The Blog of Author Mark MacKenzie: It's The Housing Market, Stupid!

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Real Estate Broker/Owner

ARCHIVED BLOG POSTS

2008 

So I have been scouring over home sales data from both the NAR, which tracks existing home sales, as well as the Department of Commerce, which tracks new home sales. As you know from reading the papers and watching the TV, the real estate market has been hit by a decline in home sales, both exist...
11/30/2008
With all of the talk about bailouts with the Detroit auto makers and how many jobs could be lost, it got me thinking about the number of jobs within the real estate industry - and how many have already been lost and how many more will be lost. Now, for the record, I am not suggesting a bailout, b...
11/29/2008
With all of the talk about bailouts, hope for homeowners, TARP, and economic recovery acts, I thought I would take a second to debate the merits of our own NAR and NAHB housing stimulus plans. As of November 18th, this is NAR's most recent 4-point plan to stabilize the housing market and home val...
11/29/2008
Maybe I am the one that doesn't get it.  Maybe Iam the one that has swallowed my economic compass and Washington actually knows what they are doing. Are loan modifications really the solution to this housing and economic crisis? Is this really the answer to all of our ills - providing loan modifi...
11/28/2008
In case you are wondering why I am writing this blog post on Thanksgiving, I do indeed have a life - sort of.  I also happen to have three little babies who are nestled all snug in their beds napping after their feast this afternoon.  So I have a chance to look into something that I have been won...
11/27/2008
I will say it, the LAST thing the housing market needs right now is more new homes.  A couple of days ago I made a post about my opposition to a builder bailout; this idea was something that was being thrown around Washington recently from the National Association of Home Builders.  They are gett...
11/26/2008
So I go to my son's Thanksgiving "feast" at his pre-school today.  He had on a pilgrim hat he had made and had a tasty looking meal with a dozen of his closest friends.  A great time was had by all - and of course because I was thinking about 300 things as I ran out the door to meet him there, I ...
11/25/2008
So I go to my son's Thanksgiving "feast" at his pre-school today.  He had on a pilgrim hat he had made and had a tasty looking meal with a dozen of his closest friends.  A great time was had by all - and of course because I was thinking about 300 things as I ran out the door to meet him there, I ...
11/25/2008
In response to yet another massive government bailout bonanza, this time to purchase mortgage backed securities from Fannie and Freddie, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage sank to below 5%. So what? I know my opinion will be unpopular and probably misunderstood, and while I would rather have mortgag...
11/25/2008
I have not pulled any punches in expressing my discontent with how Washington has mishandled this economic crisis; how they have been slow to identify that there is indeed a problem, how they have been slow to respond to the problem, and how they have been ineffective and impotent in their respon...
11/25/2008
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Mark MacKenzie

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