Michael Hobbs's (michaelhobbs) Blog

  Many home owners who have been drowning in negative equity are finally facing relief as the markets report rising home prices. According to data from CoreLogic, a provider of consumer, financial and property analytics, negative equity mortgages declined in the second quarter of 2012, falling fr...

  Average home prices in the Chicago Metropolitan area  rose 2.7% in the last month, a story echoed in many cities across the country after the release of the , the latest Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index. According to the index, Home Price Indices rose in July with both the 10- an...

  When you think about your parents or even your grandparents, does homelessness come to mind?  Likely not, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen to them. Just two weeks ago, we received a call from an older couple who had lived in their suburban house for a couple decades.  Things had not gon...

In recent years T.V ads about reverse mortgages surfaced targeting those aged 62 and over.  The ads promised “retirement your way” and “true financial security”. Some even pitching reverse mortgages as “free money”. Reverse mortgages, also known as HECM loans, are backed by the Federal Housing Ad...

This week, the BMRA (Building Materials Reuse Association) is hosting their Market Development Summit in Detroit, Michigan, called Re-Nailed for thought leaders and industry participants. BMRA is a 501 c3 non-profit educational and research organization whose mission is to facilitate building dec...

  There have been many reports that in the last decade, household formations have declined sharply. Based on a survey by the census bureau it was reported in 2011 that “the number and share of doubled-up households and adults sharing households across the country increased over the course of the ...

  The Mortgage Brokers Association (MBA) Report that tracks mortgage loan application has been reporting declining numbers in mortgage application from mid July throughout the month of August. This has been despite the fact that mortgage rates have been at an all time low and reports in recent mo...

The glass was either half full or half empty, depending on how you saw it. On Friday, it was announced the Chicago residential real estate activity increased 27%. And on Friday, it was announced that prices of Chicago real estate housing decreased 4%. But wait there's more, on Friday in article b...

  Is the world of financial reporting and accounting finally going global? After many years of debate and speculation, the Securities and Exchange Commission in August 2008 announced that it would finally issue a proposed “roadmap” to change from the General Accepted Accounting Principles or simp...

  Despite record low interest rates, borrowers may have to pay higher mortgage fees if they live in the wrong state.  Given that nearly all mortgage companies have had to contend with long and growing processing times to complete foreclosures, a measure is being suggested to account for the cost ...