Category Archives: housing

Mark Gimein reckons that a foreclosure on a subprime mortgage isn’t as bad as a foreclosure on a more traditional mortgage, because he’s been reading about subprime borrowers going into foreclosure, and "almost without exception the borrowers the stories cite … Continue reading →

One of the great things about capitalism, at least as it’s practiced in the US, is that everybody seems to have a reasonably strong implicit faith in efficient markets. You can wander into pretty much any store or coffee shop … Continue reading →

Mortgage servicing is hot. Goldman Sachs is looking at buying the C-Bass servicing unit, and there are many other deals going through as well, such as Wilbur Ross paying $435 million for the servicing business of American Home, and Carrington … Continue reading →

Nouriel Roubini: The literally plunging figures in new home sales – now down another 8.3% in August alone, the lowest level in seven years – are the last nail in the coffin of a housing market that was comatose until … Continue reading →

Now that I’ve started noticing the "speculative bubble" meme, I seem to be seeing it everywhere. The latest person to use it incorrectly (IMHO) is none other than Robert Shiller: According to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller US National Home Price … Continue reading →

Greg Mankiw reckons that prepayment penalties are a Bad Thing, and approves of David Laibson’s plan to abolish them. Writes Mankiw: When I refinanced my mortgage not long ago, one of my first questions was, Are there any prepayment penalties? … Continue reading →

Ten years ago, the GBP/USD exchange rate was 1.61. Today, it’s 2.02. Over that timeframe, the Economist tells us, UK housing prices have risen by 211%, compared to just 120% in the US. Which means that in dollar terms, UK … Continue reading →

The Publisher of Forbes Magazine, a Regular on Fox, Blames the Mortgage Meltdown on Sex Ed Yes, really. (Via Dealbreaker)

Equity Private has a bright idea for how to help mitigate the worst effects of the housing mess: include mortgage debt in bankruptcy proceedings. She doesn’t go into a lot of detail – that’s promised for later today – but … Continue reading →

The NYT’s Geraldine Fabrikant reports today on moves to abolish prepayment penalties in the mortgage market. I think this is a good idea, although it would have been a much better idea a few years ago, when loans with teaser … Continue reading →

How can I have forgotten to mention John Leland’s piece in the New York Times this morning, when I was responding to Matt Cooper? I blame a lack of coffee. Leland cites the Census Bureau as saying that housing costs … Continue reading →

What a clusterfuck. When American Home Mortgage went bankrupt, Freddie Mac seized $7 million in payments that homeowners had made, some of which was for insurance payments and property taxes. But American Home refused to give Freddie Mac the files … Continue reading →

A short response to Matt Cooper, on the subject of homeownership, since I’ve basically said my piece at this point. Matt says that "the social advantages to home ownership seem well documented". I say that a society with high levels … Continue reading →

Matt Cooper and I agree on many things: we agree that the tax deduction for
mortgage-interest payments should be abolished (although now’s maybe not the
best time to do it), and we agree that the subprime mess is messy. But Matt,
like Ben
Stein and Jack
Flack, is a big proponent of the
virtues of homeownership.
Continue reading →