Posted 6 days ago

As the housing slump winds on, builders and Realtors are getting very creative in their marketing. We could almost do an awards show about the best promotions. Here are a few of my favorites:Pardee Ho

Tags: housing real estate

Posted 6 days ago

The next wave of foreclosures is expected to gather strength when the million or so option ARMs start resetting in large numbers next spring. But it seems that many of these loans, which allow borrowe

Tags: arms foreclosures housing

Posted 1 week ago

The most popular adjective in real estate listings is (to amplify on my headline) great in Miami; large in Dallas, Orange County, Calif., and San Francisco; and new in Boston, Chicago, San Jose,

Tags: real estate

Posted 1 week ago

When Wachovia bought Golden West Financial two years ago, executives at the Charlotte-based bank gushed about how they could take the Pick-A-Pay mortgage that was Golden West s signature produ

Tags: housing housing bubble

Posted 1 week ago

Check out this week's BusinessWeek cover story, The Home Price Abyss: Why the threat of a free fall is growing. I and Mara Der Hovanesian wrote the story with help from a bunch of other BW staffers. O

Tags: arms real estate

Posted 1 week ago

Very belated correction: A year ago I pointed out a New York Times article that warned real estate agents against describing an apartment building as family friendly. The reason, supposedly, was tha

Tags: housing real estate

Posted 1 week ago

Is that a swimming pool in front of the Pentagon? Nope. It s boxer Evander Holyfield s old Atlanta estate and it has joined the growing list of celebrity homes going into foreclosure.Thanks once a

Posted 1 week ago

Good news is a rare treat in this housing market. Today s National Association of Realtors report is at least mildly positive. It shows that existing home sales rose 2% in May to an annualized pace

Tags: existing home sales housing

Posted 2 weeks ago

Harvard University s Joint Center for Housing Studies came out with its annual snapshot of the housing industry this week and it is bleak. The report, the university s 20th, calls this the worst

Tags: foreclosures housing

Posted 2 weeks ago

It s been another tough week for Washington Mutual, the nation s largest and perhaps most troubled thrift. The company announced a major new restructuring called Project Restart. Some 1,200 employ