C21AGVoices

Three years to the week after Hurricane Katrina caused $81.2 million in damages, Tropical Storm Gustav is charting a similar Gulf of Mexico path. Memories of Katrina are making oil traders nervous.  The 2005 storm shut down 30 platforms and 9 refineries.  And, this week, oil prices are up nearly 4 percent on fears that the […]

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Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) is an insurance policy paid to a lender in the event that a homeowner defaults on his home loan. With the growing number of mortgage defaults nationwide, mortgage insurers are finding their balance sheets under attack and their revenues in the red. So far this year, mortgage insurers have paid out […]

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The connection between the world’s political events and home affordability here at home is not always clear, but Russia’s invasion of Georgia provides a strong working lesson. Georgia is a former Soviet republic on the eastern shores of the Black Sea. Oil pipelines within its territory supply about 1 percent of the world’s daily oil […]

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Each month, the National Association of Realtors® releases a study called the Existing Home Sales report. It’s a detailed look at “used” home sales data from all four regions of the country. One of the key findings in each Existing Home Sales report is something called the “median sales price”, the statistical price point at […]

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When home sellers accepts a contract on MLS-listed property, the property’s official status changes from “Active” to “Pending”. By measuring the number of “Pending” homes nationwide, the National Association of Realtors® publishes its once-monthly Pending Homes Sales Index. The real estate industry group positions the report as a predictor of future home sales activity, stating that […]

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Monday, President Bush signed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 into law and the press jumped on the obvious storylines: First-time home buyers get a $7,500 purchase “credit” Conforming loan limits move to $625,000 Delinquent homeowners get a lifeline from the FHA Local governments get federal money for buying and restoring foreclosed homes […]

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The phrase “Consumer Price Index” can be intimidating and unclear to Americans. It’s an economic term, after all, and not a part of everyday American language. It even has its own abbreviation to add to the confusion — CPI. So, when a layperson hears that “CPI is rising”, it’s not always clear what it means. […]

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Photo Courtesy of creativecommons.org Ric E Ette In a world where each gallon of gas costs over $4, people are interested in buying properties in convenient locations. They want to be able to take trains or buses or other forms of public transportation, and wonder of wonders, they want to be able to walk places. […]

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Another day, another piece of inflationary data. June’s Consumer Price Index showed a 5 percent year-over-year increase in what is now the largest annual Cost of Living increase for Americans in 17 years. This is bad news for active home buyers because rising costs are considered inflationary and inflation causes mortgage rates to increase. Predictably, […]

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Photo by Chris Bernard Courtesy of Creativecommons.org That’s the magic question. Wouldn’t it be nice to know when the stock market was about to rebound? Most of us would probably buy, buy, buy and watch the values rise as others say I should have purchased at those rock bottom prices! The problem here is that […]

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