Good thing we panicked last month about the mind-blowing 0.3-point jump in interest rates. The era of record-low mortgage rates is over. The average rate on a 30-year loan has jumped from about 5 percent to more than 5.3 percent in just the past week. As mortgages get more expensive, more would-be homeowners are priced…
Category: News
News, current events, etc.
Real Actual Listing Photos: Take 1
I’m going to take another shot at a new regularly-occurring column: Real Actual Listing Photos. The idea is once a month I’ll round up some of the most bizarre listing photos from around the Seattle area and post them here, with brief excerpts from the real actual listing description, and probably a bit of snarky…
Weekly Twitter Digest (Link Roundup) for 2010-05-15
RT @RedfinSeattle: The NWMLS continues to upgrade but we expect to have all new listings on our site by tomorrow at noon. # Everett Herald columnist Mike Benbow predicts Snohomish home prices will begin rising again soon. http://is.gd/c2Pc4 # via PSBJ: 1 in 4 Puget Sound homeowners are underwater according to Zillow http://is.gd/c4sHB # Great…
Did Banks Act in Good Faith During the Bubble?
I admit that my statement yesterday that “ethics and morals should not even enter the conversation” was a bit of intentional editorial hyperbole intended to spur the discussion. Obviously it does make sense to have a conversation about the ethics of walking away, since that’s exactly what we did for 177 comments (so far). As…
On Misguided Ethics and Walking Away from a Mortgage
With the subject of “walking away” finally hitting the mainstream media in full force this weekend with a dedicated segment on Sunday’s 60 Minutes, it would appear that the idea of giving the keys back to the bank to get out of a financial death spiral continues to gain some serious traction. Of course, even…