Maximizing your Real Estate Power in Today's market

As mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac struggle with continuing credit losses, their ability to raise needed capital is uncertain and, analysts say, is complicated by the possibility of a government bailout of the two companies. "We're in uncharted water with this," Bert Ely, an Alexan...

Mortgage application volume fell last week to its lowest level in nearly eight years, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday. The fall in application volume is the latest sign of a struggling housing market. On Tuesday, a Commerce Department report showed construction of homes and apartm...

Rates on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell from last week, even as the housing market showed more signs of weakness. Government-sponsored mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500) reported Thursday that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.47% this week. That's just below the previou...

Shares of mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac plunged and then came back on Thursday after new reports that the federal government may have to take over the troubled firms. Fannie fell as much as 87 cents or 20%, to $3.53, but then rebounded to a 10.2% gain by the end of the sessio...

We made it through the bursting of the Internet bubble and now the bursting of the real estate bubble. Next we may be approaching the end of the most worrisome bubble of all: the standard-of-living bubble. That conclusion comes from the latest data on credit card debt. It's growing fast, but the ...

Mortgage application volume fell last week to its lowest level in nearly eight years, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday. The fall in application volume is the latest sign of a struggling housing market. On Tuesday, a Commerce Department report showed construction of homes and apartm...

t’s never too early to start putting money away for retirement, but that can be tough for a young person with a tight budget and a lot of pressure to spend. Question: I just turned 24, and the constant pressure from financial advisers to “save save save” for retirement makes me anxious that I’ll ...

Home prices continue to tumble across the country, making homes more affordable in most U.S. cities, according to a new report released Tuesday. Nationally, 55% of homes sold from April through June were affordable to families earning the U.S. median income of $61,500, according to a quarterly re...

Fueled by falling home prices, buyers got moving in July and pushed sales up 17 percent over last year, ending a 33-month home buying slump. DataQuick reported that last month's sales jumped to 2,799 houses, condos and new residences, topping the July 2007 number by 408 units. The last time O.C. ...

Home building fell sharply in July to a 17-year low, according to government readings released Tuesday that offered fresh signs that the battered real estate market has yet to hit bottom. Housing starts plunged 11% to an annual rate of 965,000 from a revised 1.084 million pace in June, according ...