On Monday, Forbes released their list of the world's billionaires. Coming in at No. 384, Dan Gilbert, founder and chairman of Quicken Loans, was reported to have a net worth of $3.5 billion, and it's not surprising. Quicken Loans is one of the largest online home lenders and retail lenders in America.
I chose to do a little...
The state of Florida is riddled with verified sinkholes, a realization that becomes strikingly clear when reviewing a CoreLogic heat map that highlights verified sinkholes in the state. (See chart below)
The same areas peppered with confirmed sinkholes became the subject of national press reports when a Florida man lost his life as his bedroom was swallowed by a massive sinkhole. CoreLogic found 16 verified sinkholes within a mile of the impacted residence....
Flip through any major news channel, click through links to a publication's website or if you're a fan of traditional newspapers, pick up the latest copy of any major publication and the headlines are the same: the housing market has finally gained momentum and is making a comeback.
The stories will include positive examples such as record low mortgage rates, a decline in foreclosures and rising home prices.
However, what the stories won't usually tell you is that those of us...
Right before JPMorgan Chase ($52.30 1.33%) announced it would cut 13,000 to 15,000 jobs within its mortgage unit, HousingWire’s Jacob Gaffney discussed the bank's evolving mortgage business with Kevin Watters, head of Mortgage Banking at JPMorgan Chase (...
HousingWire executive editor Jacob Gaffney managed to stir up quite a firestorm yesterday in discussing the most recent Bloomberg BusinessWeek housing cover -- with an assertion in his own commentary that flipping homes might be considered "fraudulent" activity.
His original comments -- later amended to clarify that he was referring to a...
In a recent survey conducted by real estate broker Redfin, 66% of those polled listed low inventory as a high concern. That number is up from 59% in the fourth quarter, which indicates more buyers becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of inventory.
Had I been surveyed, I would have marked the same thing as those 66%. Currently in the home searching process, I can attest to the shockingly low supply of homes on the market. After...
Twitter is blowing up over the latest cover of Bloomberg Businessweek magazine. The cover depicts a household of minorites grabbing at cash. The implications are huge. But, judging by the cover lines, the article can simply be described as misinformed.
The claim that minorities are creating a housing bubble through flipping, no-look bids, and 300% returns is simply not reality. Flipping is not a form of fraud -- except on the lending side, perhaps -- but not representative of a...
Squatters are a continuing problem with little solution. But after HousingWire published a blog on SecureView, the Cleveland company started to get some attention.
For example in Florida — where a 23-year-old man was recently found using “his” $2.5 million mansion not only to live in, but also to entertain his friends — is one of the states dealing...
The Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program is furious at the Treasury. And the extent of that fury came into sharp focus when SIGTARP emailed not only today's testimony of top TARP cop Christy Romero before the house oversight committee, but a reminder copy of...
If Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, went to the U.S. Senate to take the populist approach, her showdown with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke shows the CFPB architect may be succeeding in her mission.
But what the showdown doesn’t resolve is the ongoing feeling that Congress is only capable of grilling monetary policy officials to keep the voters happy, while doing very little of anything to fix the nation's housing and financial issues on their own.
But back to Warren’s...
