mortgage mess

Losing Your Home to Foreclosure? Shoot Yourself and All Will be Forgiven by Fannie Mae?

by Joshua Dorkin | October 4, 2008

In a sign that things have really gone awry, a 90 year old woman, Addie Polk, who was being evicted from her foreclosed home, shot herself two times. This tragedy has become a national story. According to CNN, “Fannie Mae said it will set aside the loan of a woman who shot herself as sheriff’s [...]

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Real Estate

Nonresidential Building Sinks: Fears Banks Will Cut Back Loans For Nonresidential Projects

by Charles Feldman | September 3, 2008

Concern is mounting among some analyst types that nonresidential building–which till now has somewhat made up for the decline in residential building–is heading south because of banks. The New York Times reports today that the experts are worried because banks have weakened due to losses on their mortgage loans and that this may make them [...]

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Economy

Declining Home Value + Increased Cost Of Gas = Major Headache

by Charles Feldman | June 18, 2008

In deciding whether to buy a home in a distant suburb, you may want to sit down and do some hard and honest calculating about the cost of gas for your commutes–a cost that is going up at the same time housing values are going down in many parts of the nation. It is ironic, [...]

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Commentary

We’re On The Eve Of Destruction: US Mortgage Crisis Ignites

by Charles Feldman | November 7, 2007

“…but you tell me over and over and over again my friend, ah, you don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction?” It was back in 1965 when P.F. Sloan’s “Eve of Destruction” was recorded. And, while it was about the Vietnam war, which was gearing up, and the Cold War, which was years away [...]

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Housing

Refinance pitches: Lessons Not Yet Learned

by Charles Feldman | October 31, 2007

Disturbing news this week from the pages of the Los Angeles Times–it appears as if no lessons have been learned from the mortgage/credit crisis the U.S. (the world??) finds itself in. According to the paper, there is a virtual “blizzard” of advertising aimed at homeowners to induce them to refinance. And, while these ads are [...]

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Economy

How the Housing Crisis is Affecting Lenders and the Economy as a Whole

by Joshua Dorkin | October 18, 2007

I’m a bit short on time today, so I’ll share with you a few of the headlines that stand out to me regarding the economy and housing . . . How Housing is Affecting the Economy Dollar Drops to All-Time Low Against Euro on Weak Economic News From Washington – “The dollar fell to a [...]

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