Diane Gerdes's (dianegerdes) Blog

The new 2010 good faith estimate that some lenders have already implemented DOES NOT INCLUDE DOWNPAYMENT COSTS OR THE TOTAL PAYMENT!!!  We can't make this stuff up boys and girls.  The good faith is only for lender fees, title fees, interest rate, and impounds for taxes and insurance.   The total...

It's halftime for the Arizona housing market.  The players are getting tired.  The referees keep changing the rules and we can't seem to get past the line of scrimmage to complete a first down. After the banking crisis crashed our home values, F.H.A. rushed in to become our star quarterback: dete...

Six weeks ago my daughter, April, visited an Arizona mall mid-morning to pick up a few things for a wedding that she would be attending the following weekend.    The parking lot was busy as she headed back to her SUV loaded with packages.  A Hispanic man was getting out of his van, a mother with ...

The American economy is a happy place. The stock market is above 10,000.  Corporate profits have improved.  Productivity in the work place has surged. The Commerce Department reported the gross domestic product, the measure of goods and products, is now matching average growth over the past 80 ye...

Why hasn't the first time home buyer tax bill been extended?  Because of the pork attached including an additional 14 weeks of unemployment in all states.   Will the unemployed now qualify to purchase a home?  That is so 2006.   It does mean that they our hogs in the legislature are holding out f...

President Obama's administration is shocked, shocked at the continuing trouncing of jobs throughout the country. The stock market has entered into the promise land of the 10,000 plus, corporations from Amazon to J. P. Morgan Chase are reporting mega profits, and the top economists are confident t...

Spending money is back in style. According to Bloomberg.com the pent up demand for luxury items increased 29% in the third quarter unleashing a buying spree of high end goods and services.   Is it because of savvy investment strategies or the generous bonus structures for former hedge fund execut...

Yes, school is out for fall break and like all students, grades are temporarily ignored. Uncle Sam never has a vacation and his economic report cards are handed out every month.     Our leaders tell us the recession is over, so we should be able to read the performance indicators without slapping...

Three men walk into an Arizona saloon and one has a gun. Is this a scene from the latest Zombie movie where man has to protect himself from the flesh eating monsters? No, because  fact is stranger than fiction.   Our legislators amended the Title 13 Chapter 31 Arizona Gun law to allow concealed w...

The former Superman of business takeovers, Ken Lewis CEO of Bank of America, succumbed to a lethal amount of corporate kryptonite called the board room.   The self anointed hero of the financial universe began his tragic fall from grace when he flexed his powerful acquisition skills announcing th...