Curt Baumgarth's Blog

  4 alternatives to a traditional mortgage If you want to buy a home but don't qualify for a traditional mortgage, you have other options. Here are a few. By Amy Fontinelle of Investopedia Whether you're a first-time homebuyer, a repeat buyer or an investor, you might have reasons that you don't ...

PETALUMA, Calif. -- Yoda's short tufts of hair, protruding tongue, and long, seemingly hairless legs were enough to earn it the World's Ugliest Dog title at a Northern California fair. The 14-year-old Chinese crested and Chihuahua mix won the honor Friday night at the 23rd annual contest at the S...

By Bob Sullivan CHICAGO — Ron and Cheryl Schmalz think they know one reason the U.S. housing market is stuck. They just spent more than two years and created about 50 pounds' worth of paper trying to get a $300-per-month modification to their mortgage. Nearly every month for the past two years, t...

By Remy Melina, LiveScience Staff Writer LiveScience updated 6/27/2011 4:18:22 PM ET2011-06-27T20:18:22 More than one-third of college students use mobile phone applications while driving, according to a new study. Some students even continue the dangerous practice after being in auto accidents w...

This is a great story by Karen.  She used the all to forgotten skills of listening and communicating and helpd a family out and saved the sale. A win win for everyone. Great job!   While showing a very nice home to a potential buyer yesterday, the daughter pulled me aside and whispered.... "You'r...

Best and Worst Cities for Renters By Morgan Brennan, Forbes.com Jun 20, 2011 Provided by: The population of New Haven, Conn., grew a robust 5% from 2000 to 2010. With demand for housing outpacing construction of new multi-family buildings over the past few years, the home of Yale University is a...

Signs of a Real Estate Recovery? The number of home owners who were put on notice for defaulting on their mortgage payments dropped last month to the lowest level since 2006, RealtyTrac reports. Meanwhile, foreclosure filings for the eighth straight month also were down as filings fell 33 percent...

Google Hits One Billion Visitors in Only One Month By TIM WORSTALL We’re told that finally an Internet company has done it. Google has managed to get to one billion visitors in only one month. Yes, this does mean that one seventh of humanity hit a Google web page in just that one calendar month. ...

A slow-motion real estate recovery Experts say jobs, foreclosures play key role in growth time line By Glenn Roberts Jr.Inman News™ Share This SAN ANTONIO -- Looking for signs of an economic and housing recovery might be like watching grass grow. Jed Smith, managing director of quantitative resea...

Negative Equity Rankings by State... In a recent report by Core Logic, Arizona had the second highest negative equity percentage with 50% of all mortgaged properties underwater. Nevada held the top percentage at 63%, followed by Florida (46%), Michigan (36%), and California (31%). Phoenix led the...