We reported the views and fears of economist Paul Krugman on Feb 14th (see entry for details). He was concerned that the housing bubble on both coasts would burst, not slowly deflate.

Today, …

you should generally avoid any mortgage that does not include some sort of principal payment, and that shorter term mortgages (15 years instead of 30 for example) can save you tens of thousands of dollars.

The trend toward what economists call the “hourglass economy” is going strong. Here are some selected stats

50 Year Mortgages may be even worse than an interest only loan because you think that you are making payments to principle when in fact they are so small that most of your money goes …

More and more people are giving their vendors the right to make automatic deductions from their checking accounts or make recurring charges to their credit cards. Except in a very few cases, we recommend …

The National Association of Realtors reports that 43% of first time homebuyers purchased their homes with no money down in the last quarter of 2005.

A decade of increases in homeownership appears to be over.

The US Census Bureau says that homeownesrhip was 69% in the last quarter of 2005, downslightly from a year earlier. This is the third quarter …

If your house value has grown significantly in the last five years or so, this would not be a good time to increase your mortgage with refinancing or a second mortgage.

Ameriquest Mortgage Company, which funded a record $41 billion in mortgages in 2003, has agreed to pay $325 million in fines and restitution to borrowers in 49 states.

The company makes loans at high …