ALMOST EVERYBODY HAS HEARD OF HABITAT FOR HUMANITY, the nonprofit that builds homes for low-income families. About a year ago, I learned about a similar organization that is making a difference right here in our own backyard. Since 2009, Rebuilding Together Solano County has organized rehabilitation projects for low-income seniors, veterans and the disabled in […]

THE NATION’S HOUSING MARKET CONTINUES TO ROLL ALONG at a healthy pace, according to the July Pending Home Sales Index, which is compiled by the National Association of Realtors. The index measures home sales by contract signing activity compared to the average contract activity in 2001, when the NAR began compiling the report on a […]

CHINA RECENTLY MADE THE UNUSUAL MOVE of purposely devaluing its currency to stimulate a sagging economy. The effect was a shockwave of concern among investors around the globe, and over the last several days stock markets around the globe have lost considerable value. U.S. stock markets dropped for five straight days, punctuated by what many […]

AMONG THE THINGS IN LIFE WE MOST LOOK FORWARD TO, living through a home remodeling project is right up there with going to the dentist. My wife and I are now living the dream — which is sometimes like a nightmare — of remodeling our home. Like many remodel projects, ours started out small and […]

THE CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS RELEASED more information on June home sales activity last week. Distressed sales activity — homes that sold through the bank-owned process or through a short sale — actually went up a little, from 7.4 percent in May to 7.6 percent in June. Most counties in the state reflected declining numbers […]

CREDIT SCORES ARE INCREASINGLY BEING USED by numerous industries to evaluate risk. A damaged credit score can result in higher insurance premiums and increased borrowing costs — and it can even cost you that opportunity for your dream job. In real estate finance, your credit score can save you thousands of dollars over the life […]

The June home sales report of the California Association of Realtors was released last week and home sales in California — and particularly in Solano County — continue to sizzle. June marked the first double-digit improvement in the number of single-family homes sold since May 2012. Statewide, the number of homes sold topped 400,000 for the […]

I THINK IT HAS BEEN SO LONG since we had a “normal” real estate market that most of us in the industry don’t even know what normal is anymore. At the beginning of the millennium, the housing industry was in hyper growth mode fueled by crazy underwriting standards that pumped millions of buyers into the […]

AFTER YEARS OF SPECULATION that Greece could default on their national debt, it has finally happened — and to the surprise of some the world has not ended, at least not yet. As I write this column on Monday for a Thursday publication, emergency meetings are ongoing to try to stave off the collapse of […]

INTERTHINX, A LEADING PROVIDER of risk-prevention services for the mortgage industry, released its annual Mortgage Fraud Risk Report last week and the results for 2014 show that mortgage fraud is generally declining in most markets. Florida jumped ahead of California as the number one state for mortgage fraud. The indices used in the report are […]