Real Estate Dispatch

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Insight has a page that provides links to a wide array of data on housing markets and housing finance at:

http://www.ofheo.gov/Research.aspx?Nav=110

EO Nebraska hosted us for a fabulous weekend which culminated in the Berkshire Hathaway Annual meeting-widely known as "Woodstock for Capitalists."   The highlight of the meeting for me was Chairman Warren Buffett and Vice-Chairman Charlie Munger answering questions for over five hours with the Board of Directors (including Bill

This graph was created from data obtained from the Federal Reserve.  In addtion to the 10 year, month by month fixed rate home mortage interest rate there is a 12 month moving average to provide a smoothed trendline. 

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is the national association representing the real estate finance industry.  MBA's research and economics group provides current and comprehensive data and benchmarking tools that make a difference in short- and long-term strategic planning. cover all real estate business areas - economic forecasting, residential, commercial and multifamily.

Katie Wethman's Thoughts on Washington, DC and Northern Virginia Real Estate has an excellent entry on the difference between a Conforming, Jumbo, and FHA loans.  I didn't realize that the point at which a loan became a "Jumbo" loan was when Fannie and Freddie could not buy the loan--the present limit is around $417,000.

Home owners in fear of facing foreclosure and seeking free mortgage counseling assistance should call the Homeowner's HOPE Hotline at 888-995-HOPE (4673).  Calls to the hotline - provided by the Homeownership Preservation Foundation (HPF) are answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week by

An excellent post on the Home Inspection Blog on the life expectancy of some common household items.  Sample life expectancies include:

A good article in the Wall Street Journal on buying foreclosed homes.    It states: