Jumbo Mortgages: Bigger Is Better, Again" alt="Jumbo Mortgages: Bigger Is Better, Again" />

JUMBOS are back! I thought I'd use all caps for JUMBO to sort of, you know, emphasize the bigness of the news and, frankly, to get your attention. Now, since this is a real estate/housing-oriented site, JUMBOS obviously refers to jumbo mortgages. CitiMortgage, the mortgage finance arm of Citigroup has announced that ... Continue Reading »

Virtual Property Rights: Real Estate's Ridiculous Final Frontier" alt="Virtual Property Rights: Real Estate's Ridiculous Final Frontier" />

It apparently isn't enough that people all across America are losing their real homes to foreclosure because their real jobs have vanished. Now, we have people going to court suing over virtual-property rights. You heard me. They are suing over real estate that doesn't even exist except in cyberspace and, apparently, the ... Continue Reading »

Remodeling Won't Help You Unload Your Crummy Home" alt="Remodeling Won't Help You Unload Your Crummy Home" />

What do Americans do best? Why, shop and spend lots of money fixing up our homes, of course! If a new survey is correct, we the people are about to do both during the rest of this year. That is, provided we have jobs and an income. American Express says 62 percent of homeowners it recently surveyed intend to spend more ... Continue Reading »

Home Tax Credit: All Smoke and Mirrors?" alt="Home Tax Credit: All Smoke and Mirrors?" />

The conventional wisdom has it that the soon-to-expire government tax credit for home purchases was a success. After all, it drove people back into the real estate market and helped to ignite a fire under a still-nascent recovery. But suppose the conventional wisdom is wrong? Suppose it was all really smoke and mirrors? ... Continue Reading »

House Flipping in South L.A.: That's So Right!" alt="House Flipping in South L.A.: That's So Right!" />

Like many parts of the nation, but especially here in Southern California, the neighborhood known as South Los Angeles is pockmarked with foreclosed properties, the result of aggressive subprime lending. But unlike some other parts of town, house flipping just may save South L.A. from what would otherwise be a bleak ... Continue Reading »