 35% from last year 2007-09-28 14:36:12 Single-family housing starts in California
have fallen about 35 percent for the first eight months of the year compared to the same period last year, as measured by building permits issued, the California Building Industry Association reported this week.
Building permits issued for single
-family units in the state dropped 34.6 percent in August 2007 compared to August 2006, according to data compiled by the Construction Industry Research Board, a nonprofit research center.
Meanwhile,
Home construction spending rate nears 4-year low 2007-09-28 12:23:51 The residential construction spending rate declined for the 18th straight month in August, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today, hitting its lowest level since November 2003 and dropping 16.5 percent compared to August 2006.
The construction spending report heaps on more statistics reflecting a decline in the U.S. housing market — earlier this week the Census Bureau announced that the new-home sales rate in August hit the lowest level for that month since August 1995, dropping 21.2 percent compared to August 2006.
(Read the full post about ‘Home construction spending rate nears 4-year low’…)
An agent’s closer look at Zillow 2007-09-28 09:57:00 At Real Estate Connect I had a chance to sit down for a one-on-one interview with Rich Barton of Zillow
. Love them or hate them, Zillow is now generating about two-thirds as much traffic as Realtor.com. Can your business afford to ignore such a powerful place to advertise for just pennies?
A Dec. 14 blog post entitled “Real Estate Horror” on the Sellsius blog shows a picture of Peter Lorre speaking to Frankenstein.
(Read the full post about ‘An agent’s closer
look at Zillow’…)
No More Home Equity Loans for College Tuition 2007-09-28 04:01:36 With mortgage lenders shutting the door on home equity loans, parents of college-bound kids may have to rethink their school, and financing, of choice.
When you flip the switch, the light comes on. Turn on the faucet and the water flows out. Up until recently, many homeowners believed that access to equity financing was as simple and reliable as using those utilities around the house. Now it seems that the supply of money supporting home equity lending has run dry.
Change of tides
Just a few years ago, sharply rising home values created huge amounts of borrowing power for homeowners. Many non-housing industries were reaping the benefits, as homeowners tapped into that equity to fund anything and everything. (Read the full post about ‘No More Home EquityLoans
for CollegeTuition
’…)
A sit down with the ‘Blogfather’ 2007-09-28 03:11:43 Real Estate Video by - Real Estate Blogger
Dustin Luther is one of the original real estate bloggers and the driving force behind Read more:lsquo
A Texas reverse mortgage keeps the cash flowing for senior citizens By Antonio Redford 2007-09-28 03:03:10 Dignity is a mans most prized possession and he would no doubt like to hold on to it till the very end of his life. A man works throughout his life to provide the comforts and luxuries for his family. He may also build some assets like a house and such a property is one of the most cherished belonging of any person. However once a person has crossed sixty and reached the retirement age he may suddenly find himself at a crossroad of life where the constant inflow of cash in the form of a monthly salary suddenly stops. This is a time when the retired person needs to be fully prepared and have sufficient amount of liquid cash to manage the regular and unaccounted financial needs that may arise. (Read the full post about ‘A Texas
reverse mortgage keeps
the cash flowing for senior
citizens By AntonioRedford
’…)
Freddie Mac reaches $50 million settlement with SEC 2007-09-28 02:51:07 Calling it another milestone in putting an accounting and management scandal behind it, mortgage repurchaser Freddie
Mac said Thursday it had reached a $50 million
settlement with government regulators over the company’s restatement of three years of earnings.
In the settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Freddie Mac neither admitted nor denied allegations that the company violated federal securities law by deceiving investors about ups and downs in the company’s earnings.
The SEC’s
Nevada reverse mortgage: live life your way even after retirement By Antonio Redford 2007-09-28 02:37:43 Money has its own attraction whether we like it or not. It could be just a necessary evil for some while for others it might be the very obsession of their lives. While there is a constant inflow of cash into the household, we can relax thinking that all our needs will be provided for, no matter what happens. It can get a little scary at the end of the month if we have overspent during the month and are running a little short of cash towards the end. Probably this is the time when we realize the importance of the constant inflow of cash. This fear gets increased by manifolds once the retirement
age approaches. (Read the full post about ‘Nevada
reverse mortgage: live life your way even after retirement By AntonioRedford
’…)
KB reports $35.6 million loss in Q3 2007-09-28 02:25:08 Home builder KB Home (NYSE: KBH) on Thursday reported a net loss of $35.6 million
in the third quarter ended Aug. 31, compared with net earnings of $153.2 million in the same quarter last year.
And those losses were minimized by KB’s sale of its French home-building subsidiary Kaufman & Broad SA, which generated total gross proceeds of $807.2 million and an after-tax gain of $438.1 million for the quarter.
Without that boost, the quarterly net loss would have been $478.6 million, or $6.19 per diluted share, the company reported.
The bulk of the loss was due to pretax noncash charges of $690.
(Read the full post about ‘KB reports $35.6 million loss in Q3′…)
Seeking a Credit Card Even With Bad Credit By Reggie Andersen 2007-09-28 02:11:10 Unfortunately, no matter how dire the need for a credit card is, it seems that not as many people are qualifying for them as would like to qualify. Credit card companies want to give cards to people with good credit, who they know can be responsible and make timely payments and that seems to be an ever-decreasing portion of the population.
Luckily, there are companies out there that are willing to grant credit cards to those who have credit that is not so perfect. There is of course, a catch, and it is that credit cards for people with bad credit are a great deal more expensive and costly to maintain than credit cards for those who qualified the normal way. (Read the full post about ‘Seeking
a Credit Card
Even With Bad Credit
By Reggie
Andersen’…)
Refis, home purchases fall in latest survey 2007-10-03 10:56:58 Applications for home purchase and refinance loans declined last week even as long-term interest rates dropped, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today.
The market composite index, a measure of total mortgage application volume, last week sank 2.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the final week in September, according to MBA. Leading the decline was a 3.8 percent drop in the index that tracks new refinance loans, followed by a 1.8 percent dip in the purchase-loan index.
Interest rates on long-term loans were lower last week, while those on adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) moved higher, MBA reported.
(Read the full post about ‘Refis, home purchases fall in latest survey’…)
Reply announces $4.5 million financing round 2007-10-03 10:03:33 Reply.com, a company that offers real estate and automotive online marketing services and consumer-facing tools, on Tuesday announced that it has secured $4.5 million
in financing from ATEL Ventures Inc.
Reply offers free home valuations for consumers, as well as property-search and neighborhood research tools. The company also has a lead-generation program for real estate agents.
In August 2005, Reply.com announced that it received $17 million in financing, led by BA Venture Partners.
(Read the full post about ‘Reply announces $4.5 million financing round
’…)
Announcements of mortgage layoffs nearing 70,000 2007-10-03 09:34:09 Mortgage and subprime lenders have announced nearly 70,000 layoffs in the first three quarters of 2007, according to outplacement consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., which tracks company announcements of job cuts.
That’s a more than five-fold increase from the 12,874 announced job losses in mortgage lending tallied by Challenger in all of 2006.
“The heaviest job cutting has occurred over the last two months as the bottom suddenly fell out from the mortgage and subprime markets,” said John Challenger, the company’s chief executive officer, in a statement accompanying today’s release of the latest numbers.
(Read the full post about ‘Announcements of mortgage layoffs nearing 70,000′…)
Determining CD Rates 2007-10-03 08:04:45 Several factors determine how banks and credit unions set interest rates on CDs (certificates of deposit). Learn those factors and you can find the best rate for your savings.
To most folks, the rise and fall of interest rates on certificates of deposit (CDs) seems pretty random. You might imagine a group of bankers sitting around a table, flipping coins to decide if a new, one-year certificate of deposit should pay more or less than it did yesterday. While setting CD rates is a game of sorts, it’s not one that’s left entirely to chance.
Institutions that issue these financial instruments consider several factors when setting their CD rates, including:
• Length of the deposit. CD issuers maintain a rate schedule, offering different rates for longer and shorter maturities. (Read the full post about ‘Determining CD Rates
’…)
Stock Trading Games By Frank Vanderlugt 2007-10-03 07:05:57 Whether you are a novice trader or you want to improve your skills, stock trading games offer a great way to learn the basics of the stock market and to hone your skills without the risk of losing your money. You can find many different stock trading games online that allow you to stimulate the market without having to invest any of your own money. While you wont make any money, you can gain knowledge and get experience that can help you when youre money is on the line.
These types of games let you create and manage your own portfolio and then you can compete against your friends, families, or other people playing the game. (Read the full post about ‘StockTradingGames
By Frank
Vanderlugt’…)
How To Stock Your Home Bar By Michael Hutchins 2007-10-03 06:40:13 Without a doubt, people are back to enjoying cocktails! After several years of taking a “backseat” to beer and wine,it is apparent that the trend is moving toward mixed alcoholic drinks. Because of this trend, it is now more important than ever for home bar owners to keep a well stocked bar. This article will focus on the essentials of stocking your home bar.
We’ll start with some common sense selections. You’ll want 750 ml bottles of rum,bourbon,gin,vodka, a Canadian blended whiskey, scotch, and tequila. Unless you frequently entertain serious martini drinkers, the gin and vodka don’t have to be “top-shelf” brands. Ditto for the bourbon and rum. (Read the full post about ‘How To Stock
Your Home Bar By Michael
Hutchins’…)
Montello Resources (TSX.V:MEO) - Drilling Down The Devil’s Throat By Eric Pratt 2007-10-03 06:32:22 Montello Resources
(TSX.V:MEO www.montello.com), an oil and gas exploration firm based in Calgary, Alberta, potentially has a very big problem on its hands. Its the kind of problem most junior explorers only wish they had.
The company is in the last leg of drilling on the John Bowen #2 test well in Tennessee, just over a mile from the site of the now notorious Pryor Oil blowout, after a drill penetrated a formation at 2,400 feet that was under an estimated 2200 pounds per square inch of pressure. (Read the full post about ‘Montello Resources (TSX.V:MEO) - Drilling Down The Devil
’s Throat By Eric Pratt
’…)
The High Cost of Damaged Credit By Roger Passman 2007-10-03 06:12:06 Damaged credit is costly. Not only does it drain people emotionally, it has a very real economic cost attached to it as well.
Lets say you want to purchase a new car and you need to borrow $25,000 for three years or 36 months. If your credit score is between 500 and 589, you will pay $4,832 more than a person with a top rated score of 720 to 850. Think of all the things you could buy with that $4,832.
The cost differential involved in purchasing a new home is even more staggering. The difference between a borrower with perfect credit and one with severely damaged credit given a 30 year fixed mortgage borrowing $300,000 amounts to monthly payments that are $897 per month more or $322,920 more over the life of the loan.
No matter how you slice it, damaged credit is quite costly. (Read the full post about ‘The High Cost of Damaged Credit By Roger
Passman’…)
Finding a Good Lender By Ki Gray 2007-10-03 06:01:25 As we learn more about the sub-prime “melt-down” of 2007, the selection of a good lender is apparent in its importance as a key step to success. A new home buyer must pay careful attention to this selection and a good REALTOR will facilitate the process and add to your success. Your realtor can provide you with some web sites for information and a list of some proven lenders. These referred professionals will explain their financing programs and options to you, but do not hesitate to ask your realtor for additional background and information. The loan process is complicated so do not hesitate to ask a lot of questions. (Read the full post about ‘Finding a Good Lender
By Ki Gray’…)
Get complete financial liberty with California reverse mortgage By Antonio Redford 2007-10-03 05:46:26 Anyone can be in dearth of money at any phase of life. Old age is such a phase of life when one is in possession of little resources as he/ she is not able to work anymore to increase resources. It seems really very delighting if you are getting loans along with new resources to earn money without any effort. Now it is possible with California
reverse mortgage as it not only fulfills your requirement of loan but also provides you with a new resource of income. Usually people do not consider mortgaging a better way to get loan but reverse mortgage is something which is poles apart from traditional mortgaging. (Read the full post about ‘Get complete
financial liberty
with California reverse mortgage By AntonioRedford
’…)
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