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Foreclosure is a hot topic among the press lately. It’s hard to turn on the television or open up a newspaper without seeing a story about it.

But what’s most interesting about foreclosures is that they appear to be concentrated in certain areas of the country.

According to the foreclosure-tracking service RealtyTrac, 4 states [...]

New Bailout Again Raises Moral Hazard

WSJ – By DAVID REILLY – NOVEMBER 12, 2008

Another day, another bailout: This time homeowners get to benefit from mortgage-modification programs, designed to stem the tide of [...]

For the 4th consecutive year, the government has set the conforming mortgage loan size limit at $417,000.

A conforming mortgage is one that, quite literally, conforms to the mortgage guidelines set forth by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

The 2009 conforming loan limits, as released by the government, are:

1-unit properties : $417,000
2-unit properties : $533,850
3-unit properties : [...]

Super-luxury buyers slam on the brakes – at least for a moment

New York Magazine – By S.Jhoanna Robledo - Nov. 9, 2008

Until about a month ago, the New York real-estate market was split in two. As properties below $5 million stayed longer on the market, [...]

A Downturn Begins

By Vivian S. Toy - New York Times – Nov. 9, 2008

EVEN though the average price for a Manhattan apartment, at $1.5 million, is higher than it was a year ago, [...]

Mortgage rates fell last week, marking just the second time since September that rates improved on a weekly basis.

The biggest news of the week was the U.S. Presidential Election. Markets appeared to cheer the Republican-to-Democrat transfer of power, posting large gains Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

This in spite of a spate of negative economic news:

Auto [...]

On the first Friday of every month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its Non-Farm Payrolls report. More commonly, it’s called the “jobs report” and the October’s data is trending with the rest of 2008.

After shedding another 240,000 jobs last month, the economy has now put 1.2 million Americans out of work this year [...]

The interest rate against which adjustable-rate mortgages change is falling — evidence that the global banking system is starting to stabilize.

On any adjustable-rate mortgage, the initial “starter rate” remains fixed for some period of time, and then adjusts according to some pre-determined rules.

For a conforming mortgage, an ARM will typically adjust once per year, based [...]

The Federal Reserve confirmed what most of us already knew — getting qualified for a “prime mortgage” is increasingly more difficult.

In a quarterly survey of 84 banks, 75 percent of respondent banks tightened mortgage guidelines over the last 3 months for the most qualified of home loan applicants.

“Prime” is a vague term when it comes [...]

More than a handful would-be home buyers stayed on the sidelines this year, waiting for Election Day to pass.

The prevailing thought was that once the new President-Elect was identified, credit markets will systemically unfreeze and housing markets will return to normal.

If history is a guide, this is an unlikely scenario.

Election Day doesn’t figure [...]