Pound Ridge Realtor | Rush-Hour Read: How the Weak Housing Market Hobbles the U.S. Economy

-

via infrastructurist.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Housing Prices Are Up, Up, Up in Southern California | Bedford Real Estate

-
Housing prices nationwide are up, but in most areas we haven’t seen scary kinds of increases. It’s a different story here in Southern California, though, where home prices have  risen 25 percent in the past year: “We’re deep into uncharted territory,” DataQuick President John Walsh said, citing “razor-thin” inventory, pent-up demand, low interest rates and all-cash purchases by investors and wealthy individuals. “How this all plays out is educated guesswork at this point.” ….Extremely low inventory and mortgage rates have ignited those bidding wars and helped turn the housing market into an economic bright spot — both in the Southland and nationwide. Investors have also played a major role in the recovery that began last year, buying run-down, lower-cost properties to fix up and rent out. Is this a bellwether for the future—and for the rest of the country? Maybe not. Richard Green, director of USC’s Lusk Center for Real Estate, thinks prices will ease later in the year for...
Read more

Four Regional Banks Discuss Settlement Over Foreclosures | Waccabuc Real Estate

-
Image
U.S. state attorneys general are pressing four banks to accept a legal settlement over botched foreclosures similar to a deal reached with larger competitors this year, according to three people briefed on the matter. U.S. Bancorp (SFBC) , PNC Financial Services Group (PNC) Inc., SunTrust Banks Inc. (STI) and HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) have held talks with state and federal officials who investigated claims that loan servicers mishandled foreclosure documents, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are private. U.S. Bancorp Said to Join PNC in Talks on Mortgage Settlement Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg Mortgage servicers typically handle billing and collections, as well as foreclosures when borrowers fail to pay. Neil Brazil , a spokesman for HSBC’s North America unit, said in an e-mail that the London-based lender has conducted “preliminary discussions with its bank regulators and other ...
Read more