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Thursday, December 22, 2011 7:30 AM

Good news on unemployment should be good news for housing

It goes without saying that if you want to buy a home, you need a good job. And there is good news on the unemployment front in both the Charleston metropolitan area and the state of South Carolina. The Post and Courier reports that unemployment fell
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Monday, October 24, 2011 8:24 AM

Will this refinance program be any more successful than prior failures

The administration is to announce a turbo-charged HARP (Home Affordable Refinance Program) today in Nevada, the foreclosure capital of the United States designed to allow underwater homeowners who are current on their mortgage to refinance at lower rates
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Thursday, September 22, 2011 7:24 AM

Fed Twists, interest rates plummet

Helicopter Ben just resurrected a 60's program to twist the yield curve by swapping short term debt with long term securities. I suppose Chubby Checker will once again be popular as a result. Anyway, interest rates on long term treasuries plummeted
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Tuesday, August 09, 2011 7:51 AM

S&P vs. US debt, what will happen to mortgage rates

I'll skip commenting on whether S&P downgraded US debt as payback for being hauled before Congress after giving AAA ratings to the toxic waste otherwise known as CDO's of mortgage backed securities or whether they may or may not have $2 Trillion
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Tuesday, August 02, 2011 9:01 AM

Mortgage rates, the debt ceiling and the economy

Mortgage rates declined by a quarter point from Friday not so much do to the agreement on raising the debt ceiling but due to slowing economic growth. Today's "surprise" report that consumer spending declined in June won't do much to
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Friday, July 29, 2011 9:15 AM

Today's Charleston mortgage rates, July 29, 2011

With just a few days before the debt ceiling "crisis" deadline, Charleston mortgage rates are basically unchanged from previous quotes. But the stock market is down due to both the lack of progress on the debt ceiling and 2Q GDP growth reported
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 1 Comments
Wednesday, June 08, 2011 7:27 AM

[Duh] jobs are good for the housing market, here's even more proof

We know that jobs are good for the housing market, you need not look further than the Charleston real estate market which has done very nicely in part due to the many Boeing employees relocating to Charleston to work at the new Boeing 787 assembly facility.
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 1 Comments
Saturday, March 26, 2011 6:59 AM

[Mortgage fraud] Big fish got away, small fish gets fried

Did you ever wonder what happened to all those characters who played such a big role in the mortgage business that took the economy to the brink of collapse, the lenders, the ratings agencies (Moody's and S&P), the Wall Street firms who securitized
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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Friday, March 04, 2011 10:08 AM

Good job growth will help the Charleston housing market recovery

Let's face it. You really can't buy a house if you don't have a job. And if you aren't secure in your current job, you probably shouldn't be buying a house anyway, after all, lenders sort of demand it as a condition of making a loan.
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Wednesday, December 29, 2010 8:58 AM

Thoughts on Case-Shiller and the housing double dip

To nobody's surprise (OK, I guess some economists were surprised but that's their job after all), Case-Shiller reported that home prices declined in October and are forecasting a double dip. “The double-dip is almost here,” David Blitzer,
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Thursday, December 09, 2010 8:58 AM

[Up, up and away] Mortgage rates on the rise

It seems that the lowest mortgage rates are behind us and today's 4.75 percent will likely be 5.00 or 5.50 percent early next year. While that is still a very attractive rate, 4.00 percent will soon be a distant memory. A combination of events has
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 1 Comments
Wednesday, November 03, 2010 8:36 AM

How might the 2010 election influence the real estate recovery

In a word, JOBS. It's no secret or surprise that people vote with their wallets. Just take a look at the Industrial Midwest where massive job losses most likely caused voters to toss out the old and bring in the new. Now to be fair, the economy hasn't
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 1 Comments
Tuesday, September 07, 2010 6:50 AM

It's the economy, stupid or jobs, jobs, jobs

There is a cure for the housing market. It's jobs, jobs, jobs and not the artificial stimuli or government programs designed to prop up the ailing housing market. And that's probably why the Charleston real estate market is doing better than much
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 6:45 AM

The home buyer tax credit, once again?

It's been said that housing leads the economy out of a recession but I disagree, it's jobs and job security that gives people the confidence to buy a home which in turn helps the housing market and the economy. But after all, people do respond
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 2 Comments
Thursday, August 26, 2010 7:00 AM

Housing is not really dead, yet

But you might have thought so based on the media reports of the sharp decline in July existing home sales which I characterized as dismal but expected . Brian Williams at NBC News. "Housing, the real estate market, it's a disaster, in plain English.
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 5 Comments
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