| As the Zillow Turns
It's happening. Real estate site Zillow.com is morphing before your very eyes. It is making the transition from industry disruptor to enabler. Don't see it yet? Well, blink and you just might miss it. The spunky site has been around for a little more than a year. When it launched back in February of 2006, promising free and immediate residential real estate market value estimates, I grew immediately concerned for companies like HouseValues (Nasdaq: SOLD) that thrived on generating leads for real estate agents through a more cumbersome gimmick. I was right. Shares of HouseValues have plummeted by more than 67% since I wrote that article. Even if you argue that the real estate market is soft, other online real estate plays like Move (Nasdaq: MOVE) and RealEstate.com parent IAC (Nasdaq: IACI) are holding up a whole lot better.
Mortgage woes cost jobs Wells Fargo, NovaStar Mortgage eliminating ...
Job cuts loom in the East Bay and elsewhere in the Bay Area, as Wells Fargo & Co. and NovaStar Mortgage Inc. cope with mortgage ailments that have afflicted the struggling housing market. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo has decided to chop 71 jobs in Concord, part of a total reduction of 444 positions being eliminated in a bank operation that specializes in high-risk home mortgages, sometimes dubbed subprime loans. Wells Fargo will jettison the positions because it has decided to tighten its lending standards for offering mortgages to people who have a less-than-stellar credit status. The bank told the 444 employees in late February about the pending staff reductions. In all, 514 Wells Fargo employees involved in home financing activities have recently lost their jobs or will soon be discharged by the company.
Consumer Credit: Shopping for a new home? Avoid mortgage mistakes
A home is more than a place to live. It is a financial asset, a place to raise a family and an investment in the community. If you are considering a new home, you aren't alone. According to the National Association of Realtors, based on current trends and underlying demand, the overall U.S. home ownership rate could exceed 70 percent by 2013. To help you make the most of your investment, avoid common and costly mortgage mistakes. - Mistake No. 1: Confusing the terms "qualify" and "afford." When determining how much home you can afford, remember that your mortgage payment plus your ongoing debt (credit card payments, car payments, student loans, child support and so forth) should be no more than 41 percent of your gross income, or you are getting into trouble.
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