Lew Sichelman
Lew Sichelman is an independent journalist who has been covering the housing and mortgage markets for more than 40 years.
Lew Sichelman is an independent journalist who has been covering the housing and mortgage markets for more than 40 years.
The jury is still out on whether new sports stadiums are economic engines for their communities. But when it comes to housing alone, new stadiums are a boon for local home sales, but don't always contribute to home price appreciation.
The next administration in the White House must act swiftly to move reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac off dead center, and Ginnie Mae President Ted Tozer suggested that the model for a new secondary market is already in place.
When the limits on two of Bill Johnson's credit cards were lowered from $20,000 to $6,000, his outstanding balances jumped from a perfectly acceptable 20% to a dangerously high 66%.
Teardowns in which builders or private individuals purchase an aging, outmoded house, then demolish it and replace it with a modern home that will suit today's homeowners are currently on a tear.
Technology developed by SmartZip analyzes 2,000 variables about a housing market and its homeowners to help real estate agents and lenders identify consumers most likely to sell their house or need a new mortgage.
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.