From what I can tell, the mainstream U.S. press seems absolutely determined to write about the “mortgage catastrophe” that’s “about to hit” the U.S. borrowing scene. It’s one part frightening, one part obnoxious and one part amusing - the reporting, that is, not the pending world destruction that shall result from past subprime lending mistakes. […]

I was reading an article in the Wall Street Journal today when something caught my eye. The article is about one’s primary residence, and why it’s a bad idea to consider it a primary investment for retirement. To an extent, I agreed with what the reporter was writing, but not entirely. He correctly points out […]

As expected, the Federal Reserve Board met today and left the federal funds rate unchanged. The fed funds rate is the rate that banks pay to each other on very short-term loans. This marks the sixth consecutive meeting without a change to the key rate, which has ripple effect across commercial financing and the […]

A fixed income specialist at Leham Brothers has warned that subprime lending problems could cause ripple effects throughout the housing market - more news that homeowners and real estate investors certainly don’t want to hear. According to a Yahoo! news article:
There is not enough evidence to indicate such a scenario is taking place, but the […]

Freddie Mac reported recently that refinance activity was strong in the 4th quarter of 2006, while the percentage of those taking cash out declined.
In the fourth quarter of 2006, 84 percent of Freddie Mac-owned loans that were refinanced resulted in new mortgages with loan amounts that were at least five percent higher than the […]

Though it’s outside the normal scope of what I’d intended to write about herein, I’m going to close on a commercial mortgage today and thought I’d share the story. Three years ago, my business partner and I purchased two mixed-use buildings in Fells Point, a neighborhood in Baltimore, MD. Each building consists of a commercial/retail […]