The Housing Bubble Blog

With the new blog up and running, how about some suggestions on new features? Forums, podcasts, photo areas; any neat tools you've seen on other blogs or websites. Here are some suggestions from the topics thread. "I suggest people go out and get photos of things that suggest the end of the bubble...

The Arizona Republic reports on the demands of the housing bubble. "Earl Kemp watches daily as earth-moving equipment rumbles past his home in rural Golden Valley, near Kingman, pushing aside dirt and desert scrub as a Las Vegas developer prepares to build the first of more than 130,000 homes."...

The Calaveras Enterprise found some property with reduced prices in California. "The property for sale along Highway 26 is unusual in a lot of ways. But it has one feature you can find on some other residential properties in Calaveras County: a 'price reduced' sign." "That’s because the county is...

Several readers want input on where to park their housing cash. "I'm looking for a new bank for my cash. The main thing i'm concerned with is stability in the event of trouble ahead. that and good rates on 6 to 12 month cd's." "And while we're on the subject, how safe is internet banking (Ing...

This financial advice answers some questions for speculators. "Q: I became a real estate investor last year (probably, too late) buying a small townhouse, which, fortunately, I rented out within a month. The idea was to let the property increase in value and sell it in two or three years. Now I...

How about the housing market in your neck of the woods? Post any observations or media sources that you want to share; open houses, anecdotal items, etc. Some readers posted these in the topics thread. "The radio spots that are STILL played by mortgage brokers. Hayes Barnard of Paramont Equity is...

The Fresno Bee has the latest on that bursting housing bubble. "Some home builders, trying to keep home prices down and responding to a possibly slower and highly competitive market in 2006, are planning to unveil new, more affordable designs. 'If [builders] see things taper off, they could shift...

Readers want to discuss the housing bubble and the jobs impact. "I wanted to suggest a topic: I want to get into the details of the last SoCal collapse that has (to date) been blamed on the Aerospace industry collapse." "Is there a job loss scenario for SoCal that mirrors 1990? There have be...

"Moody's Investor Service is concerned that a tidal wave of capital into mortgages has relaxed credit for high-risk loans." "In response, the ratings agency is stressing that more credit discipline is needed to avert a crisis." "Moody's specifically cites growth in commercial mortgages, which have...

The LA Times has this report on infighting among subprime lenders. "Brutal competition in the shrinking home loan market has caused "irresponsible players" such as Ameriquest Capital Corp. and New Century Financial Corp. to spoil mortgage banking profits, the chairman of No. 1 home lender...

A reader is interested in conditions that might speed up the housing bubbles demise. "I would echo the topic suggestion from last weekend, (that) wanted to discuss 'accelerants and value killers' in a downturn and the current request, 'a thread covering the difference between high end homes' and...

Reports from California show the precarious nature of that states' housing bubble. "It's unclear what lies ahead for housing, which is a state of flux. Residential permits statewide were down 2.7 percent last year. In San Diego County, permit activity dropped 12.2 percent. Among the bigger cities...