Has U.S. government debt become a safe haven for its own downgrade? Some think so since mortgage (Fannie & Freddie) and Treasury bonds still look ok relative to other global options, but that theory has yet to play out. One thing for sure is that US banks are holding on to more cash and locking [...]

Have A Roommate This Recession? You’re Not Alone The MBAA continues to churn out reports. The latest shows that in the four years (2005 through 2008) the US population increased by 3.4 million but that the number of households declined by 1.2 million. And if the number of households (demand) goes down, prices must drop [...]

Repeat after me: Fed Funds are set by the Federal Open Market Committee, don’t vary daily, and have no direct bearing on 30-yr mortgage rates. 30-yr mortgage rates are set by supply and demand through the bond markets, vary every day, and prices are adjusted by what investors & servicers want to see flowing into [...]

98% of Americans say, “OH S&!T* before going in the ditch on a slippery road. The other 2% are from Wisconsin and Minnesota, and they say, “Hold my beer and watch this!” That quip has nothing to do with mortgage banking or renting, but seemed right given the weather in many areas. Every renter has [...]

I usually try to keep my opinions out the daily commentary. But I am really becoming irked by the press. One day they complain about our industry having foreclosure problems and the credit crisis here in the US and in the world. And then the next day they complain about the declining rate of mortgage [...]

In her new book, “Going Rogue,” Sarah Palin says she doesn’t like vegetarians. Palin says all vegetarians should go back to Vegetaria, where they came from. Unlike Conan O’Brien, from whom that line came, many investor bulletins are not concise. And I may have seen more releases from top investors of greater length, but I [...]

I was showing my Dad my cell phone over the weekend. He said, “Son, no one gives a damn about all the things your cell phone does. You didn’t invent it, you just bought it. Anybody can do that.” Life with Dad, always an adventure. Speaking of buying things, us taxpayers bought us another bank [...]

I never did well in the corporate world. Any employee knows, when you “take a long time”, you’re “slow”. When your boss takes a long time, he’s “thorough”. When you “don’t do it”, you’re “lazy”. When your boss doesn’t do it, he’s “too busy”. Such a double standard. And the economy seems to have a [...]

When I got home last night, my wife demanded that I take her someplace expensive…So I took her to a gas station…That’s when the fight started. Gasoline prices are on the rise, just in time for “Talk Like a Pirate Day”, which is tomorrow. In our wonderful non-metric system here in the US, a “barrel” [...]

In a roundabout way, this is may be a sign of further good news about the economy or real estate markets: Flagstar added only four areas to their declining markets list: Honolulu, Kalamazoo, Manchester, and Niles-Benton Harbor. In turn, they removed over a dozen areas from their declining market list, including Akron, Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, [...]