Most people have already decided where they stand on government-supported “assistance” plans, but in case you haven’t, or in case you want to read even more commentary on the subject, here’s an op-ed piece someone wrote in today’s Journal. …[W]hy do so many Wall Street types, including legendary (and shrill) bond investor Bill Gross, insist [...]

A story that will at times bring you to tears of sympathy while also leading you to shout out in anger. From the Journal: The Borrowers: Sherrie Floyd, 44, a clerical assistant at the Kaiser Foundation, and her husband, Kevin Floyd, 45, a truck driver in Vallejo, Calif. The House: In June 1995, the Floyds [...]

Love these parts of Lou Barnes’ weekly column: The elephant in the room, who cannot be mentioned in polite company: We gave mortgages to a few million households with deficient long-term financial behaviors, hopelessly incompatible with home ownership … … Fairness aside (deeply unfair to families who tough out this cycle), two realities will defy [...]

Communities with the highest percentage of distressed properties* for sale: City/Town Percent of distressed properties on market 1. Malden 16.3 2. Barnstable 15.1 3. Revere 15.0 4. Everett 14.4 5. Lynn 14.2 6. Randolph 14.0 7. Webster 12.4 8. Leominster 11.6 9. Hull 11.4 10. Yarmouth 11.2 * Includes bank-owned, foreclosed and short sales. Minimum [...]

How I would love, LOVE, for someone to find someone, ANYONE, who entered foreclosure who actually fit the media’s criteria of an “innocent victim”. That the city of Boston and Commonwealth of Massachusetts have initiated programs that NO ONE is taking advantage of, should tell you lots. The Globe perpetuates this myth – just today, [...]

Sadly, I don’t have a column in this week’s South End News. Next week, they promise me, and I think it will be worth the wait! Last week, the newspaper printed a column I wrote about the state of the South End real estate market. Basically, it’s good. If you’re a seller, that is. Inventory [...]

So, maybe this doesn’t add anything to what you already know, but it does clarify things, a bit. Here’s an excerpt from a speech that Treasury Secretary Paulson gave to the US Chamber of Commerce, the other day. I’ve highlighted the parts that I think are important. Home foreclosures are also a significant issue today. [...]

BAM!! Take that, Mrs. “$30-billion bailout” Lady. Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Tuesday criticized government intervention that bails out banks and borrowers who made poor decisions. “I have always been committed to the principle that it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are [...]

I always thought this: The most important structural element of a story is the lede or lead—the story’s first, or leading, sentence.[2] The lede is usually the first sentence, or in some cases the first two sentences, and is ideally 20-25 words in length … While a rule of thumb says the lede should answer [...]

My father was a kind-hearted man. He worked for forty years of his life at jobs he didn’t really like so that he and my mother could raise five (wonderful) children in a nice, safe neighborhood. They lived 28-years in the same house on which they paid their mortgage – month after month after month. [...]