Lew Sichelman

Intensive year-long program features program managers as coaches, business segment rotations and even group hugs.

In something of a cruel irony, homebuilders are finding constraints on construction financing easing, but little in the way of quality lots on which to put up their houses.

A Florida investment advisor says he has devised a path to homeownership for high-earning young professionals saddled with student loans: refinance them into 100% loan-to-value mortgages, placed in his firm's portfolio.

Home equity lenders are putting more loans on the books, thanks to increasing property values. But utilization rates are falling, not increasing, and older loans are paying off at a faster clip than lenders can replace them.

Funding needed to construct houses is fairly plentiful, but homebuilders are still having trouble lining up financing to purchase and develop land. As a result, buildable lots are in short supply — and far more expensive.

The new mortgage settlement requirements have failed to disrupt the market as expected, at least as far as real estate agents are concerned, thanks in large part to diligent preparation.

When the late-night television comedians joke about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — the two government-sponsored housing finance agencies that almost went belly-up during the housing crisis — you know they have reached the public consciousness.

Credit unions are no longer the tiny cooperatives they were a generation ago.

Homebuyers may be missing out on a wide range of programs that can help them afford their purchases — programs their agents either don't know about or don't want to bother with.