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• Calls to Mortgage Hotline Double
  The crisis in the mortgage industry is taking a toll on telephone lines, if a new report from a non-profit homeownership group is any indication. The Homeownership Preservation Foundation reports that its HOPE hotline fielded some 143,000 calls in the 4th quarter of the year. That’s double the number of the quarter before. It’s also 10 [...]
  [January 20th, 2008]
• Market Shares of ARMs Fall
  Freddie Mac reports that the total market share of adjustable rate mortgages decreased last year to its lowest point since the year 2003. Such mortgages make up some 17% of the overall market. When the housing market was faring well, back in 2004, such mortgages comprised 33% of the market. Since Freddie Mac began recording [...]
  [January 20th, 2008]
• Profits Fall for Home Sales
  M & T Bank Corporation is reporting that 4th quarter profits fell 70% because of additional losses on home sales. The company was actually one of the initial lenders to report that homeowners in general were defaulting on loans - not just those homeowners who had risky subprime loans. M&T Bank Corp. reports that net income for [...]
  [January 16th, 2008]
• Prospects for Recession Still Unclear
  The President of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis says that it’s still unclear whether the nation is headed for recession. In an address to financial planners recently, William Poole made note of the errors which he believes gave rise to troubles in the emaciated housing market. “Will housing sector problems push the economy into recession? [...]
  [January 15th, 2008]
• Home Sales Dip in Late Autumn
  The number of pending U.S. home sales dropped slightly in November, according to the National Association of Realtors. The reading declined 2.6% to 87.6 from a revised October index of 89.9. Still, the trade group expects home sales to increase quite a bit in the second half of 2008. Real estate analyst Mike Larson of Weiss Research [...]
  [January 12th, 2008]
• Housing Crisis Leads to Drastic Measures
  The nation’s housing crisis is leading some homeowners to take drastic measures in order to alleviate their financial burden. For instance, a couple in western Maryland is selling raffle tickets for their home, which is valued at nearly $400,000. The couple is waging they’ll be able to sell a sufficient number of $100 tickets to get [...]
  [January 11th, 2008]
• Housing Crisis Becomes Election Issue
  The nation’s housing crisis has now emerged as a key issue in the race for the White House. Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is running an ad in which she spotlights the crisis, which has led to widespread foreclosures and increased fears of recession. The ad states that Clinton “called for action on America’s housings crisis in [...]
  [January 11th, 2008]
• Student Loan Fix Among Congressional Accomplishments
  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi can claim a number of achievements to her credit in her initial year as Speaker. For instance, Congress raised the minimum wage for the first time in nearly a decade, from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour. Congress also approved an energy bill which includes the first uptick in fuel economy standards in [...]
  [January 10th, 2008]