recession: 10 of the Hottest Suburbs in the U.S.
- 07/11/13 04:49 AM
The real estate market is on the slow road to recovery, with many homeowners looking to the suburbs for affordable living. I recently wrote an article for CBS MoneyWatch that focused on the top 10 growing suburbs in the U.S.
National real estate firm Coldwell Banker studied 1,500 suburbs by looking at each town's employment rates, including year-over-year increases and unemployment, grocery stories, shopping, banks, entertainment, proximity to good schools, commute and crime.
The firm found that the hottest suburbs have exploded in economic and population growth, and are quickly recovering from the national recession.
Some of the best places to … (1 comments)
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recession: Where Did The Housing Market Recovery Go?
- 04/01/11 05:37 AM
Most Americans were told to sit tight and wait for the housing market recovery, but they may be sitting tight a lot longer than they thought. Steve Cook of Real Estate Economy Watch explains that experts have grown more pessimistic about the state of the market. Some say that we may only see a "weak" recovery in the next two years.
Robert Schiller, one of the few experts who called it right on the housing bubble, had this to say: "This uninspiring view must be influenced by the presistently weak market fundaments-- high unemployment, supply overhand, an unabated foreclosure ciris, and constrained mortgage credit."So … (1 comments)
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recession: Credit Trends: Signs Of Life From Subprime Customers
- 11/22/10 01:53 AM
Everyone wants to know what direction the economy will take, and there are many factors that are pieces of the puzzle. You could look at student loans, home equity lines of credit, and auto loans, but one of the most important indicators of the economy's health is the credit market. Fortunately, the credit market is starting to open up and show signs of moving toward recovery.
Lately, subprime customers (generally those with credit scores under 660) are showing signs of life. While this doesn't automatically indicate that the economy is turning around, there are some encouraging trends. Credit expert Janet Dedrick … (0 comments)
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recession: What Do the Credit and Debt Statistics Mean for Consumers?
- 10/18/10 04:54 AM
With foreclosures and unemployment rates up, how are loan delinquencies down?
There is a significant difference between how people think of the credit crisis and how they react with their finances. Loan delinquencies trended upward in 2009, but they've peaked for the majority of loan types-auto loans, credit cards, HELOCs, and even mortgages. Student loan delinquencies have not peaked and are still increasing.
Typically, increases in the dollar delinquency rate (the number of loans with delinquent payments divided by the number of loans) were influenced by increases in both incidence and average size of delinquencies. The size of the … (1 comments)
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recession: Signs of Life in the Credit Universe
- 10/04/10 05:36 AM
While the credit industry may not be out of trouble yet, there are some signs that recovery is finally here. Equifax's Credit Trend data is showing small, but important changes in the credit industry. A few of these changes have occurred because of looser restrictions on lending, and some have occurred in spite of tighter lending standards.
Signs of Life include:
Risk scores are stabilizing and improving, because less consumers are delinquent on loans. Consumers are paying down debt voluntarily Lenders are extending new credit, although they are doing so very cautiously Auto loans continue to expand, despite tight auto lending … (1 comments)
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recession: An Estimated 1.2 Million Households Lost During the Recession
- 04/16/10 04:08 AM
According to a study released today by the Mortgage Bankers Association,and estimated 1.2 million households were lost from 2005 to 2008, despite the population increase of 3.4 million in the study area.
This decline in households is likely what contributed significantly to the excess supply of apartments and single family homes on the market.
Read more about the 1.2 million households lost during the recession in the full press releaseon the ThinkGlink.com story.
… (0 comments)
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recession: Surprise! October Housing Starts Collapse
- 11/19/09 03:20 AM
Guess the economists are wrong again.
According to this morning’s Wall Street Journal, economists estimated that U.S. housing starts rose to an annualized pace of 600,000 units from 590,000 in September.
Wouldn’t that be nice.
Instead, housing starts collapsed according to the latest government figures. According to the Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. housing starts in October fell 10.6 percent from September, and were down 30.7 percent below the October 2008 level.
Building permits declined 4 percent from the revised September numbers, and more than 24 percent from a year ago.
But hey - the … (2 comments)
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recession: Recession Over? Not With 21 Percent Unemployment.
- 10/28/09 05:26 AM
How bad is the economy? Despite what you see going on with the stock market, and the continuing talk about profits and green shoots, it’s pretty bad.
According to the official unemployment numbers, not quite 10 percent of the U.S. population is unemployed. But that unemployment number doesn’t include everyone who doesn’t have a job but wishes they had one.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) surveys only 60,000 households every month and asks them if they “have a job, are looking for a job, or have given up, or have gone back to school, or retired,” writes MSNBC.com senior producer … (8 comments)
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recession: Foreclosure Relief and a Reduction in Unemployment Go Hand In Hand
- 10/20/09 04:17 AM
Foreclosure relief is needed to stem the rise but the unemployment rate needs to go down to allow people to earn money to pay their mortgages. Recent statistics may be getting less worse but the economy is still shedding jobs and there are increasing numbers of foreclosures.
Eventually the numbers will turn around, but the question is, when will we get foreclosure relief and a reduction in the unemployment rate?
Each week, I receive dozens of letters from readers. The vast majority of them are in trouble financially, mostly because they’ve lost their job and can’t pay their bills. I … (0 comments)
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recession: Foreclosures Are Everywhere
- 10/15/09 07:00 AM
Well, the foreclosure numbers are out for the third quarter, and they’re the worst on record. According to RealtyTrac, foreclosure filings (which include default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions) were the highest in Q3 2009 since 2005, when the company began tracking foreclosures.
Foreclosure fillings were down 4 percent in September from July, but up 29 percent from September 2008. September’s total was still the third highest monthly total, behind only July and August of this year. The sheer number of foreclosures is bad enough, and the continued downdraft in the jobs market isn’t helping matters. RealtyTrac’s Rick Sharga said … (2 comments)
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recession: $15,000 Home Buyer Tax Credit Gets Another Boost
- 08/24/09 04:51 AM
It isn’t just the National Association of Realtors, Mortgage Bankers Association of America, the National Association of Home Builders and Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) who want a $15,000 home buyer tax credit.
According to Bruce Hahn, president of the American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance, 70 million homeowners want it as well.
With prime mortgage foreclosures and delinquencies now approaching 20 percent, Hahn believes the time is right to not only extend the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit - but expand it to $15,000 and make it available to all home buyers, even millionaires.
The House (H.R. 1245) and Senate (S.1230) … (5 comments)
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recession: Why the Economic Recovery Stinks on Main Street
- 08/18/09 04:47 AM
The results of today’s University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey only reflect what I’ve been hearing on my radio show and in emails from my readers: Wall Street may be generating huge profits and paying out even bigger bonuses, but life is tough on Main Street:
- Sales and existing homes are up slightly, but down from a year ago - and way down from the peak of the housing boom in 2005.
- Home prices are down.
- More than 27 percent of Americans are underwater with their mortgages.
- Credit is being sliced and biced.
- … (2 comments)
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recession: Wall Street Or Main Street: Which America Do You Live In?
- 08/05/09 07:12 AM
This week’s batch of news and emails left me feeling a little confused about the current state of our economy.
It almost feels as though there are two economies. First, we have the so-called “good news” from Wall Street, where the big financial companies are crowing about billion dollar profits, paying $100 million bonuses, and repaying warrants.
The other economy is reflected in the emails I’m receiving from Main Street, where people can’t get lenders to call them back about loan modifications, where jobs continue to be lost by the tens of thousands, home values continue to fall, net worths are … (1 comments)
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recession: Credit Crisis, Recession Eases With Home Buying And Jobs
- 05/06/09 12:59 PM
Has the Great Recession Hit Rock Bottom Yet?
The 1920s were all about swingers and speakeasies, solidly-built pre-war co-ops, and prosperity. In the early 1930s, the boom went bust and millions of families lost everything. You could argue we hit rock bottom again in 1937 when the government’s rebuilding effort stalled and World War II was on the horizon.
By the late 1940s, when the veterans started coming home and buying houses, it was understood the United States was headed for a better place economically.
How do you know you’ve hit rock bottom in a recession? The truth is that time … (0 comments)
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recession: Credit Crisis: Low Home Values Lead to Foreclosure
- 11/16/08 09:25 AM
Summary: Home values continue to decline and home owners are losing income. These factors affect home owners' ability to sell homes and make mortgage payments. Some home owners may be considering giving their homes to the bank through foreclosure and moving on.
Those who can afford to keep their homes have negative equity -- they may owe more than the current home value. The credit crisis continues to impact home values, mortgages and the housing market as a whole.
A new survey from First American CoreLogic, a real estate data company, has concluded that nearly a quarter of all homes with … (1 comments)
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recession: Buying Real Estate During Economic Crisis
- 10/13/08 09:19 AM
If you don't have a job, you're not buying a house -- at least, you're not buying a house unless you're paying for it in cash. And for most folks, cash seems to be in short supply at the moment.
The credit crisis continues to grow in scope and scariness. Third quarter 401(k), 457, 403(b) and IRA statements are out and mental calculations are being made about how much the numbers have dropped since the statement arrived in the mail.
With the central banks around the world working in concert (for the first time ever) to lower interest rates, rising unemployment, … (0 comments)
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The real estate market is on the slow road to recovery, with many homeowners looking to the suburbs for affordable living. I recently wrote an article for CBS MoneyWatch that focused on the top 10 growing suburbs in the U.S.
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