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As you’ve seen, the data are up and down on the state of the housing market. The Economist has done an exciting job of aggregating data from Zillow, and producing five interactive charts. The charts cover data from Q1 1980 all the way through Q2 of this year. They also address 24 major markets, and the U.S.…

Freddie Mac reported a $475 million net loss for Q3  That net loss is actually based on a $4.2 billion gross loss on derivative investments. What’s a little weird about this is that the derivative investments were a hedge against interest rate fluctuations. But of course, interest rate fluctuations are in large part controlled by the…

As you may recall, there was much uproar at the time of the mortgage crisis, blaming Standard & Poor’s ratings firm for making false statements about risky mortgage “derivative” products. A federal appeals court had originally ruled in favor of S&P in a lawsuit filed by the Boca Raton Firefighters & Police Pension Fund. This…

Aside from a few people of the long-term-planning persuasion who start holiday shopping on December 26th, most of us aren’t quite ready to get into shopping just yet. Still, shopping for friends and family is different than shopping  for yourself … or your home. The last few years have seen an explosion in “home automation”…

It’s widely known (and he’s written about it many, many times himself) that when Warren Buffett invests in a stock, he does so after thorough research, and for the long haul. Essentially, he ignores short-term news. We’ve reported several times recently on the strength of the housing market. Two new pieces of news are out…

The housing market seems to be increasingly in good shape, as this blog has reported recently. However, “in good shape” means different things to different people. The construction industry is booming, if you look at the number of housing starts. However, if you look at the number of completions, they’re substantially lagging — up only…

The housing market seems to be increasingly in good shape, as this blog has reported recently. However, “in good shape” means different things to different people. The construction industry is booming, if you look at the number of housing starts. However, if you look at the number of completions, they’re substantially lagging — up only…

There was a time, not too long ago, where quite a few people took hauntings quite seriously. In fact, I seem to recall a lot of old movies where the basic theme was, some family got a house, cheap, because it was haunted. And that’s still true today in some cultures — but not in…

OK. So the economy is better. The housing market is in full recovery, if not possibly even in a bubble again. So, what gives with over 50% of all residential mortgages being held by Fannie and Freddie? (As a reference point, that’s up from 7% in 1981). As expected (and always), it comes down to risk.…

Link 1: http://www.popsugar.com/tech/Fun-Last-Minute-Halloween-Costumes-35978794#photo-35978794 Link 2: http://www.idigitaltimes.com/6-cheap-last-minute-halloween-costume-ideas-will-impress-everyone-485611 Link 3: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deva-dalporto/last-minute-halloween-costumes-for-moms_b_8351894.html Link 4: http://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/2015s-most-terrifying-last-minute-d-i-y-halloween-costumes OK. Last week we covered how to handle your house if you’ve gotten this close to the wire and aren’t yet ready for Halloween. But what good is it to have a spooky house if you yourself aren’t prepared to be decked out for the ghouls and…