Will Rate Cuts Kill the Housing Market?   The latest rate cut from the Fed was again good news for the stock market. Unlike the last several Fed moves, however, this one didn’t make mortgage borrowers very happy.   The Fed has cut interest rates quickly and dramatically in recent weeks and months, and the […]

Home Equity Loan Defaults Soar   One of the last sources of ready cash for homeowners looking to get money from their house appears to be shutting down and the results aren’t likely to be pretty for the economy.   The structure of these loans appears to spell trouble for many home lenders with big […]

Housing Prices To Free Fall in 2008   In keeping with our promise not to water down reality in what we cover for you at this site, we bring you news of a Merrill Lynch report released recently that said "The worse housing financial crisis in decades is only going to get worse."   The […]

2008 Housing Outlook   Although home prices nationwide are down 4.2 percent from a year ago, some economists are predicting "the worst is yet to come."   Just how bad will it get? According to Fiserv Lending Solutions, the median home price nationwide is expected to tumble 5.7 percent this year, which would make it […]

More Declines in the Housing Sector   The number of Americans signing contracts to buy previously owned homes fell more than forecast in November, signaling a further deterioration in housing.   The National Association of Realtors’ index of pending home sales dropped 2.6% to 87.6, after a 3.7% gain in October that was larger than […]

More Interest Rate Cuts Coming?   The Federal Reserve is hinting that more interest rate cuts might be needed to offset the deterioration in the credit markets leading to deeper problems for the housing sector and overall economy.   The central bank lowered its key federal funds rate – an overnight bank lending rate that […]

A Look Back at What Went Wrong in 2007   Experts thought 2007 would bring a real estate recovery – not the worst collapse on record.  What does that say about forecasts of a turnaround in 2008?   A year ago at this time many top economists were looking for a recovery in the housing […]

New Home Sales Hit 12-Year Low   Sales of new homes have plunged even more than expected to their lowest level in more than 12 years, leaving the market glutted with unsold homes and pointing to more trouble ahead for the battered housing market.   New home sales tumbled 9 percent in November to a […]

Home Equity Diminishing   Homeowners began to lose hold of their homes long before spiking foreclosures and the housing slump slammed the economy.   Piece by piece, some gave away their homes by tapping equity to take cash out to pay for cars, weddings and vacations.  Others never owned one brick.  During the country’s most […]

The Future of the Richmond VA Real Estate Market   The subprime mortgage crisis has extended itself throughout the economy.  According to Congress’ Joint Economic Committee, some 3.7 million homes will probably foreclose as a result of the crisis.  As of August, 1.7 million of those homes had already foreclosed, and another 2 million are […]