We continually scour the web for the most interesting and credible articles on real estate and the housing market. The best of the Weekly Picks, as well as other useful resources, graduate to our Best Bets page.
If you find some that you think we may have missed, please drop us a email.
Week Ending September 8, 2007
Housing is Hitting the Unemployment Ranks. Although the housing industry accounts for only roughly 6% of US employment, it has accounted for over 46% of new jobs over the past 5 years. Now those jobs are shedding fast.
Ground Zero of the Real Estate Bust. Using Colorado case studies, Time provides a nice overview of how subprime loans and wall-street have shaken the foundation of the housing market.
This Old Foreclosure. Rising foreclosure rates may not spell bad news for everybody - home buyers may be able to benefit by buying foreclosed property at a discount, if they're careful.
Bush Moves to Aid Homeowners. Bush seeks to reduce the number of homeowners going into foreclosure with a number of measures, including allowing the Federal Housing Administration to guarantee loans for delinquent homeowners.
What Will Fix the Mortgage Mess? As the fall-out from the "subpriime crisis" grows, proposals for how to deal with it are mushrooming. Business Week has a useful review and critique of the main proposals.
Blight Moves in After Foreclosures. As foreclosures rise, so to does the problem of property "blight", where foreclosed homes can become eyesores, magnets for squatters, and even health hazards.
Boom of Condo Crash Loudest in Miami. "Ground zero" in the real estate bust may be Miami, where 20,000 soon-to-be-completed condos are set to join the 23,000 already on the market.
Inside the Countrywide Lending Spree. A brewing scandal centers on claims that mortgage lenders guided borrowers into subprime loans they did not necessarily need, including Countrywide Financial, the nation's biggest lender.
