In The News

FHFA’s new program to help underwater homeowners

Better Life

Today the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced a new program designed to help even more underwater homeowners refinance their mortgages at today’s low rates. The plan hopefully will allow homeowners to lower their monthly mortgage payments, thus freeing up money to be spent in the broader economy and help the US from slipping back into [...]

24 October 2011 Read the full article →

AMC Esplanade 14 movie theater will re-open as posh Fork & Screen

In The News

Biltmore-area movie-goers have undoubtedly noticed that the  AMC Esplanade 14 movie theater at 2512 E Camelback Road has been closed down this summer.  In August, the Esplanade will reopen as the latest site of AMC’s newest concept, the upscale Fork & Screen. With this renovation, AMC is trying to attract the posh “dinner and a [...]

23 July 2011 Read the full article →

California says “no” to lender lawsuits after short sales

In The News

Holy cow! The California legislation just passed a law preventing banks and other lenders from suing homeowners for unpaid mortgage balances after the lender agrees to a short sale. (hat tip, Kris Berg of the San Diego Castles blog). The way I read it, the new California law also prevents the lender(s) from requiring the [...]

18 July 2011 Read the full article →

27% of Americans would consider “walking away”

Foreclosures

A recent survey by home finance company Fannie Mae found that while only about 27% of homeowners would even consider walking away, that’s up from 15% last year. Read the original CNN Money article here – http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/07/real_estate/walk_away_mortgage/index.htm Heather Barr is a Realtor and a happy workaholic. She eats more than someone her size ought to [...]

5 July 2011 Read the full article →

Home ownership remains central to Americans’ sense of well-being

In The News

Nearly nine in 10 Americans say homeownership is an important part of the American dream, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. And they are keen on making sure it stays that way, for themselves and everyone else. Read the entire story in the New York Times. Heather Barr is a Realtor and [...]

1 July 2011 Read the full article →

Phoenix not in Top 10, but investors still buying here

In The News

Inman News reports on “The 10 Best Markets for Real Estate Investors” and here’s some takeaways from that report: Tucson is in the Inman “top ten” best real estate markets for investors, but Phoenix is not. Investors usually pay cash for homes (61% compared to just 20% of owner-occupant buyers who pay cash Most investors [...]

5 June 2011 Read the full article →

Metro Phoenix: cheaper to buy than rent

First Time Buyers

Trulia regularly tracks the buy vs. rent equation and reports again that it’s cheaper to buy a home than to rent in metro Phoenix. See full story here: http://explore.trulia.com/datavis/rentvsbuy/Q2-2011/ Meanwhile, mortgage rates are in free-fall, according to an Inman.com interpretation of Freddie Mac’s rate survey… Rates on fixed-rate mortgages declined for a seventh week in [...]

3 June 2011 Read the full article →

How many Realtors in Phoenix?

In The News

The Arizona Department of Real Estate reports that it’s count of licensed agents and brokers has dropped 22% since 2007. Currently there are roughly 51,000 licensed real estate agents and brokers in Arizona. Of course, they’re not all in metro Phoenix, but most of them are. In 2007, the Department tracked about 65,000 licensees. Read [...]

17 May 2011 Read the full article →

How safe is nuclear energy?

In The News

I’ve never been wildly pro or anti nuclear energy, mostly because I’ve never spent the time to really understand it.  But with the Palo Verde plant (the largest energy producer in the country!) in our own backyard, it’s something I’ve always wondered about. Well… Today I saw a graph depicting the relative safety of various [...]

23 March 2011 Read the full article →

Are 70% of Phoenix homes at risk of foreclosure?

In The News

Are 70% of Phoenix homes at risk of foreclosure? The Associated Press says so. But it’s not actually true.  Of homes sold in the Phoenix area recently, 70% were distressed. That means the homes were either bank owned or short sales. See below for a press release just issued by the local MLS data provider, [...]

24 February 2011 Read the full article →

Some mortgage executives face criminal charges

In The News

Taylor, Bean & Whitaker’s former Treasurer will enter a plea agreement for federal criminal charges tomorrow (Feb 24, 2011). The mortgage firm imploded in Fall 2009 and investigators are still sifting through the ashes. So far, they’ve discovered a trail of fraud amounting to as much as $2 billion. TBW’s Treasurer, Desiree Brown, is widely [...]

23 February 2011 Read the full article →