The Housing Bubble Blog

Readers suggested a topic on desirable places to live. "When all this settles out, taking energy costs, global warming, quality of life (crime, schools, health care, culture, etc), availability of jobs, costs (purchase, insurance, taxes etc) into account, where will the best places in the US be to...

What do you see in your housing market? Builder problems? "Last year, when Terry & Terry Inc. was developing Cross Creek in Oakland, the company's executives projected they would have three or four builders each starting a handful of homes in the subdivision by now. But only three homes by one...

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The Rocky Mountain News reports from Colorado. "More than one out of four homes in the Denver area placed under contract in May failed to close, according to an analysis of a monthly report on homes sold by Realtors. The 25.81 percent 'fallout rate is staggering,' said Larry McGee, president of the...

Readers suggested a topic on post bubble housing. "Is home design going to change now? Cheaper homes built in factories and assembled at the site? Energy efficient homes smaller with fewer windows better insulation? I think there will be a backlash against all the large expensive crap built in the...

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It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Sharon and James Foster have had a home on the market for six months. Located in Sauk City, the Fosters chose to sell the property after deciding being landlords wasn't for them. 'The renters have not stayed as long as we had hoped, Sharon Foster...

The New York Times reports on Florida. "A Florida couple, Scott and Deanne Hopp, bought and sold house after house, and seem to have done well at it for a time. They specialized in buying houses with less than no money down, borrowing more cash than they actually had to pay. One of their homes...

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OK, folks, I really need your help. I am going on the road from tomorrow until next Tuesday. So I am going to be using a lot of your topic suggestions. Please give me your best effort! Also, I have gotten some questions about the meet-ups in California. One thing to note; I doubt I will be dining...

The Times Press Recorder reports from California. "For Don and Rebecca Spendlove, just keeping a roof over their heads has taxed their mental, emotional and physical as well as financial capabilities. The Nipomo couple have found themselves in the same situation as millions of other Americans:...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. CNN Money, "More than one million homes are now in foreclosure, the highest rate ever recorded, according to a trade group which warned Thursday that number will continue to climb. The Mortgage Bankers Association's first quarter report...

A report from the Idaho Statesman. "The number of Treasure Valley homes entering the foreclosure process in May was down 17 percent from the previous month, according to statistics released Wednesday. A total of 345 notices of default - the first step in the foreclosure process - were filed in Ada...

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The LA Times reports from California. "Buyers last week of a Spanish-style, 3,220-square-foot house on a cul-de-sac here got a bargain: $1 million for a hilltop home in Northern California's wine country, with views to San Francisco in the distance. Two years ago, the same property sold for $1.4...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street, Washington and the world. AP, "Red Bank, N.J.-based Hovnanian posted a fiscal second-quarter loss of $340.7 million. That compared with a loss of about $30.7 million in the same period a year earlier. Quarterly revenue fell 30 percent to $776 million from...

The Columbus Dispatch reports from Ohio. "The mortgage crisis has harmed virtually everyone, leaving a wake of foreclosures and falling property values that will ripple through neighborhoods for years to come. No longer is the problem confined to poor neighborhoods." "Rodney Young lives in a...

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The Sacramento Bee reports from California. "As California voters go to the polls today in a low-turnout primary, those who bother to show up aren't likely to be happy. With a teetering economy and an unpopular war, only 17 percent of voters in a new state Field Poll believe the country is headed...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Bloomberg, "Toll Brothers Inc., the largest U.S. luxury-home builder, reported its third straight quarterly loss as tumbling demand forced the company to write down land values. The five largest U.S. builders have reported a combined $3.4...