National Mortgage Delinquency Rate Swells to 9.2 Percent in May
National Mortgage Delinquency Rate Swells to 9.2 Percent in May: LPS
Housing Wire, July 6, 2010
The national mortgage delinquency rate grew to 9.2 percent in May, up 2.3 percent from a month earlier and 7.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the latest report from mortgage performance data and analytics provider Lender Processing Services. As a result, Habitat, a Christian group founded 34 years ago in Americus, Ga., around a philosophy of constructing and rehabilitating homes for low-income families, was recently ranked as one of the nation's top 10 builders for the first time in a closely watched industry list compiled by Builder Magazine.
Charity Joins Top Home Builders' Ranks
Wall Street Journal, July 2, 2010
A dozen female volunteers gathered recently in this blue-collar Long Island town, enduring the heat to help form the entryway of an 1,100-square foot home for Cheri Sabolenko and her two young children. The Sabolenko house will soon join more than 5,000 other homes expected to be built, repaired and rehabilitated in the U.S. this year by a well-known addition to the upper echelon of America's largest home builders: the nonprofit group Habitat for Humanity International.
Condo Prices Plunge
Las Vegas Business Press, July 6, 2010
Prices at the Trump International Hotel & Tower have quietly tumbled this year in an effort to revive sales and reflect market reality. According to records kept by the Clark County recorder, Trump closed on 23 condominium hotel units during the first half of this year, with 14 priced between $155,000 and $185,000. This marks a 65 percent to 70 percent decline from the lowest price before October -- $520,000.
Finding Gold in Them Thar Foreclosures
Associated Press, July 4, 2010
If we're going to search for gold in the wreckage of the mortgage crisis, then 6:57 a.m. in front of 1009 W. Juanita Ave. is as good a time and place as any to start. The Cooper Ranch subdivision, 25 minutes from downtown Phoenix, is just beginning to stir. But when Casey Doran pulls up to his first foreclosure of the day, the tan stucco house has already seen a steady trickle of visitors.
The Morning After
The Economist, June 24, 2010
The idea that debt is a shameful state to be avoided has been steadily eroding since the 1960s, when a generation whose first memories were of the Depression was superseded by one brought up during the 1950s consumer boom. People were already used to buying houses and motor cars on credit, but suddenly a whole range of durable goods—TVs, fridges, washing machines—could be had on easy terms. Credit cards and charge cards came into widespread use. Buyers no longer had to scrimp and save to get what they wanted; they could have it now. As the range of desirable products grew, from Nintendo Wiis to iPhones, the urge to buy first and find the money later increased. In the current recession some borrowers have given priority to their credit-card and car loans rather than their mortgages. After all, they can usually find a new home to rent. But without a car many of them cannot get to work and without a credit card they find it hard to shop.