Michael Pond Team Blog

Following the tax-credit backed sales surge, new home sales dropped 32.7 percent in May, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Year-over-year sales fell 18.3 percent. It was the largest monthly drop and the slowest sales pace since...

According to Altos Research's 10-City Composite Price Index, May saw a 0.2 percent increase in the median sales price of single-family existing homes. It was the first increase since July 2009 and 6.1 percent below last year's peak. The index is based on prices in Denver, Washington D.C., Boston,...

The FBI started a mortgage fraud crack down on 3/1/10 which has led to 485 arrests so far.  This includes 10 recent arrests in Charlotte, NC where I lend.  The industry cannot achieve normacy until the entire process is transparent and parties are accountable for the quality they deliver to the m...

Billy Procida, president of real-estate firm William Procida Inc., believes the excess housing inventory will be absorbed over the next few years but doesn't foresee significant gains in pricing.  Click link to see interview clip: http://michaelpond.wordpress.com/2010/06/18/housing-starts-and-the...

Former Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. chairman Lee Farkas is being held pending a pre-trail hearing.  He is being accused of a 1.9 billion dollar fraud against investors, HUD and the tax payers (using TARP funds).   If convicted he will spend the rest of his life in jail.  Read more about...

The Senate passed an amendment that will extend the closing deadline of the homebuyer tax credit an extra three months. Under the tax credit's original deadline, purchases had to be under contract by April 30 and closed by June 30. But, because of the program's popularity and the time it takes to...

For the first time in six weeks, purchase demand increased last week. According to The Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Applications Survey, the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index jumped 7.3 percent from the week before. Combined with a 21.1 percent increase in the Refinance Index, gains in ...

According to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, builder confidence fell five points to 17 after two straight months of gains. A number below 50 indicates more builders see sales conditions as poor than good. Bob Jones, chairman of NAHB, said though they ex...