Foreclosures will hurt the economy
The news just keeps getting worse. The impact of the mortgage crisis is spreading—to higher-end home buyers with good credit, to the commercial real estate market, to Wall Street, to the global financial markets. A chain reaction is taking place, the likes of which we've never seen before. And it's getting harder to tell whether news coverage of the events, a veritable media feeding frenzy, is reporting, or creating, the hysteria. Read more
The word “used” has a bad connotation. No one wants used clothes or used shoes. Is it any wonder that automobile manufacturers have gotten hip to this and now use the term “pre-owned vehicles” instead of “used cars”? Read more
- After years of super-sizing, America's appetite for big houses finally appears to be waning, according to the latest Design Trends Survey by the American Institute of Architects. - Community development financial institutions serving low-income people throughout the U.S. to receive approximately $42 million over the next five years from private foundations. - Citing sluggish sales and a downbeat economic forecast, Ennis Homes of Porterville, Calif., lays off 25 percent of its work-force. Read more
The Florida HBA estimates that $10,000 of the price of a $100,000 home goes to workers' compensation premiums. A well-organized effort to control premiums, backed by many high-profile politicians has stalled, Ousley says, despite lawmaker acknowledgement that the building industry has helped keep the state out of the economic Read more
“OWN THE PRO” IS ONE OF THE HOME Depot's five business priorities and shorthand for capturing more sales from a customer segment that currently accounts for only 2 percent of its stores' shoppers but 30 percent of its annual revenue. However, the Atlanta-based retailer's recent $10.3 billion sale of its pro-focused HD Supply division, to three private equity firms—which, as of press time, was up in the air—raises questions about how realistic that priority is. Read more
FIRST-TIME AND LOW-INCOME home buyers may soon have access to more counseling services as the result of an amendment to the appropriations act for the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development. The amendment increases funding for HUD-certified housing counseling services by $6.76 million for a total budget of $48.34 million in fiscal year 2008. Read more
SOMETIME SOON, THE EXECUTIVE TEAM running Colorado Springs, Colo.–based Classic Homes hopes to buy or start up a bank, through which Classic would expand its mortgage and title businesses. Read more