Michael Hobbs's (michaelhobbs) Blog

                 As the recent U.S housing crisis that was part of the biggest recession since the great depression shows signs abating, the market has begun to show signs of a recovery. Some will point to the reduced housing inventory, others will point to the positive news of widespread modest ...

  Historically low interest rates are prompting many homeowners to take a serious look at ‘tapping’ into the nearly free money available from mortgage lenders these days.  They’ve heard enough knocking at their door by banks and mortgage lenders to take a shot at refinancing their residence.    U...

What if potential home buyers paid as much attention to the 'specs' on their home as they pay attention to the 'specs' on the potential car they are considering buying? Of course, any car buff will tell you that styling matters.  Yet that same car buyer will also tell you that features, safety, p...

  In a recent article, the Chicago Tribune covered the story of a housing development in the making. While the paper has covered countless numbers of ongoing property development projects, this one is unique in that it is Habitat for Humanity’s largest project of its kind in the nation. On the we...

  Recent reports indicate that there has been a sharp drop in the sale of foreclosed homes. The Wall Street Journal reported that listings of foreclosed properties have fallen in 17 of the last 19 months through July, according to a research by Zelman & Associates. These listings are down 47% fro...

 In an earlier post, 2013 Brings Illinois A New State Energy Code Similar To Energy Star, it was noted that the State of Illinois has a new energy code for 2013. Yes, according to laws already on the books for the state of Illinois, on January 1, 2013, the state of Illinois implements the 2012 IE...

  Did you hear the news about construction spending?  If so, were you surprised?  The recent report by the Commerce Department did come as a surprise to many who have been eagerly watching for signs of a sustained recovery in the real estate industry. Construction spending dropped 0.9 percent to ...

 According to the most recent report released by the census bureau, the homeownership rate is 65.5%, but  John Burns Real Estate, a research firm, claims that a more clearer picture of true homeownership rate  is one that included all borrowers who were 90 days or more delinquent on their mortgag...

                Could the return of jumbo loan market signal the easing of credit markets for the housing market in general, and specifically be a leading market indicator?  As reports about the recovery of the housing market continue to grow, larger high-cost home loans (referred to as jumbo loa...

  Over the last few months there has been talk about the low inventory of homes for sale in many markets. There have even been suggestions that the government and banks were deliberately holding back inventory and waiting for home prices to increase.  A recent disclosure by Fannie Mae, the govern...