BusinessWeek recently ran an interesting story about homeowners who are paying a whopping 50 percent — or more — of their monthly incomes on mortgage and other housing payments. You can read the story here.

According to a Sept. 29 story by Bloomberg News, which you can read here, officials with the National Association of Home Builders are asking members of Congress to pass a $15,000 tax credit for all homebuyers. This, officials with the trade association hope, will entice consumers to purchase homes.

The latest bit of creative genius that I’ve discovered comes by way of The New York Times, which details the story of a couple who, unable to sell a home that was nearing foreclosure, held a raffle to get the home off their hands. Yes, a raffle.

The big reason behind WaMu’s failure is no surprise: Its home-loan business sunk the bank. WaMu had way too much in mortgage-related losses.

Election officials and voting-rights groups are worried that many of the millions of U.S. homeowners who lost their residences to foreclosure will also lose their chance to vote in the upcoming presidential election.

I cringe whenever I hear someone boast about how “green” their 5,000-plus-square-foot home is. I say your home can’t be environmentally friendly when it gobbles up that so much space, and when it requires so much raw material to build.

Homeowners in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach area spent a whopping 58 percent of their income on mortgage payments. That’s an amazing figure. Ideally, a home should not suck up more than 30 percent of its owner’s income. I can’t imagine spending more than half of my income on mortgage payments.

I’ve always wondered if agents consider the shows allies — educating potential buyers and sellers about the housing market — or enemies, filling the heads of buyers and sellers with housing myths.

Crain’s Chicago Business , one of the top business publications around, recently wrote a small story about the high number of new-construction homes that have yet to be finished. Crain’s refers to them as white elephants.

Now is a great time to be in the market for a new home, especially if you don’t have to sell an existing house first.
Sure, it’s a lousy time to be a seller — no matter what real estate agents say. But if you’re buying a home? Congratulations, you’ve picked a perfect time.
You probably know the reasons: Housing prices are stagnant or dropping in many, many markets across the country. Sellers are willing to negotiate on everything from prices to repairs to closing dates. There is an overabundance of homes to choose from on the market.
And now, mortgage interest rates …read more