Michael Hobbs's (michaelhobbs) Blog

It is nice to see some positive news around the holiday season....according to Transunion, the current year will close with a 7 percent yearly decline in mortgage delinquencies, matching last year’s decline. Tim Martin, VP of TransUnion’s financial services business unit, believes house prices an...

Granted, this time of year people's attention turns to holiday and shopping for clothes, toys and electronics.  Yet, not all shoppers were focused on those items.  Several people took note of real estate deals and showed up ready, willing and able to avoid a 'missed opportunity'.  In talking to B...

While we cannot choose who we are born to, and we cannot routinely choose which household we are brought up in, we can choose what we will do with our lives.  I for one am a proponent of education.  Upon reading Greg Hinz article in Crain's Chicago Business Blog, I  Based on a report prepared for...

Recently, it was announced that Chicago-area construction will likely experience its 6th straight year of falling sales due to a market too weak to support new construction.  The market has declined approximately 6% from the prior year according to McCraw-Hill Construction.   Depending on how you...

In case you didn't see the article at inman.com, there is a summary of the recent foreclosure, REO, and distressed real estate inventory that Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA are dealing with.  Seems like they could use several more arms and legs to get a hold of the bugger. Although the governmen...

In the heydey of Black Friday sales on lots of 'stuff', possibly a number of buyers and owners missed the ongoing Black Friday deal on mortgage interest rates.  The raw rate on a 3 year mortgage is slightly more than 2% right now and the APR comes in at 3.5%.  For those seeking the security and l...

Possibly you heard it?  No, you didn't?  Well, sometimes it is tough to hear the sound of silence. That was pretty much the case for FHA loans in the Chicago area, as FHA-insured loans fell nearly 40% in a one year period per the Mortgage Bankers Association.  Granted, compared to 2005, 2006 and ...

  Possibly you turned your attention away from Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals and advertisements to observe the wave of housing data that is starting to come out.   Corelogic announced that the Chicago-area experienced a slight improvement in the number of houses which were worth less than t...

I know, in today's environment, it is hard to believe, but yes, indeed there will be a Virgin in Chicago. Recently, Virgin Hotels announced their expansion to Chicago.  This follows a recent expansion of Virgin Airlines flying to and from Chicago O'Hare International.  So, it definitely seems tha...