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What was the impact of the Fed's buying Mortgage-Backed Securities? - 12/29/09 02:36 PM
A lot has been made about the government's extraordinary intervention into the housing market in the post-bubble era. In fact, I recently participated in a lively debate on CNBC about the Treasury Department's Christmas Eve decision to increase its $200 billion backstop of Fannie & Freddie to a basically unlimited level for the next three years.
One of the most important and overlooked parts of the government's bailout of the housing industry has been the Federal Reserve's purchase of mortgage-backed securities ("MBS"). Basically the Fed has been buying the debt of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which allows them to in … (3 comments)
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On CNBC discussing Freddie & Fannie - 12/28/09 12:18 PM
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There's a difference between a feature and a product, between an idea and a company - 12/28/09 09:41 AM
If you spend any time in the venture capital or startup community, you quickly hear the platitude that "it's so much cheaper to start a company today because of web2.0 technologies". After all, startups can use Amazon's cloud computing rather than buying expensive hardware storage, Google Docs and Spreadsheet rather than MS Office, Skype instead of landlines, netbooks instead of desktops, and various open source software for the actual application itself. In fact, my startup Zillow has been criticized by some for raising the massive sum of $87 million in venture capital, accused of profligacy and web1.0 hubris.
I beg to … (25 comments)
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Why didn't Canada's housing market go bust? - 12/21/09 01:24 PM
It seems like such an obvious question to ask ourselves in retrospect, but I admit that I never thought about this before. Until I read this paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland titled "Why didn't Canada's Housing Market Go Bust?"
Although this paper was one of the most digestable Fed papers I've ever seen, I'll still save you some trouble and summarize it for you:
It wasn't low interest rates which caused the US housing crisis. After all, Canada has a similarly monetary policy during our run-up. The difference between the two markets was that lending standards were much … (2 comments)
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What caused the foreclosure crisis: Lax underwriting or home value declines? - 12/19/09 02:30 PM
In this interesting working paper from the Altanta Federal Reserve, economists look at every residential mortgage in Massachusetts from 1989 to 2008 to determine the cause of the foreclosure crisis. They conclude that home price depreciation was more to blame than lax underwriting standards. Lax underwriting didn't help, but it wouldn't have been such a big issue were it not for declining home values.
From the paper's abstract: "...[we] conclude that the foreclosure crisis was primarily driven by the severe decline in housing prices that began in the latter part of 2005, not by a relaxation of underwriting standards on which … (126 comments)
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Zillow Announces Rental Listings! - 12/15/09 08:47 AM
Via Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow):
I have an investment property in Florida. In the last three years, twice I’ve listed it for sale. Twice I’ve ended up renting it. Twice I’ve relied on my agentto help me with the decision making that took me down this path to simply get the home occupied. It is a big reality that today’s real estate market is forcing many people, like myself, to wear the landlord hat because of market conditions.
Today I am excited to announce that Zillow is expanding its marketing services to not only include homes FOR SALE, but … (1 comments)
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December 2009 Real Estate Analysis - 12/14/09 02:58 PM
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Disney Cruise was fantastic - 12/14/09 01:52 PM
I try to keep most of my blog posts here focused on real estate, but I also love the travel industry. So I want to give a quick plug for Disney Cruises. My family went on one with friends of ours a few weeks ago and it was fantastic. I highly recommend a Disney cruise if you're looking for a fun family getaway.
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Google Goggles - 12/07/09 03:30 PM
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