Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 12/31/2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

House Equity Loss of the Day - Hank Paulson's in Washington, D.C.

A cool mil.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 12/29/2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 12/28/2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 12/27/2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 12/24/2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Dallas Federal Reserve: The Fallacy of a Pain-Free Path To A Healthy Housing Market.

"Given that time has not proven beneficial in rendering pricing clarity, allowing the market to clear may be the path of least distress."

Indeed.

Today I'm going to help a friend move out of a rental that's going to go up as a short sale. The troubles are lingering still.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 12/23/2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 12/22/2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 12/20/2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Weekend Bits Bucket 12/18-12/19, 2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Woodbridge Mortgage Fraudsters Sentenced

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 12/17/2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 12/16/2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 12/15/2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 12/14/2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 12/13/2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia November Housing Sales

Northern Virginia November housing sales were down 20% YOY, and median prices were up 9%. This was another weak month for sales, with the interesting exception of Fauquier and Culpeper Counties.

Also, note that Prince William county is missing some data. MRIS recently updated its presentation of market statistics. There are some discrepancies in the data, e.g. their "Detailed Reports" and "Summary Reports" have slightly different numbers; also, median sales prices are missing for years 2006-2007 in PW County. My former chart used to combine PW County and Manassas, but MRIS no longer publishes both together, so I just include PW County.



Source: MRIS

Northern Virginia Weekend Bits Bucket 12/11-12/12, 2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 12/10/2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 12/9/2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 12/8/2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Housebuyer beat me to this story in the comments:

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in discussions with U.S. government officials to join government programs aimed at reducing mortgage balances where borrowers owe more than the values of their homes, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday citing people familiar with the situation."

I've kept this post by Calculated Risk in the back of my mind since last August: Nonsense Rumor on Fannie and Freddie.

I thought at the time that it sounded like a political rumor as well, but I was more suspicious than he that there was a grain of truth in it.

More here from the WSJ: Fannie, Freddie Pressed on Mortgages

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 12/7/2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 12/3/2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Strong Rebound in Pendings

CR: Pending Home Sales Index Increases in October. I wonder if this is a feature of the rock-bottom interest rates, or something else. Mortgage rates have jumped considerably in the last month, although they're still under 5%.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 12/2/2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.

Northern Virginia Bits Bucket 12/1/2010

Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.