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Trulia released its price and rent monitor today. In November, asking home prices rose 12.1 percent year-over-year (YoY), increasing in 98 of the 100 largest U.S. metro areas. Regaining a bit of steam since the slowdown began in July, asking prices rose 1.0 percent month-over-month (MoM) and 3.0 percent quarter-over-quarter (QoQ). In fact, the quarterly increase is the fastest in five months, though still lower than in the spring. The west coast along with Atlanta and … Detroit(?) are still growing in price at a rapid rate, but that rate is slowing down. askrpicertrulia Rents on the west coast are...

It appears that the Corker-Warner housing finance bill is still leading in the reform derby, despite its obvious problems and omissions (like protecting the property rights of current investors). Anyone remember the beating General Motors bond investors took in the government bailout of GM? Corker-Warner does little to fix any housing market problems that exist. And that is because housing legislation can’t cure what ails the economy: decreasing labor force participation and real median household income. Here is a chart of three economic indicators with clear downward momentum: civilian labor force participation (blue), the US homeownership rate (red) and real...

Bank of America has agreed to pay Freddie Mac $404 million in a mortgage settlement over 716,000 loans, many purchased from Countrywide. This is one of many lawsuits by the Federal government over Countrywide and related mortgages. One wonders when the litigation will end. Here is the thing. These suits are largely about representations and warranties between the loan seller and the loan purchaser concerning underwriting standards. The reps and warranties provide relief to the loan purchaser if the underwriting of the loans by the loan seller proves to be misleading or false. But there is another issue called causality....

Housing markets are booming again in parts of the U.S. and Britain and they haven’t stopped doing so in Canada for the better part of a generation. What is most striking about the latest round, at least when you listen to those who ought to know, is how nothing much except the price has changed. We were told a stern lesson in the months and years after the financial crisis, borne out of an over-inflated, over-leveraged U.S. housing market securitised up to the scalp by Wall Street and leaping ever higher up a steeper incline on a blind instinct never...

There is a lot of talk about a new housing bubble. If you look at a chart of house prices, you can see why. cs2009 This is a faster acceleration rate in house prices than during the much-discussed housing bubble of the last decade. csindices112613 Can it continue to accelerate? There are a couple of factors that say no. First, real median household income has been falling since 2000 and particularly since 2009. It is difficult to maintain price growth under these conditions once investors pull out. csrealinc Second, home ownership rates continue to fall …. along with real median...

The Senate will likely take up the confirmation of Mel Watt (D-NC) as Director of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). Now that Harry Reid (D-NV) triggered the nuclear option allowing Democrats to use simple majority voting on most appointments, it is likely that Watt, who has no regulatory experience, will be confirmed as FHFA Director. What has Ed DeMarco accomplished as a regulator? Many things including, • Significant progress has been made on the development and initial testing of the Common Securitization Platform (CSP); however challenges, including necessary changes to Fannie Mae’s...

Government policies including the Fed monetary expansion have seemingly made matters worse for the average American family. Particularly since 2007. The GINI coefficent is a measure of income distribution in country. And it has been skyrocketing since 2007 when Democrats took control of Congress and 2009 when they achieved a majority in both the House and Senate AND the Presidency. But for all the talk of income redistribution and “leveling the playing field,” things have only gotten worse for the average American household. Here is the GINI coefficent for the USA since 2005. Note the decline from 2006 to 2007,...

FHFA has released the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conforming loan limits for 2014. The big winners? Hawaii! fanniefreddicll Second is Alaska (AK). Fortunately, there aren’t enough people in the Aleutians to cause taxpayers serious problems if the unemployment spikes and/or housing prices collapse. Third on the list are Guam, the Virgin Islands and … West Virginia. West Virginia?? California, Washington DC (Maryland, Virginia), Wall Street (New York, New Jersey), Carolina Coast vacation hub (Kitty Hawk) and Idaho. Somehow, I don’t think it is Napoleon Dynamite’s hometown that is among the costliest housing in the USA. Napoleon-Dynamite-napoleon-dynamite-117744_720_540 Once again, I...

Lender Processing Services (LPS) released its latest LPS Home Price Index (HPI) report, based on September 2013 residential real estate transactions.According to the report, U.S. Home Prices rose 0.2% in September, up 9.0% Year-Over-Year (YoY). LPS HPI – September 2013 The big winners? Nevada, Georgia and South Carolina. The big losers? NE “blue states”: Connecticut, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. lpshpisept13 On a metro level, Myrtle Beach SC, Charleston SC, Atlanta GA, Miami and Naples FL were the big winners. The big losers? Most of Connecticut and Springfield MA. bigmetro Hey, at least bankrupt Modesto CA is making a comeback! So...

According to the National Association of Realtors, pending home sales dropped 0.6% in October. The West led the decline with -4.1%. Year-over-year (YoY), pending home sales fell -2.2%, the lowest print since May 2011. Was it interest rate increases? Partly, at least in May and June. But since a recent high on August 22nd, the Freddie Mac 30 year mortgage commitment rate has been falling along with pending home sales. Rising house prices combined with declining real median household income isn’t helping home sales. And, of course, falling labor force participation isn’t helping, although house prices continue to rise in...

As many are painfully aware, the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac collapsed in price from Q4 2007 to Q4 2008. Fannie Mae stock was trading at $60.81 on September 28, 2007 and fell to $1.71 by September 30, 2008. That is quite a drop. But Fannie Mae’s equity is now at $2.73 while Freddie Mac’s is at $2.52 per share. Both started showing signs of life in March 2013, spiked on May 28th, fell again, but has regained upward momentum since September. Who is in the running to purchase Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and provide private market...

The recent confusion from The Fed over the future of quantitative easing (or money printing) can be addressed with a few charts. Here is a chart of real GDP growth PER CAPITA since 1960. Real, of course, indicates that it is Gross Domestic Product adjusted for inflation. Note that Q1 1984 was the peak of real GDP growth … and it has been a steady decline since then. realgdppercap I added the S&P 500 index to the real GDP per capita chart and you can see that the S&P 500 index spikes when real GDP growth is higher than average...

In mid-September, a CNN Money headline reassured investors: Our Long National Foreclosure Nightmare Is Over. Sounds great! Now we can finally relax and be glad that Henry Paulson, the Fed and the Big Bankers saved us from the apocalypse.Wait a second. Not so fast. Before you breathe a sigh of relief, why don't we take another good look at the real state of housing markets now. Let's examine some important charts, graphs and tables that the media does not cover. Inventory of Homes for Sale: What It Tells UsIn numerous articles over the last two years, I have emphasized the...

There is already fallout from Harry Reid (D-NV) and The Democrats use of the “nuclear option” to change confirmation hearings to a simple majority vote. Of course, this means that the Democrats can force horrible choices on America without the possibility of a filibuster. While most people have focused on the judicial appointments, one person in the housing finance arena stands to benefits: Mel Watt (D-NC). Watt would be a disastrous choice as Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director. He has NO regulatory experience, did not know what Tier 1 capital was (the lack of which sank Fannie Mae and...

As Congress mulls over the “reform” of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and even the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), it is important to remember that these entities are INSURANCE COMPANIES that compete directly with private mortgage insurers like MGIC. So when we consider housing finance “reform,” consider the debacle from the recent “reform” of insurance: The Affordable Care Act. Please visit the Affordable Care Act (aka, Obamacare) at this site and try to enroll. Another similarity between housing finance reform and healthcare reform is that they are both focused on “affordable” delivery on housing finance and healthcare. The Corker-Warner Senate legislation...

Eminent domain to seize underwater mortgages is rearing its ugly head in New York. However, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman actually showed common sense by pointing out the dangers: “I am, just as a lawyer, uncomfortable with expansive use of eminent domain. I think [it] should be a vehicle of necessity, and it’s controversial whenever you use it… You have to be careful about balancing all the interests.” Well said, Mr. Schneiderman. emdomnj Eminent domain to seize underwater mortgages is a clear attack on mortgage investors, as I have discussed previously. But it seems to be gaining momentum, despite...

While economists mostly focus on real gross domestic product (GDP) growth, let’s look at nominal GDP growth for a change. If we go back to 1948 and President Harry Truman, you can see the number of times that nominal GDP growth (Year-over-year) exceeded 5%. nomgdpyoy And if we count the number of times nominal GDP equaled or exceeded 5%, we can see a pattern developing. Under President Obama, nominal GDP exceed 5% only once (5.2% for Q1 2012). The last President that experienced 5% or more nominal GDP growth was Ronald Reagan. gdpgt5 But even under the much-maligned President Jimmy...

The eminent domain steamroller is gaining momentum. Irvington NJ now joins Richmond CA in the effort to seize the mortgages of underwater borrowers and reduce their debt. Other cities are moving forward (or backward) in the eminent domain derby. Newark NY, Pomona and Oakland CA are moving forward. Other cities are considering studies to seize mortgages such are two in Pennsylvania and a cities in Minnesota, according to Robert Hockett, a Cornell University law professor and one of the architects of the strategy. He should be nicknamed “Hockett to ‘em”. robert_hockett-inside-small Who is the “‘em” that Hockett want to sock...

I attended an excellent panel discussion at the Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C. today on GSE (housing) reform. The speakers were Mark Calabria (Cato), Alex Pollock (AEI), Arnold Kling (former Freddie Mac employee) and Josh Rosner (Graham-Fisher). All speakers agreed that the government guarantee should be eliminated on residential mortgages. Essentially, the US over invests in housing to the detriment of other aspects of the economy. Sure, we got a bubble in house prices and homeownership, but we also neglected building factories and the rest of the economy (choosing instead to import goods from abroad). Here is the result of...

For years doctors have been focused on specific cholesterol numbers to help patients prevent initial and recurrent heart attack. New guidelines mean only those at high risk will be recommended to take the drugs. So how will doctors decide who is at high risk? More importantly what are physicians already saying about changes? Dr. Neil Stone of Northwestern University chaired the committee that wrote the new guidelines, which was a collaborative effort between the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology. No more statins to control cholesterol numbers say expertsInstead of looking at cholesterol numbers Stone said physicians...

Speaking at a Democratic fundraiser, held at a private residence in Dallas, Texas, President Obama stated, “we are remaking the courts.” The President’s statement is especially important, due to the fact that critics of the President have long accused him of attempting to change the American court system, in order to ensure his leftist agenda is deemed to be constitutional. The President, however, has denied doing this, until now... Continue reading at BeltwayExaminer.com

Could 3D printing help solve the world's shelter crises? At a TED talk in Ojai, Calif., Behrokh Khoshnevis, director of the Manufacturing Engineering Graduate Program at the University of Southern California, said nearly 1 billion people in the world don’t have access to adequate shelter, a situation that breeds poverty, disease, illiteracy, crime and overpopulation. To address this problem, Khoshnevis is developing a process called Contour Crafting to use 3D printing technology to build entire houses. Khoshnevis said the giant 3D printers his team is developing can build a 2,500-square-foot house in as little as 20 hours. The Contour Crafting...

In 2004, the new president told risk managers in San Francisco that closer supervision had "made our financial system far more resilient to shocks." In Phoenix that year, she reported "more positive signs in the economy." She flagged real estate as a concern in March 2005, telling a banking group in Hawaii that her staff was examining commercial lending and was concerned about the "easing of credit standards and terms on loans" for home mortgages. But Yellen ended optimistically, concluding that "we don't think widespread problems are likely" and that "industry conditions in many respects are stronger now than they've...

As of October 31st, the Federal Reserve of St. Louis monetary base keeps accelerating. stlouismonetarybase Here is the monetary base (white) and the Fed’s balance sheet (pink). monbasefedbal And the M1 Money Multiplier keeps falling. So, $1 created recirculates through the economy very slowly. m1multip110113 And the M2 Money Velocity keeps falling as well. Low GDP is the culprit and M2 Money supply growth isn’t firing up the economy. m2velo110113 Here is M2 Money Velocity and the Case-Shiller 20 metro index since 2000. House price growth and lending helped spur velocity through 2006, but it has been downhill since then....

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending October 25, 2013, mortgage applications increased 6.4 percent from one week earlier. mbaindices103013 The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 2 percent from one week earlier. But the MBA’s 30 year effective mortgage rate has been falling since September 6th, so there is definitely a slowdown in mortgage purchase applications. mbap1030a The slowdown in purchase applications can be seen after the spike in 2010. mbapurch103013 The average loan size for a purchase mortgage for adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) is over twice the size of fixed-rate...

S&P Case-Shiller house prices rose by 0.93% in August (MoM) and 12.82% (YoY), the biggest Year-over-Year rise since 2006. csyoy And the Case-Shiller 20 metro index is back to August 2008 levels. spcs102913 Well, we know that it isn’t households borrowing to purchase a home that is driving this bubble. Here is a chart from CoreLogic on Purchase Mortgage Credit Production. It remains low. skfig1-purchasemortgage And the MBA Purchase Application index (due out tomorrow) is similarly low (at 1995 levels). mbapurchase1995 In fact, house prices are rising as mortgage purchase applications are falling. csaugmbapurch In terms of metro area price...

Mortgage-backed securities legend Lew Ranieri made an impassioned plea for regulations to loosen credit standards on home loans at the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) annual conference in Washington D.C. The U.S. mortgage market has experienced an “irrational restriction” of credit as lenders and regulators overreact to the loose lending during the bubble that burst in 2007, mortgage-bond pioneer Lewis Ranieri said. mtgvol1998 “If this legacy persists the consequences will be more profound for the country than the economic losses” caused by the bust, Ranieri said today at an annual conference hosted by the Mortgage Bankers Association in Washington. Ranieri, the...

Pending home sales in the USA fell 5.6% in September, the biggest drop since 2010. phs102813 Of course, the rise in the US Treasury 10 year yield has cooled off pending home sales. phsmortgagesept13 Meanwhile, capacity utilization in the USA rose to 78.3%, shy of the point when The Fed has historically raises The Fed Funds Rate Target to cool down the economy. caputefed102813 Back in the Reagan Recovery in the 1980s and the Clinton Recovery in the 1990s, we saw capacity utilization rise above 80% signalling an over-heating economy. And The Fed reacted with increases in The Fed Funds...

The next Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting in on October 30th, a preview of Halloween. Despite the lack of evidence of positive growth in the economy, The Fed will likely keep on printing. Two of The Fed’s tools in its arsenal are the Fed Funds rate and longer-term asset purchases (aka, quantitative easing). So, what is the record on the employment front with regard to Fed policies? Let’s take a look. Here is a chart of the unemployment rate (white line) compared to the Fed Funds Target rate (gold) and The Fed’s Balance Sheet (longer-term asset purchases). u3fedpol2 So...

Yesterday, I posted charts showing the deceleration of economic indicators in the USA, as The Fed’s Balance sheet continues to grow (white). The indicators are labor force participation (purple), M2 Money Velocity (gold) and the 10 year Treasury yield (green). charming Today, we got another deceleration warning from durable goods orders (non-airline, non-defense). Orders for U.S. equipment such as computers and machinery unexpectedly declined in September for the second time in three months, indicating business spending was weakening ahead of the partial government shutdown. Bookings for non-military capital goods excluding aircraft decreased 1.1 percent, the Commerce Department reported today in...

The Federal Open Market Committee meets in the coming week to discuss monetary policy after the 16-day U.S. government shutdown took at least $24 billion out of the economy. The Federal Reserve is likely to delay lowering its $85 billion in monthly bond purchases until March, according to a Bloomberg survey. Sorry to break this to you, but the downward trend has been building since 2000. Here is a chart of The Fed’s balance sheet (white line) which has been growing rapidly since late 2008. The other indicators: 1. the 10 year Treasury yield (green): it has been falling steadily...

According to data released Tuesday by the Census Bureau, 49.2 percent of Americans received benefits from one or more government programs in the fourth quarter of 2011. govtbene And, of course, When Obamacare is fully implemented on Jan. 1, 2014, Americans earning up to 400 percent of the poverty level will qualify for a federal subsidy to buy health insurance. Speaking of more and more people of the government dole, RealtyTrac estimates that 47% of the nation’s foreclosed homes are currently occupied. The percentage actually tops 60% in some hot housing markets, like Miami and Los Angeles. Those still living...

According to data released Tuesday by the Census Bureau, 49.2 percent of Americans received benefits from one or more government programs in the fourth quarter of 2011. govtbene And, of course, When Obamacare is fully implemented on Jan. 1, 2014, Americans earning up to 400 percent of the poverty level will qualify for a federal subsidy to buy health insurance. Speaking of more and more people of the government dole, RealtyTrac estimates that 47% of the nation’s foreclosed homes are currently occupied. The percentage actually tops 60% in some hot housing markets, like Miami and Los Angeles. Those still living...

In an abbreviated week (Columbus Day), mortgage applications -0.57% for the week ending October 18, 2013. mbaindice102313 Mortgage purchase applications rose slightly at +0.73%. However, it is slightly disappointing given recent declines in the 30 mortgage rate (in this case, the MBA 30 year effective rate). mbapurch102313 And the long-term trend remains in mortgage lenders’ Grim Fandango. That is, zone of stalled mortgage purchase applications. mbaplt102313 Concerning mortgage refinancing applications, they are increased largely due to the recent decline in mortgage rates. But it is hardly a “refi wave.” More like a ripple in a pond. mbarefi102313 And the Federal...

There are clear headwinds for economic growth in the United States. Here is one chart that combines several economic indicators that are decelerating. decelnation First, the M1 Money Multiplier (white line). It was over 3.0 back during the Reagan Recovery in the 1980s, but it has been all downhill since then. It is currently below 1.0 at 0.721. Second, the M2 Money Velocity (red dashed line). It peaked in 1997 during the Clinton Recovery and has been pretty much downhill ever since (with the exception of 2003-2006). Third, labor force participation (green dotted line). It peaked in March 2000 and...

Video at link. Arizona is defying a federal order to eliminate apartments for deaf seniors at a housing complex built specifically -- for the deaf. "I think it's about the most ridiculous thing I've heard in a while," said Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who attempted to negotiate the impasse. "There are a lot of stories of out-of-control regulators, but this just seems to be going to the extreme." A 2005 federal study found that the U.S. had virtually no affordable housing for the deaf. So the federal government helped build Apache ASL Trails, a 75-unit apartment building in Tempe, Ariz.,...

According to the National Association of Realtors, existing home sales fell and fell by the most since June 2012. ehssep13 And now for the bad news. Home affordability plunged to the lowest level since the end of 2008, and the beginning of The Fed’s quantitative easing (QE1) program. haffor102113 Of course, increasing home prices coupled with rising mortgage rates will put a damper on affordability. While the Freddie Mac Mortgage survey rate is still lower than it was at the end of 2008, house prices (using CoreLogic’s home price index) are higher than at the end of 2008. loanhpfreddieinded We...

Poor Spain. The economic news continues to be woeful, even though Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy thinks the worst is over. But Spain’s housing and mortgage markets continue to melt down Spain currently has a record high default rate on loans of 12.2%. spainloandelinq101813 And Spain’s number of newly mortgaged properties keep declining. spainmorg8 If we overlay Spain’s continually declining house prices, we get an interesting picture … of continued decline in Spain. spainhpdelinqloans Here is a chart for the US housing and mortgage market. The US also has declining residential mortgages outstanding, but at least has turned the corner...

AN UNSUSTAINABLE SYSTEM The chart will shake future pensioners If you trust your retirement to politicians, poor end up feeling cheated. JUAN RAMÓN RALLO 16/10/2013 This is a chart that should make us all reflect on pensions. Displays the expected development of the working population and the number of pensioners. Although it is a terrifying figure, is based on two assumptions fed optimistic: the first is that in Spain work 70% of the population old enough, rather than just get in full bubble, the second is that the number of pension pay matches that of people over 67 years, which...

To those people paying only casual attention, the Occupy movement has become nothing more than a footnote in history. Their ragtag encampments have been removed for the most part, and there is little to indicate they made much of an impact. In Madison, Wisconsin, however, the Occupy movement has suddenly resurfaced, but with a totally new mission: addressing the basic needs of people who are homeless. As issues around collective bargaining rights for public employees and other significant alterations to the social contract were initiated by Governor Walker and the Republican-dominated legislature, Madison became famous for very loud and angry...

As former Reagan adviser David Stockman said about Obamacare, “It is a massive entitlement to end all entitlements.” But housing is an entitlement as well. Last week, no less than 63 members of the House and 13 Senators wrote to Financial Housing Finance Administration chief Ed Demarco demanding that he not lower the maximum loan limit for mortgages guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In earlier correspondence to DeMarco, first reported by National Mortgage News, National Association of Realtors (NAR) President Gary Thomas questioned the legality of FHFA reducing the loan limits at this time. “Our nation’s housing market...

I am seeking information from Houston Freepers about real estate there. My daughter moved to Houston 2 years ago from San Diego when her company asked her to temporarily run their Houston office. She now has the opportunity to make the move permanent, and she wants to stay in Texas. Mr. RightField and I are here in Houston for the month of October (visiting in our motorhome). While we are here, we're hoping that local Freepers might point us to a good realtor and a mortgage broker. This will be her first home purchase, and she is looking in the...

As Obamacare began its roll out last week, it is an opportune time to discuss the reality of Obamacare. In order to pay for the elderly, illegal immigrants and other low-income households, Obamacare raises taxes on wealthier Americans (wealth redistribution). In addition, Obamacare set a goal to get as many healthy young Americans enrolled as possible. In other words, enroll healthy young people who don’t want to pay for healthcare insurance. Even worse, Obamacare will charge hefty premiums to the healthy and lower premiums to others. According to a study by the American Action Forum, healthcare premiums for young people...

Chris Whalen is saying the same thing I have been saying for years. The housing party is over. “The party is over” for refinancing activity while a weak job market and flat consumer incomes are preventing a pickup in purchase activity, Whalen says. “Structural reasons, apart from rates [mean] you’re going to see a real tail-off in demand” for mortgages. Real median household income and labor force participation have been declining since 1990. badlav And we have replaced a vibrant full-time employment market with a slow growing, part-time employment market. u6 But let me add more vinegar to the stew....

Over a year ago, in addition to the money-laundering aspect (confirmed previously) and the REO-To-Rent scramble by PE firms and hedge funds (which is now over as PE become active sellers of apartment rental properties), we highlighted the third implicit subsidy to the housing non-recovery: Foreclosure stuffing. We explained this scheme by banks to limit the amount of available for sale inventory as follows: "since the properties not entering the foreclosure pipeline are effectively kept out of inventory, even shadow inventory, and thus the distressed end market, the monthly drop in foreclosures has acted as a form of subsidy to...

As I discussed yesterday, Obamacare subsidies are available in Virginia to households making 400% of poverty line and twice the Virginia median household income. So, households making above $120,000 per year bear the subsidies for those earning under $120,000. Now we find out from RealtyTrac that half of bank-foreclosed properties are STILL occupied by prior owners! That means FREE RENT FOR DEFAULTERS!!!!!!! We already know that 43% of Americans pay no Federal income taxes. And the number of people on food stamps continues to explode. So, its FREE MONEY FOR EVERYONE!!!! At least for people making less than $120,000 a...

spoke at the American Action Forum / Progressive Policy Institute conference “From Recovery to Reform: Building a Sustainable Housing Finance System.” It was a great line-up including Stan Humphries from Zillow, Mark Zandi from Moody’s Analytics, Jim Millsteen, Mark Calabria from Cato and former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty. I did mention that any housing reform should consider the continuing decline in labor force participation and declining real median household income, signals that renting may be the preferred option for many and perhaps we should focus on multifamily markets rather than just single-family detached housing finance. lfpmedrealinc An example of my...

The UK is seeing rising mortgage approvals and house prices. The US has flat mortgage purchase applications and slowing house price growth. Difference? UK has a noticeably larger labor force participation rate. U.K. mortgage approvals rose to the highest in more than five years in August as the government prepares to accelerate a home-buying program that’s been criticized for potentially over-stimulating the market. Lenders granted 62,226 mortgages, the most since February 2008, compared with a revised 60,914 the previous month, the Bank of England said in a monthly report in London today. Economists forecast that approvals would gain to 61,500...

The continuing influx of well-heeled homebuyers from Asia has Bay Area real estate firms competing for a lucrative and growing slice of the region's residential market. "It has gotten big enough to where people are starting to pay attention to it," said James Yang, an agent with the Sereno Group. One Palo Alto real estate broker, Ken de Leon, bought a Mercedes-Benz van that seats 14 and is using it for tours of Palo Alto and Los Altos with a Mandarin-speaking agent. Palo Alto has become a point of interest for many mainland Chinese shopping for a second home or...

It’s official. The FHA is crawling to Treasury for $1.7 billion. That is, more gruel. And the FHA blames senior citizens for their plight. Washington (AP) — A federal housing agency says it needs a $1.7 billion bailout from the Treasury to cover projected losses in a mortgage programs for seniors. At issue are reverse mortgage programs, which allow seniors to borrow against their homes for everyday living expenses. Carol Galante is Federal Housing Administration Commissioner. Galante wrote Congress Friday that her agency will withdraw the money from the Treasury before the fiscal year ends Monday. Congressional approval is not...