Free Republic

Video at link. Almost all the mortgages bought out the same day: 12/25/2009.

Open source house design community WikiHouse demonstrated their construction system at Milan Design Week, providing a visual update on the project. Their goal is to make it possible for anyone to download and print a timber structure using a CNC milling machine, and then fit the pieces together to build an affordable house ready for cladding, wiring, insulation and plumbing...

Dear Dave, My husband’s company recently told everyone that massive layoffs are coming, and they should start looking for other jobs. Right now, all of his options are out-of-town. A real estate agent told us we’d have to remodel our kitchen in order to sell the house. We’ve got $3,500, but remodeling would take about $2,000. Should we get a second mortgage to get the work done? Pamela Dear Pamela, You might want to get another opinion. Sure, a new kitchen would be nice, but is that the end-all, be-all? Either way, there’s no way I’d go into debt to...

The Peace Now organziation has just released a new report that details the amount of housing units being built in Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem. According to the report there was a "20% rise in construction starts... at least 1,850 building starts for housing units..." ....

Imagine coming back from an extended stay away from home only to find someone has set up shop in your house, claiming it now belongs to them. That’s just what’s happened in dozens of cases in Tarrant County, Texas, where the District Attorney says crooks are trying to use a decades old law to conduct a new scam. “It's just people trying to get something for nothing,” says Tarrant County DA Joe Shannon. The problem first came to Shannon’s attention this year, when police agencies started calling about strange but similar cases. One of them involved Joe Brunner, the head...

Between diseases, global warming and falling satellites, we have a lot to worry about these days – but let’s not forget about the looming threat of a zombie apocalypse. To help us prepare for this potential undead disaster, the folks at Architects Southwest, an architecture firm based in Louisiana, have launched the 2011 Zombie Safe House Competition. The organization has tasked artists, architects and other zombie enthusiasts with one goal: Design a haven that can withstand a full-on zombie assault on civilization as we know it. Design entries so far are varied and imaginative, to say the least. A top...

Yesterday, I posted on the fierce whitewash and propagandizing of the tenth anniversary of 911: 911 Whitewashing the War: "Never Forget" Morphs into "Forget it" The leftist/Islamic machine is in full throttle now, with the White House strong-arming officials to omit who and why we were attacked. The White House has issued guidelines detailing what the White House has deemed the important themes that must be discussed, as well as the tone the 9/11 observances should take. the document states that officials should “minimize references to Al Qaeda.” Within the text, Osama bin Laden’s death is the reason given for...

Just as students head back to college and families finish summer vacations comes the latest bad news from pest control companies: Bedbug infestations are getting worse and becoming more common in some places, including dorms, hotels, nursing homes, hospitals, office buildings, and schools and day-care centers. According to a survey released Wednesday by the National Pest Management Association and the University of Kentucky, pest control companies say there has been double-digit growth in infestations in the past year. About 54 percent of pest companies reported treating bedbugs in college dorms, compared with 35 percent in 2010; 80 percent reported treating...

The rocky economic recovery and stagnant unemployment rate have led to a surge in the homeless seeking shelter in shanties and tents nationwide, experts say. There's no official estimate on how many tent cities exist but, experts say, nearly every state has one and the presence of such communities is soaring. "In just about every major city, there are tent cities," said Michael Stoop, a community organizer for the National Coalition for the Homeless. "Unfortunately, we're in a growth industry and the numbers are going to continue." Stoop and his organization began formally tracking tent cities in 2010 but the...

In May, Bank of America announced a collaboration with the city of Chicago and a community group to give away 150 vacant and abandoned properties in and around the city. A bank spokesman said the bank agreed to pay as much as $10,000 per home for demolition, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “Unfortunately, many homeowners faced with unemployment, underemployment and other economic hardships, have transitioned to alternative housing situations, and in many cases have walked away from their homes, leaving behind vacant and deteriorating properties that can cause neighborhood blight,” a Bank of America statement said in May. “To be...

HOLY COW: Robert Shiller Could Easily See Another 25% Drop In Home Prices Gregory White Jun. 9, 2011, 12:24 PM If home prices fall another 10 to 25%, that "wouldn't surprise me at all," Robert Shiller told Reuters Insider today. Shiller says that the recovery is at risk right now, and a further rise in unemployment would hint that another recession was imminent. Today, initial jobless claims rose again, coming in higher than analyst expectations. Shiller says he doesn't see "any evidence" that real estate is coming out of its bearish cycle, that began in 2006. The latest Case-Shiller data...

New York - High residential vacancies are killing many housing markets, as foreclosed homes sit on the market and depress sale prices and property values. And it's only getting worse: The national vacancy rate crept up to just over 13% according to last week's decennial census report. That's up from 12.1% in 2007. "More vacant homes equal more downward pressure on home prices," (Snip) Maine had the highest proportion of empty housing stock, at 22.8%. Other states with gluts of empty houses included Vermont (20.5%), Florida (17.5%), Arizona (16.3%) and Alaska (15.9%).

Jump at the Pump Leaves Consumers FlinchingMarch 04, 2011 07:01 AM (Wall Street Journal) — This Miami exurb flourished in the housing boom but has fallen hard during the bust, with one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation for the past two years. Rising gasoline prices are making a bad situation even worse. Home buyers priced out of the red-hot Miami market in the middle of the last decade flocked to places like Homestead, putting up with a longer commute in return for less expensive housing. Mortgages were easy to get and often began with low rates that...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Home prices in a majority of major U.S. cities tracked by a private trade group have fallen to their lowest levels since the housing bubble burst. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index fell in December from November in all but one of the 20 cities it tracks. The 20-city index declined 1 percent. The only market to see a gain was Washington, D.C. ...

The Texas National Guard is planning to demolish 31 vacant houses in Dallas next month as part of a program to rid neighborhoods of havens for drug activity. The Guard's counter-drug task force does it once a quarter in cities across the state. They've torn down over 1,200 structures since the program began in the early 1990s. "They not only are able to provide a service to the community, but at the same time they are able to train on the equipment which they are assigned to operate, giving them the opportunity to sharpen their skills," said Staff Sgt. Jason...

For the first time in more than a decade, the median price of a home in Orlando has dropped to less than $100,000... Sales prices were down 22 percent from a year earlier. The last time existing houses were so cheap in Orlando was May 1998, when a mid-range home cost $98,984. In comparison, it was just three years ago when median prices peaked at $264,436... more than 70 percent of August sales were distress properties. " With foreclosures and short sales dominating the market, the median price continues to be lowered," said Kathleen Gallagher McIver, Re/Max Town & Country...

Wildlife officials have killed a grizzly bear in Wyoming and a grizzly bear in Montana to head-off potential lawsuits. The Montana grizzly killed and partially consumed Kevin Kammer at a Gallatin National Forest campground near Cooke City, Mont. on July 29. The Wyoming grizzly killed 70 year-old botanist Erwin Evert on June 17 on the Shoshone National Forest near the East Entrance of Yellowstone National Park. The circumstances were quite different, but the decision to kill the bears was undoubtedly influenced by a 1996 court case over the terrible bear mauling of 16 year-old Anna Knochel at a U.S. Forest...

WASHINGTON | Thought the housing crisis was over? Not quite. Despite four years of falling prices and recent signs that they were finally bottoming out, homes are expected to lose still more value in many metro areas during the next year. Parts of the country already pummeled by the housing crisis, like Las Vegas, Phoenix and Miami, will be hit hardest. But even some places that have rebounded or held up relatively well - including New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. - will suffer, too. That's the conclusion of economists who have been reducing their estimates for home prices...

Published: 07.19.10, 13:18 / Israel News Hezbollah has deployed more than 5,000 fighters in southern Lebanon villages bordering Israel, the World Tribune newspaper reported. According to the report, Hezbollah fighters seized positions in houses, schools and hospitals and are engaged in observation and collecting intelligence. The source of the report is unclear. (Roee Nahmias)

After a very long search I have been offered a job in southern CT. I'm nowin the process of finding a place to live down there but I am arguing with members of my family about the merits of buying a large house from a distressed buyer at a discount price (more than we need but they argue "a good investment") or a smaller house for very short money perhaps even for cash to reduce housing cost as much as possible. The argument seems to come down to the following: a large house will sell for more than a small...