Carl Rizzuto's (crizzuto) Blog

Housing Starts Stay Strong; Building Permits Rise. The housing market has carried forward its year-end momentum. According to the Census Bureau, on a seasonally-adjusted, annualized basis, January’s Single-Family Housing Starts crossed the half-million unit marker for the second straight month. T...

With Retail Sales And Consumer Confidence Rising, Home Prices Are Expected To Follow The U.S. economy continues to show signs of a rebound. According to the Census Bureau, Retail Sales climbed to $329 billion last month on a seasonally-adjusted basis, excluding automobiles. January’s data marks t...

Fewer Jobless Claims Suggests Higher Home Prices Ahead Economists believe the strength of the 2012 housing market will be closely tied to jobs. If they’re right, the housing market is ripe for a boost. It spells good news for Hobe Sound home sellers and may mean the end of bargain-basement prices...

Revamped HARP : Unlimited Loan-to-Value And Same Great Rates The government’s new, revamped HARP program is 6 weeks from release. Homeowners in New York and nationwide are gearing up to refinance. HARP is an acronym. It stands for Home Affordable Refinance Program. HARP is the government’s loan p...

Banks Start To Loosen Up In Underwriting After a half-decade of tightening mortgage guidelines, banks are starting to “loosen up”. The Federal Reserve conducts a quarterly survey of its member banks and, last quarter, not a single responding bank reported having tightened its mortgage guidelines ...

5 Simple Ways To Declutter Your Home When a home is listed for sale, its “clutter” can be the difference between a rapid sale and no sale at all. Clutter, in its strictest sense, is defined as anything untidy; or in a disorderly state. In real estate, the term is broadened to include unnecessary ...

Pending Home Sales Index Posts Second Best Month Since April 2010 After 3 consecutive months of growth, the housing market appears to have eased a bit in December. According to the National Association of REALTORS®, December’s Pending Home Sales Index slipped 4 percent from the month prior. The i...

Behind The Housing Starts Headlines, The Story That Matters When it comes to housing data, sometimes you have to look past the headlines. December’s Housing Starts data offers a terrific illustration of why. Each month, the Census Bureau tallies Housing Starts for the month prior. A “housing star...